puk
‘or’
- Language
- Lydian
- Grammar
- part
- ID
- 2834
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lydian
puk
‘or’1.1.1Transmission
The lexeme is attested in various genres of texts and its attestation span different time periods, beginning with the archaic inscription LW 54 (late 6th – early 5th century BCE) and ending with LW 3, assuredly datable to the Hellenistic period. The majority of attestations are from Sardis, but they also come from the Lower Hermos valley, and also apparently from the Upper Maeander valley.
[I.Y.]
1.1.2Forms
1.1.3Meaning
The meaning ‘or’ was established in Littmann 1916a:34 based on the correspondence to Aram. ’w ‘or’ in the bilingual LW 1, and this analysis was accepted by all the subsequent researchers. The particle puk is capable of connecting both clauses and sentences, and does not appear before the first coordinated element (Gusmani 1964a:87).
[I.Y.]
1.1.4Origin
The particle puk can be internally reconstructed as a combination of the particle pu with the same meaning and the additive clitic =k ‘and’. For other instances of Luwian particles representing historical compounds with =k, cf. ak, fak and nak ‘whether / or’. For an Indo-European etymology, see Fraser 1923a:148 n. 1 and Melchert 1994a:330.
[I.Y.]