medbijahe/i-

This lexeme is attested in the inscription of the inscribed pillar of Xanthos, dated contextually to shortly after the ascension of Artaxerxes II in 405-404 BCE and stylistically to around 400 BCE (Borchhardt & Eichner 1997-1999a:19f.).

[D.S.]

gen. adj. dat./loc. pl.

medbijahe

TL 44a.48 (Xanthos)

Meriggi 1980b:217 posits a genitive singular of a personal name in -he (followed by Melchert in DLL:98 and Neumann 2007a:200). Schürr 2007a:35 instead regards it as a place name in the locative, which would fit the context better. Sasseville 2021c:166 likewise assumes that it refers to a place in the dat./loc. pl., but takes it as an adjective modifying the word for ‘sea’, which would have been left out; see under Meaning.

Outdated Shevoroshkin 1979a:186 “m(e)=edbijahe” (followed by Gehrisch 2018a:65).

[D.S.]

Schürr 2007a:35 etymologically connects Lyc. A medbijahe with CLuw. madduwi(ya)- ‘of wine’ and treats it as a place name. Sasseville 2021c:166 expects from a contextual and combinatory perspective that the battle in the passage in question is a naval battle and thus expects the “location” medbijahe to refer to the sea. Building on the etymological comparison by Schürr 2007a, he interprets medbijahe as an epithet of the sea meaning ‘in the wine-dark (sea)’, comparing the Homeric Greek formula ἐνὶ οἴνοπι πόντωι ‘in the wine-dark sea’.

[D.S.]

Sasseville 2021c:166 assumes a genitival adjective in -ahe/i- (likewise Schürr 2014a:757) derived from a noun medbija- ‘the color of wine (?)’, which would represent a substantivization of an adjective *medbi(je)- matching CLuw. madduwi(ya)- ‘of wine’.

[D.S.]

For a possible etymological assessment of Lyc. A medbijahe, see under Meaning and the reconstruction under CLuw. maddu-.

[D.S.]