azzala-

This lexeme is attested twice on TL 44, the pillar of Xanthos, dated stylistically to around 400 BCE and contextually to shortly after the ascension of the Persian emperor Artaxerxes II in 405-404 BCE (Borchhardt & Eichner 1997-1999a:19f.).

[O.B.]

acc. sg.	azzalã	TL 44c.10 (Xanthos)
gen. pl.	azzalãi	TL 44b.59 (Xanthos)

The form azzalãi is in all likelihood genitive judging from context (see Meaning and cf. Hajnal 1995a:165 n. 195, Schürr 2012a:132), but could formally also be nom. pl.

[O.B.]

While the precise meaning of Lyc. A azzala- has not yet been securely determined, a common suggestion is ‘decree, command (vel sim.)’ (Meriggi 1978c:261, Hajnal 1995a:165 n. 195, DLL:7, Schürr 2012a:132). This fits both contexts in which the word appears: xñtawati azzalãi : ñtarijeusehe : sej ertaxssirazahe ‘rule by (?) decrees of Dareius and Artaxerxes’ (TL 44b.58-60, with gen. pl. analysis, somewhat differently per Hajnal 1995a:165 n. 195) and me=i=ti : puweti : azzalã ‘(s)he writes the decree on it’ (TL 44c.9-10). For lack of further evidence, this interpretation remains tentative, however.

[O.B.]

Lyc. A azzala- inflects as a common gender a-stem noun. The stem is formally reminiscent of an agent noun in -ala- (Sasseville 2014-2015a:112), but with the semantics tentatively assumed under Meaning it is dubious that the formation is agentive, either synchronically or diachronically. Moreover, since the etymology remains uncertain, it is at present not possible to say whether the l-element is suffixal or radical.

[O.B.]