mlttaime/i-
‘honey-sweet (?)’
- Language
- Lycian A
- Grammar
- adj
- ID
- 3116
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Lycian A
mlttaime/i-
‘honey-sweet’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is found in a dedicatory inscription. It is worth noting that the parallel inscription N 356a omits the word mlttaimi.
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| acc. sg. c. | mlttaimi | TL 28.3 (Tlos) |
1.1.3Meaning
In the earlier literature, mlttaimi has been taken as a personal name (Bugge 1897a:85, but doubted by Melchert in DLL:99). Differently, Meriggi 1936b:278 (and Meriggi 1978c:244) suspects that it is a female family term. Schürr 2001e:144 n. 6 (and Schürr 2016a:763f.) takes it as a participle derived from the Anatolian word for ‘honey’, i.e. “honeyed” (followed by Gehrisch 2018a:38 “geliebt, süß-gemacht“). This is possible only if Lycian retains the unlenited tenuis *melit- (as opposed to CLuw. mallīt- (with lenited -t-) ‘honey’). The hypothesis is highly attractive in view of HLuw. /mallidimma/i-/, which also serves as an attribute of a person meaning ‘honey-sweet, attractive’.Differently, Shevoroshkin 1977a:137 connects it to the root of Lyc. A mla- ‘votive offering’, which is not impossible, but less likely. For a combinatory argumentation for identifying it as an attribute of the daughter of the inscription, see wezzeime/i-.
[D.S.]
1.1.4Stem
The word mlttaime/i- represents a participle belonging to a stem in -a(i)-(di) (if not derived directly from the base noun); see Sasseville 2021a:99.
[D.S.]