/tarhunzassitt(i)-?/, REX-hu-za-si-ti-
‘divine kingship (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, c.
- ID
- 2854
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/tarhunzassitt(i)-?/, REX-hu-za-si-ti-
‘divine kingship (?)’1.1.1Transmission
This hapax is attested in a single inscription from Maraş, dating to c. 1000-950 BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| acc. sg. | /tarhunzassittin?/ | REX-hu-za-˹si˺-ti-na | MARAŞ 8, §14 (Maraş) |
The passage in MARAŞ 8, §14 is read differently by Hawkins 2000a:253, because he separates the string of signs into two words, but is evidently doubtful about it as becomes clear from his liberal use of question marks: 〈REX-hu-ti-na(?) za-si?(?)〉. And indeed, the distribution of the signs does not suggest such a reading at all, nor is a separation into two words mandated, although word dividers are not applied reliably in the inscription. The reading here follows Yakubovich 2017e:s.v.
[AH.B.] [A.P.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this lexeme is to be understood as provisional (see Yakubovich 2017e:s.v.). Hawkins 2000a:255 notes that the logogram REX cannot stand for any of its usual lexemes, most of which belong to the family around /hantawatt(i)-/ ‘king’. The string of syllabograms following the initial logogram strongly suggest a connection with the deity name /Tarhunza-/ ‘(the storm-god) Tarhunt’; see also the discussion of the meaning below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning is assigned tentatively by Yakubovich 2017e:s.v. based on a first proposal by Hawkins 2000a:253, who translated it as “kingship(?)”. Hawkins 2000a:255 notes that it cannot possibly represent a lexeme from the family around /hantawatt(i)-/ ‘king’, because its phonetic complements – irrespective of the order in which they are read – do not permit it. Both scholars rely first and foremost on the context for their interpretation, because MARAŞ 8, §14 reads: a-wa/i REX-hu-za-si-ti-na INFRA-ta (PONERE)tu-wa/i-tu, approx. /a=wa tarhunzassittin zanta tuwattu/, meaning ‘(He who erases my name, if he is a king,) he shall put down his divine kingship(?)’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:253). The clause represents the apodosis of the first part of the curse formula, which then goes on to detail the intentended consequences for a less powerful rank, viz. a /wattani=niya-/ ‘country lord’ (see HLuw. /niya-/ ‘lord’).
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
If the proposed phonological form should be correct, the word is an abstract noun in /-tt(i)-/ built on the basis of the possessive adjective /Tarhuntassa/i-/ ‘of Tarhunza’, which in turn derives from the deity name /Tarhunt-/, cf. e.g. Melchert 2003b:197. The result is, as evident from the attestation, a common gender noun subject to i-mutation.
[AH.B.]
For the lemma head see HLuw. /tarhunt-/.