/wa(/i)Tara(/i)-/, wa/i-tara/i
‘(an occupation)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, c.
- ID
- 2595
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/wa(/i)Tara(/i)-/, wa/i-tara/i
‘(an occupation)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested twice in inscriptions from Kululu, dating to the mid- or late 8th century BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| dat./loc. sg. | /wa(/i)Tara/i/ | wa/i-tara/i | KULULU lead strip 1, §3.9 (Tabal) |
| KULULU lead strip 2, §1.8 (Tabal) |
[A.P.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this word is tentative, since the two syllabic signs used are both vocalically underspecified. So far, the word has gone without any cognate links to the other Anatolian languages, leaving the vagaries of the HLuw. writing system untempered.Some of the words beginning with CLuw. /watta°/ and /wida°/ may perhaps turn out to be related, but they, too, remain without semantic interpretations so far, see CLL:267f., 271.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
While the precise meaning of this word remains unclear (cf. e.g. Meriggi & Poetto 1982a:103 “oscuro”), the contexts on the KULULU lead strips 1 and 2 strongly suggests that it denotes an occupation (see e.g. Marazzi 1990b:400).Hawkins 1987a:141, 143 tentatively proposes ‘cup-bearer’ (repeated in Hawkins 2000a:508-510), linking the word to the verb /u-/ ‘to drink’, but the morphology of the word remains opaque and it is not clear how a link with /u-/ ‘to drink’, which is cognate with Hittite eku-/aku-(mi) ‘to drink’, would work from a phonological point of view. KULULU lead strip 2, §1.8 reads: 20 OVIS-sá Inu-nu-i[a] wa/i-tara/i, approx. /… hawis Nunuya wa(/i)Tara/i/, meaning ‘Twenty sheep to Nunu, the wa(/i)Tara/i-’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:510).
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
Even though the grammatical gender of this noun does not become evident on the basis of the attestations, it can be assumed to be common gender, since it is used to designate humans. Apart from that, the morphological structure of the word remains largely opaque, and while an i-mutated stem is likely from a frequency point of view (in which case the attested forms would represent /wa(/i)Tari/), the attested spelling may also depict an a-stem (i.e. /wa(/i)Tara/ for the dat./loc.sg.).
[AH.B.]