parlai(ya)-

The sole attestation of this word is found in the MS manuscript of a birth ritual.

[E.R.]

acc. sg. c.

pár-la-i-in

KBo 29.25 iii 13

(CTH 764, MS)

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

[E.R.]

KBo 29.25 was still unedited when DLL was published. Later, CLL:170 offers no specific translation except ‘of/pertaining to parla/i-’, with parla/i- glossed only by a question mark; cf. also HHw:s.v. (“Nomen u.B.”).

The word is found in the first of two consecutive sentences in ii 13’f. that are parallel in structure:

13’ [a-an         ]x x an-na-an pár-la-i-in du-ú-wa-an-⸢du⸣

14’ [                   ]x-an-za-pa-ku-wa an-na-an ap-pa-ra-i-in-⸢du⸣

Starting from Melchert’s (CLL:22) observation that the verb apparayindu is probably derived from *appara/i- ‘located behind’, an assumed semantic contrast between parlaīn dūwandu ‘to place as a parlayin’ (following annan) and apparayindu (also following annan) leads to the conclusion that 1) apparaindu means approximately ‘to place in the rear’ and 2) parlai(ya)- supplies the locational information of ‘front’ and is hence to be interpreted as an adjective ‘located in front position’ in predicative function (implicitly already Yakubovich 2017d). Accordingly, the translation is: “Under/among^? [the ...] let them place [it/him] located in front position, but under/among^? [the ...] let them place (it/him) in the rear!”. Unclear Hitt. ^GIŠparlāi- and ^NINDAparlai- (CHD P:174).

[E.R.]

The acc. sg. form in -ayin points clearly to an i-mutated -i(ya)- adjective derived from a stem in non-mutating -a- (contra Melchert 1994a:245). Given the ‘front’ semantics, the derivational chain must have been *par-/pra- ‘in front’ → -la/i- adjective parla/i- ‘front, foremost (?)’ (cf. šarla/i-) → -ā- abstract parlā- c. ‘front position (?)’ → -i(ya)- adjective parlai(ya)- ‘related to the front position, located in front’.

[E.R.]

For the derivational base see CLuw. parla/i-.