GENU-
‘knee’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst
- ID
- 2599
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
GENU-
‘knee’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested three times in inscriptions from Konya and Emirgazi, dating to the 13th century BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| dat./loc. pl. | /…/ | GENU-zi/a | YALBURT frag. 1, §9 (Konya) |
| YALBURT frag. 2, §5 (Konya) | |||
| EMİRGAZİ 2, §13 (Emirgazi) |
[A.P.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
Unknown. Except for part of the case ending, the logographic spelling of the word does not permit any conclusions about the underlying phonological shape. The sign *85 has also been fixed with a tentative reading as 〈hal(a)〉 by Frotscher 2012a:156 (following Hawkins 1995a:76), based on the fact that it is used in the spelling of the toponym Halaba (see also Hawkins 2000a:393). However, it cannot be determined with any degree of certainty if it should be understood in the same way here. If the interpretation of the word should be correct at least as to a beginning with /hala-/ vel sim., there would be no etymological relationship with the standard Indo-European word for ‘knee’, cf. Hittite genu- and Pal. ginu- ‘knee’.
The logogram used is sign *85, depicting a bent leg and interpreted as GENUFLECTERE and GENU depending on the context, cf. the discussion of the meaning below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning of this word is regarded as reasonably clear from the context, which is the same for all three attestations, but has proven difficult to translate for scholars, cf. the attempts by Hawkins 1995a:70f., 76 and Poetto 1993a:70f.Their interpretations also vary in the order of reading, since the arrangement of the signs in the YALBURT inscription is not always obvious. The most fully preserved is YALBURT frag. 2, §5, reading: a-wa/i tala/i-wa/i(REGIO) FEMINA.MANUS.VIR2 GENU-zi/a INFRA kwa/i-zi/a-tá, approx. /a=wa Tlawa …-nz zanta kwanzanta/, possibly meaning ‘The people of the Tlawa region fell down at my / to their (?) knees’ vel sim.
[AH.B.]