niniyal-

The attestations of the word occur in ritual texts concerned with birth and child care (from MS onwards).

[E.R.]

nom./acc. sg. or stem form	GIŠni-ni-ia-al	KUB 58.82 ii? 22’	(CTH 470, NS)
dat./loc. sg. or stem form	GIŠni-ni-ia-al-⸢li⸣	KUB 35.89, 20’	(CTH 766, MS)
dat./loc. pl.	GIŠni-ni-ia-la-aš	KBo 12.112 obv. 7	(CTH 412, LNS)

The forms following the Akkadograms, i.e. [š]a-pal/[t]a-pal ^GIŠni-ni-ia-al and  i-na ^GIŠni-ni-ia-al-⸢li⸣, can represent either case forms or stem forms.

[E.R.]

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

[E.R.]

Otten (in the preface of KUB 35 on no. 89, p. iii) first drew attention to the lexeme, which he interpreted as an a-stem and tentatively translated as ‘cradle’ on account of the following context: [ma-a-an d]umu-aš i-na ^GIŠni-ni-ia-al-⸢li⸣ ki-it-ta “when the child lies in the cradle.” The handbooks adopted the translation soon, first with some caution (HW:342, Kronasser 1966a:212, Berman 1972a:125, HHw:113), later with confidence (Neumann 1961a:85, van Brock 1962a:94 and van Brock 1964a:139, Beckman 1983a:66f., Starke 1990a:330-334, CLL:158, HEG L-N:327f., HED N:109f., Rieken 1999a:448, CHD L-N:438, Ünal 2007a:489, EDHIL:605, Dempsey 2015a:243). However, Starke 1990a:334 pointed out that a cradle in the modern sense of the word is unlikely to have existed at the time. Instead, a swing for grain vel sim. used for children is more likely.

[E.R.]

Neumann 1961a:85 proposed to analyze ^GIŠniniyalli- (sic) as a derivative from *niniya-, a reduplicated stem of Hitt. nāi-/ne(ya)-^(ḫi) ‘to turn’ with iterative, distributive or intensified meaning. His view is followed by van Brock 1962a:94 and van Brock 1964a:139, Berman 1972a:125, HEG L-N:327f., EDHIL:605; implicitly also CHD L-N:438. The same analysis, but assuming a Luwian base *nini(ya)- can be found in Starke 1990a:330-334 (as the preferred option), CLL:158 and HED N:109f. and Dempsey 2015a:243.

Another point of discussion concerns the form and origin of the l-suffix. While inherited *-él- (Starke 1990a:330) and *-ól- (EDHIL:605) have sometimes been considered, a better option is assuming that the Luwian instrument noun suffix -āl- arose from *-ó-lo- or by sound change in contexts after plosive (with *-Clo- > -Cal-) and was spread by generalization to other verbal stems. Then, the Luwian stem niniyal- underwent the normal switch to a stem in -alli-, when borrowed into Hittite (as alternatively suggested by Starke 1990a:331, accepted in CLL:158; different Kronasser 1966a:212: substantivized adjective).

[E.R.]

The base *niniya- assured only for Luwian and the mixture of stems in -āl- n. and -alli- n. typical for Luwian loanwords in Hittite strongly speaks for a Luwian origin (cf. Starke 1990a:330-334, CLL:158, Rieken 1999a:448, HED N:109f., Dempsey 2015a:243).

[E.R.]

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