/tarhuwanu(wa)?-(i)/, TONITRUS-wa/i-nú-wa/i-
‘to defeat (like Tarhunt?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 2855
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/tarhuwanu(wa)?-(i)/, TONITRUS-wa/i-nú-wa/i-
‘to defeat (like Tarhunt?)’1.1.1Transmission
This hapax is attested in a single inscription from Commagene, dating to the early 8th century BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| 3sg. impv. act. | /tarhuwanuwattu?/ | TONITRUS-wa/i-nú-wa/i-tu | BOYBEYPINARI 2, §20 (Commagene) |
[A.P.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this lexeme is suggested tentatively by Yakubovich 2017e:s.v., because its form is partly represented by a logogram. Since the sign *199 only means TONITRUS, i.e. the storm-god Tarhunt, it is unlikely to be used with a different interpretation here. However, the following syllabic signs also suggest that the logogram only covers /tarhu-/ in this case rather than any longer string, as nothing else explains the presence of the following /wa/.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning is assigned to this lexeme based on the combined evidence from its context of attestation, its spelling, and its morphology as a factitive verb in /-nu(wa)-(i)/; for the latter, see the discussion of the stem below. Yakubovich 2017e:s.v. suggested that it could mean ‘to treat like Tarhunt’, however, the context mandates that the verb denote a strongly negative action. BOYBEYPINARI 2, §20 constitutes the apodosis of a lengthy curse formula: á-pa-ti-pa-wa/i á-lá/í-sa (DEUS)ku-AVIS á-pa-si-i-na “COR”?-ni-na (“*476”)ta-wa/i-sa-ha-na PRAE-na ˹ARHA?˺ TONITRUS-wa/i-nú-wa/i-tu, approx. /abatti=ba=wa alas Kubabas abassin attanin tawashan parran ahha tarhuwanuwattu/, meaning ‘For him (scil. the person inflicting damage on the installation), Lady Kubaba shall utterly vanquish the appearance of his soul (like Tarhunt?)’.Note that Hawkins 2000a:337 does not include the adverb /ahha/ ´away, fully´ in his reading, because the inscription is severely abraded in that place. Still, there is enough space for another sign, and what may be remnants of it suggest a narrow vertical shape like ARHA.
The logogram TONITRUS (sign *199) is otherwise exclusively used for the name of the storm-god Tarhunt, and its usage for the present verb indicates that the scribe perceived a strong link to the storm-god. It may be hypothesised that the verb equals what is usually expressed only colloquially in Modern English, viz. to do/pull an X on s.o./s.th. with a meaning of ‘to act like X did in a well-known situation’. A more literal translation of the present verb might hence be ‘to do a Tarhunt’.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
This verb belongs to the stems in /-nu(wa)-(i)/, a suffix that forms causatives and factitives. It is based on an otherwise unattested stem */tarhuwa-/, a derivation from the verb */tarhu-/ that is again unattested in HLuw., but appears in Hittite tarḫu- ‘to prevail, be powerful, victorious, able’. The precise nature of the proposed stem */tarhuwa-/ is not entirely clear, but it probably represented a deverbal action noun meaning ‘victory’ vel sim. (cf. Melchert 2003b:195), from which the suffix /-nu(wa)-(i)/ derived a factitive with the meaning ‘to make a victory, to defeat’, cf. Sasseville 2021a:462-464.
[AH.B.]
For the lemma head, see HLuw. /tarhunt-/.