*istupeλm(i)-

This lexeme is only attested as a personal name found in two inscriptions of Sardis. The inscription LW 2 is dated to 344 BCE, i.e. the 15th year of the reign of Artaxerxes III.

[D.S.]

gen. adj. nom. sg. c.	[istupe]λmliš	LW 16.2 (Sardis)
gen. adj. nom. sg. n.	istupeλmlid	LW 2.4 (Sardis)

Danielsson 1917a:19 n. 1 reconstructs the same personal name in the inscription 16.2. This is epigraphically possible, since there is enough space in the broken part for approximately six letters.

[D.S.]

In the inscription LW 2, the personal name Istupeλm(i)- is attested in the possessive adjective as the name of the grandfather of the owner of the grave-house (Gusmani 1964a:138f.). Since it is a personal name without an attested base for comparison within the Lydian language, the present assignment is considered very tentative. The root of the word can be interpreted as istup- with a prothetic vowel /i/ (the preverb iš- is impossible, since it shows consistent palatalization. In this case, it can be etymologically compared to HLuw. /tub(a)i-^(di)/ and Lyc. tub(e)i-^(di). This etymology however requires that the prothetic vowel /i/ does not palatalize the initial s-; cf. Melchert 1994a:371. The primary derivation could be in -(e)li- (< *-é-lo-), thus *stupél(i)-. Then, the palatalization of the -l- can indicate that it was further derived by a suffix beginning with the glide *-i̯- (cf. aλa- < *ali̯ó-), which leads to the recognition of a participle (cf. Luw. -mma/i-, Lyc. -me/i- < Proto-Luwic *-mmo/i-) from a denominative verbal stem in *-i̯é/ó-, i.e. -i-m(i)-.Carruba 1961a:460 interprets the sequence -mli- differently as the ethnic suffix -mν- + poss. adj. -l(i)-. Based on our present corpus, this hypothesis cannot be maintained, since the ethnic suffix -mν- was only enlarged by -ši- (i.e. -mši-) and the assimilation of -mš- to -ml- only occurs before the dative singular ending -λ; cf. Gérard 2005a:87. In conclusion, the meaning of the personal name would be ´the struck one´ (vel sim.).

[D.S.]