zam(ma)nāšša/i-
‘(name of a bird)’
- Language
- Cuneiform Luwian
- Class
- Derivative
- Grammar
- subst, c.
- ID
- 2544
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Luwian in Hittite transmission
zam(ma)nāšša/i-
‘(name of a bird)’1.1.1Transmission
The attestations of the bird’s name are limited to oracle reports (from MS and NS texts).
[E.R.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom. sg. | za-am-na-a-aš-ši-i[š | KBo 24.130 obv. 18’ | (CTH 573, MS) |
| [za-a]m-⸢na⸣-aš-ši-iš | KBo 24.130 obv. 2’ | (CTH 573, MS) | |
| za-am-ma-aš-ši-išMUŠEN | KUB 50.1 ii 11’, iii 13’ | (CTH 573, MS) | |
| [za]-am-ma-na-aš-ši-iš | HKM 47 obv. 22 | (CTH 581, MS) | |
| nom. pl. | za-am-na-⸢a⸣-[aš-ši-… | KBo 24.130 obv. 19’ | (CTH 573, MS) |
| unknown | za-am-ma-na-aš-ši-[ | KUB 49.47, 13’ | (CTH 577, NS) |
Contra Melchert (Melchert 2005a:449), the bird name ammanašša/i- at HKM 47 obv. 22 is read here [z]ammanašša/i- (see Sakuma 2009b:640 and DCL:s.v. †ammanašši-).
[E.R.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.
[E.R.]
1.1.4Meaning
The genre and context of the attestations together with the determinative MUŠEN leave no doubt that the zam(ma)nāšša/i-MUŠEN is a kind of oracle bird (Archi 1979a:v, Ünal 2007a:814, Haas 2008a:36, HHw:s.v., Taylor apud Nikolaev 2019a:195 n. 49). Since Luw. zam(ma)n- ‘damage’ obviously served as the basis for a substantivized genitival adjective in -ašša/i- (Starke 1990a:278, CLL:279, Sakuma 2009a:404), the idea could be entertained that the term refers generically to ‘birds of bad omen, damaging birds’ (HEG U-Z:644f.), but nothing in the context points in this direction. Therefore, the stem was probably lexicalized.
[E.R.]
1.1.5Origin
The Luwian base zam(ma)n- and the Luwian suffix speak unambiguously for a borrowing from that language (Starke 1990a:278, CLL:279, HEG U-Z:644f.).
[E.R.]
For the lemma head see CLuw. zam(ma)n-.