arlip(a)

The lexeme occurs several times in ritual analogies (from MS onwards).

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indecl.	[a]r-li-ip	KUB 33.68 iii 20’	(CTH 332, MS)
	⸢ar⸣-li-ip	KUB 33.51, 2’	(CTH 334, NS)
	ar-li-pa	KUB 33.21 iii 16	(CTH 326, NS)
		KUB 29.1 iv 11, iv 12	(CTH 414, NS)
		HT 38 obv. 4’	(CTH 414, NS)
		KUB 33.45 iii 4’	(CTH 334, NS)
	ar-li-p[a]	Bo 5621 rev. 5’	(CTH 414, NS)
	[a]r-li-⸢pa⸣	KUB 33.7 ii 7’	(CTH 324, MS)

While Laroche 1953c:40 and HW 2nd ed. A:314 prefer a substantival interpretation, other scholars analyze the word as an adverb (HW:338). The regular preverbal position confirms the latter.

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Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

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The lexeme is used in adverbial function with the two verbs Hitt. ar- ‘to stand’ and Hitt. tiye/a-^(mi) ‘to step’. The right thigh is said to stand or step arlip(a) (in(to) a positively connotated posture), and thus provides a desirable model of analogy for the king, queen, soul, and country, e.g. ^(19’)nu zi-ka zag-aš wa-al-la-⸢aš⸣ ^(20’)[i-wa-ar a]r-li-ip ar-ta-ru “may your soul stand arlip like the right thigh!” (KUB 33.68 iii 20’; see HED A, E, I:151). Therefore, Alp 1957a:27 considered ‘upright, erect’ (followed in HED A, E, I:151 with the addition of ‘firm’, Ünal 2007a:55, and Melchert, e-mail from September 29, 2021; different Laroche 1953c:40 with a substantivization as a body part, viz. ‘penis’, which does not make sense in the context, since the thigh constitutes the comparison; even stranger HHw:22: ‘Oberschenkel’?). The word is not translated in HW 2nd ed. A:314, Rieken et al. 2009n, and Görke 2015-2017a.

Recently, the option of a new approach emerged for two reasons. First, a parallel formation appeared with the gloss wedge word duwip(a) ‘in mist, misty’. Secondly, Yakubovich 2017c:121 was able to establish a Luwian base *arl(a)- (or considered here: *arl(i)-) ‘place’ derived from the root ar- ‘to stand’. If, for the sake argument, one assumes that the first part of arlip(a), i.e. arli-, is the dat./loc. of arl(a)- (or arl(i)-), then the translation of the sentence cited above makes good sense: “may your soul stand in (its) place like the right thigh!” The positive connotation of the action could be rendered by “in (its proper) place.” In contrast to the previously suggested ‘upright’, the translation ‘in (its proper) place’ offers a good solution also for the combination with the Hittite verb tiye/a-^(mi) ‘to step’.

For the clitic postposition =p(a), which reinforces the local meaning, see under Stem.

[E.R.]

According to the semantic analysis presented above, *arli represents the dat./loc. sg. of a stem *arl(a)- n. or *arl(i)- c. ‘stand, place’, which, following Yakubovich 2017c:121, contained a suffix -la(/i)- (< *-lo-).

The stem-final =p and =pa have perplexed Hittitologists, but have now found a parallel in duwip(a). The lack of agreement with the subject of the clause (see HW 2nd ed. A:314) shows that arlip(a) functions as an adverb. Thus, it is likely that =p(a) specifies the locatival meaning of the dat./loc. sg. arli, perhaps expressing locational or directional semantics. The rare use of the particle, i.e. in only two words that do not occur without the suffix, speaks for an archaic petrified formation.

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Outdated is the Hattic connection suggested by Laroche 1947b:79 (also considered in Kronasser 1966a:331). On account of the parallel formation in duwip(a) with gloss wedge marking and the Luwian origin of *arl(a)- or *arl(i)-, it is tentatively assumed here that arlip(a), too, constitutes a borrowing from the same language (although an archaism in Hittite cannot be entirely excluded).

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