nãrs

This form occurs in a burial inscription from Sardis, which can be roughly dated to the 5^th or 4^th century BCE.

[I.Y.]

3pl. pret. act.

nãrs

LW 10.8 (Sardis)

According to Gusmani 1964a:136 this is a nominative case form of a noun or adjective. The verbal interpretation of this form had, however, been offered in Meriggi 1935a:99 with reference to its characteristic ending -rs.  For Meriggi, this morpheme marked a participial form, but its convincing reinterpretation as the ending of 3pl. pret. act. was proposed on independent ground in Melchert 2004b:47, n. 14. Consequently, nãrs must be interpreted as a finite verbal form, which is further supported by the occurrence of another 3pl. pret. šers in the same line TL 10.8.

[I.Y.]

The precise interpretation of the verbal form under discussion appears to be impossible as long as its attestations are limited to a single context. The finite form nãrs apparently governs the infinitive cẽnal, which accordingly restricts its possible semantic range. The meaning ‘to decide’ could fit the bill, but this is a mere guess. The subject of the verbal form under discussion is probably to be understood as the same group of people that are mentioned in connection with the burial stele in LW 10.1-4.   

[I.Y.]

The stem nã- may represent the morphophonemic variant of nãn(V)- on the assumption of a syncope in the final unstressed syllable: *nãnVrs > *nãnrs > *nãrs. For the formal side of this tentative change, see Gérard 2005a:49. It is impossible to say whether the hypothetical stem nãn(V)- represents an etymological imperfective derivative (cf. inãn(i)-) or a reduplicated formation until its meaning and etymology are established on independent grounds.

[I.Y.]