*gull-

Based on the tool-word ^GIŠgulluštānn(i)- ‘muller’, Melchert (DCL:s.v.) suggests an etymological connection with the PIE root *k^u̯elh₁- ‘to turn’, which is otherwise attested in Anatolian as kwal- < PAnat. *k^u̯el-). The recognition of the root kull- with a geminate -ll- demonstrates the presence of the *h₁ in Anatolian and this variant must therefore be reconstructed as *k^u̯l̥h₁-´, in which the zero-grade of the root is kept and generalized for all its derivatives (see below). There are different nominal formations that are based on this zero-grade of the root, e.g. a non-attested noun in *-o- or *-eh₂- meaning perhaps ‘ring’ as the base of gullant(i)- ‘ring-shaped’ (contra HED K:238f.), a neuter stem in -us- (hiding an original u-stem) found in gulluš- and used as the base of gulluštānn(i)- ‘muller’ < *k^u̯l̥h₁-us-to- + -é-no- and thematized gulluša- ‘flour, coarse meal (?)’. It is also worth noting the late reduplicated noun ku-ggull-a- c. ‘round disk’ and its derivative kuggullāimma/i- ‘decorated with round plates’ (cf. HED K:234), which the labial part of the initial consonant is used as a vowel in the reduplicated syllable. This may imply that the original labio-velar *k^u̯ was undone to a velar following by a u-vowel before the vocalic resonant *l̥, i.e. /ku-kkull-/.

To account for the loss of the root-final *h₁ in PAnat. *k^u̯el- ‘to turn’, one must assume that it was lost perhaps via Pinault’s Law in a formation of the type *k^u̯élh₁-i̯e/o- and then generalized to all closely associated verbal stem types, such as in the causative *k^u̯ol-éi̯e- > CLuw. kuwal(a)i-^(di); cf. PAnat. *u̯ér(h₁)-i̯e/o- beside analogical *u̯ér-/u̯r-´.

[D.S.]