niniyam(i)-

The noun is found twice in a MS ritual fragment related to the Tunnawiya ritual KUB 12.58 + (CTH 409); cf. see Pisaniello 2015a:26 n. 7.

[E.R.]

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

[E.R.]

^NINDAniniyam(i)- occurs first (ii 7’) in a list of paraphernalia and a few lines below (ii 12’) a specific group of people supposed to take it: ^(12’)[       -a]n-zi-ma-an ku-i-e-eš nu-za ^NINDAni-ni-ia-mi-in da-an-du ^(13’)[kar-d]i-mi-ia-aḫ-ḫa-an-zi-an-kán ku-i-e-eš nu-za ^NINDAḫar-na-an-ta-aš-ši-in ^(14’)[d]a-an-du “Those who [           ] him, let them take niniyam(i)-bread! Those who are angry at him, let them take ḫarnantašš(i)-bread!” (CHD L-N:438). The identification as an artonym is based on the determinative NINDA (Laroche 1958d:188, DLL:75, HW:402, CHD L-N:438, HEG L-N:328, HHw:113, Ünal 2007a:489). More specific translations are derived from the acknowledged connection with niya- and reduplicated *niniya- ‘to turn, guide’; see CLL:158 ‘twisted/spiral-shaped bread’ (?) vel. sim. referring to Hoffner 1974a:174f. (thus also Melchert 2014d:208 and Dempsey 2015a:243), HED N:40 ‘breadroll’, Puhvel 2007a:631 ‘turnover’, but a skeptical attitude is taken by Starke 1990a:332f.

[E.R.]

While it is common sense that ^NINDAniniyam(i)- is derived from an unattested reduplicated verb *nini(ya)- (see under Meaning), Melchert (CLL:158 and Melchert 2014d:208f.) vehemently rejects the wide-spread assumption that the word represents a lexicalized participle form in -amma/i- with defective spelling (cf. Laroche 1958d:188, DLL:75, Starke 1990a:332f., HEG L-N:328, HED N:110, HHw:113). Instead, he favors a derivative of *nini(ya)- by means of a deverbative and denominative suffix -a-m(i)- to form nouns or (mostly substantivized) adjectives. Economy speaks for the latter suggestion, because it requires no assuming of either a defective spelling nor a substantivization.

[E.R.]

The specifically Luwian base niya- (← nai-/ni(ya)-) with its replicated variant *nini(ya)- also occurring in CLuw. ^GIŠniniyal- (in Hittite transmission) speak for a borrowing from Luwian, although this is assumed by most scholars (except Melchert) only on account of the alleged participial suffix -amma/i- seen in ^NINDAniniyam(i)- (for references, see under Stem).

[E.R.]

For the lemma head see CLuw. nai-/niya-⁽ⁱ⁾.