/mar(al)li(lli)ssa-/, (LOQUI)mara/i-li-i-li-i-sà-
‘(unknown)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, c.
- ID
- 2612
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/mar(al)li(lli)ssa-/, (LOQUI)mara/i-li-i-li-i-sà-
‘(unknown)’1.1.1Transmission
This hapax is attested in a single inscription from the Amuq, dating to the 9th or 8th century BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| acc. pl. | /mar(al)li(lli)ssanzi/ | (LOQUI)mara/i-li-i-li-i-sà?-zi | JISR EL HADID frag. 3, §c (Amuq) |
The double spelling of 〈-li-i-li-i-〉 as attested at JISR EL HADID frag. 3, §c is unusual for HLuw. and should hence be taken with caution. It may represent an actual phonological reality, i.e. /mar(al)lillissa-/, or constitute a mistake of repetition on part of the scribe, in which case the form would be /mar(al)lissa-/ vel sim. Further evidence is needed.
[A.P.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
Since this word is attested only once, its phonological interpretation is tentative despite the fully syllabic spelling. Besides the curious spelling discussed above, the interpretation is hampered by the partly unclear morphology of the word.
Its spelling with the logographic determinative LOQUI (sign *22) suggests a connection to a host of words centring around verbal expression, cf. the discussion of the meaning below. In fact, it may be etymologically connected to HLuw. /mar-(ti)/ ‘to order, request’ and its family, cf. Hawkins 2000a:380 and the discussions below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning of this word is unknown. It is attested but once in a badly broken inscription, where it occurs in the only fully preserved clause at JISR EL HADID frag. 3, §c: *a-wa/i (“PES2.PES”)tara/i-pa-ma-za (LOQUI)mara/i-li-i-li-i-sà?-zi BRACCHIUM-la/i/u-zi “TERRA”-kwa/i+ra/i-ti-i ARHA FUGARE-ha, approx. /a=wa tarpammanz mar(a)lli(lli)ssanzi …-rulanzi taskwarradi ahha parhaHa/, possibly translating as ‘I drove the mar(al)li(lli)ssa- (and?) BRACCHIUM-rula-professionals(?) away from the land(s) to the roads’ vel sim. (cf. Hawkins 2000a:379f.), and neither of the two acc. pl. objects present in the clause has been fixed with a semantic interpretation thus far.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The attested spelling seems to point towards an a-stem for this word. If it should be revealed to belong to the family around /mar-(ti)/ ‘to order, request’, it may include the suffixes /-(al)la/i-/ and /-issa-/, although the latter would be obscure. Without additional data, any further analysis is too speculative for the time being.
[AH.B.]