citala-

This lexeme is found in a grave inscription that has not yet been dated accurately.

[D.S.]

nom./acc. sg. (?)

citalad

LW 5.4 (Sardis)

On the difficulty of the grammatical analysis of this word, see Lyd. citollad, with which it is often equated. Nonetheless, it is now widely accepted that it represents the direct object of fadint ‘to do, cause’.

[D.S.]

Since citalad occurs in the protasis of a curse formula (just like citollad), scholars tend to agree that it refers to a negative action; cf. Brandenstein 1931b:15 “sinfully”, Zgusta 1955a:531 “sacrilege”, Vetter 1959a:19 and Gusmani 1964a:90f. “evil”. Others leave it untranslated. The action is prohibited with regards to the wife of the tomb owner and his esaν of debated meaning (see under lemma). Considering the difference in vocalism and the lack of a geminate -ll- (though less meaningful), it is possible that we are dealing with a different formation (contra Gusmani 1964a:91), i.e. *cita- (← *ci-, see Lyd. cito-). In analogy to citolla- and the hypothesis of an instrument noun, citala- n. could likewise represent an instrument formation comparable to the Luwian formations in -āl- n. Despite this morphological approach, it does not give us the exact meaning of the noun.

[D.S.]