/niba/, ni-pa
‘or’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- conj
- ID
- 3158
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/niba/, ni-pa
‘or’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested 84 times in inscription from Commagene, the Amuq, Tabal, Assur and Karkamiš dating from the late 10th to early 7th century BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
The above offers a representative selection, omitting broken attestations.
Perhaps 〈NEG3-sa-pa-wa/i-ta〉 at BOROWSKI 3: § 3 should also be included; Hawkins & Morpurgo Davies 2010a:110-112 and esp. 114f. analyse it as /nisba/.
[A.P.] [AH.B.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
Once the signs 〈ni, ní〉 (*411 and *214 resp.) were realised to have the vocalic value /i/ instead of /a/ by Mittelberger 1962a:280, followed by Hawkins, Morpurgo Davies & Neumann 1973a:9, the phonological interpretation of the present lexeme changed from mistaken /naba/ to correct /niba/.Usually spelt as napa and nipa in scholarly literature at the time, representing a less bound transcription closer to the HLuw. spelling, cf. the remarks by Hawkins & Morpurgo Davies 2010a:111 note 18. It was realised only later, upon the elucidation of NEG2 by Hawkins 1975a, that /naba/ existed after all, see naba ‘or’ for details. Even so, the parts of this compound particle are well-known from other contexts, and the assigned phonological shape can therefore be deemed secure, cf. the discussions below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning of this word has long been clear, see already Meriggi 1932a:49f., although the phonological interpretation had gone awry at first, and scholars read it as /naba/, as pointed out above. Even so, Meriggi was able to identify it as a disjunctive ‘or’, which, when paired, may mean ‘either—or’; see also Hawkins 1975a:124.
Contextually, the particle is a mainstay in curse formulae, often found linking together multi-part protrases, e.g. in ANCOZ 7, §§10-12: ni-pa-wa/i-tà ARHA MALLEUS ni-pa-wa/i-tà a-tá i-ma-ni-ti ni-pa LOCUS-la/i-za [(SA4)]sa-ni-ti-i, approx. /niba=wa=ada ahha wallai niba=wa=ada anta imnitti niba allan=za sanidi/, meaning ‘(He who takes away out of viciousness this table from before the stag-god Runtiya of the Open Country, the goddess Lady Kubaba, and the god Tasku), or smashes it (to pieces), or topples it over, or removes the place, (or …, then these gods shall be opponents to him!)’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:357).
/niba/ most frequently occurs clause-initially, but can also be found clause-internally, e.g. at KARKAMIŠ A6, §30 and ASSUR letters a, §10 and c, §9. Notably, it is followed by the particle /=wa/ in these cases, which usually marks the beginning of a new clause, cf. the discussion by Hawkins & Morpurgo Davies 2010a:113f.
There is no discernible semantic difference between /niba/ and /naba/. Rather, Hawkins & Morpurgo Davies 2010a:112 note that /niba/ appears slowly to replace /naba/ throughout the course of the 1st millennium BCE, although there is considerable temporal overlap between the two forms. As the later of the two forms, /niba/ is not expected to feature in older inscriptions from the 2nd millennium BCE (cf. also Hawkins & Morpurgo Davies 2010a:110).
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The particle is a compound of the prohibitive negation /ni/ and the connective particle /=ba/ ‘and, but’, see Morpurgo Davies 2011a:211 also for details on the grammaticalisation process.
For previous, outdated morphological analyses, cf. e.g. the synopsis given by Morpurgo Davies 1975a:160f.
[AH.B.]