dammara-

Known from (a) NS Hittite oracle text(s).

[Zs.S.]

Attestation following CLL:204 (cf. already Laroche 1959a:89), with corrected determinative, checked against the photographs of the Konkordanz. Most of the further attestations show either exclusively Hittite endings or no endings (Pecchioli Daddi 1982a:260f., 397f.), but ^MUNUSdam-ma-ra-a-aš in KUB 5.6 ii 36’ and ^LÚdam-ma-ra-a-aš in KUB 5.6 ii 16’ are ambiguous, since in theory they can be both Luwian and Hittite nom. sg. c. Since all forms are attested only in NS manuscripts (KUB 5.6; KUB 18.3; KUB 16.1), it it not possible to decide whether they should be read with dam or da_x, thus showing a non-geminated nasal (cf. Melchert 1991b:126; Hoffner & Melchert 2008a:19).

[Zs.S.]

Since Sommer 1932a:279 n. 3 this word is traditionally translated as ‘cult personnel of low rank’ (Friedrich 1952a:207 and HEG T,D:70, Tischler 2008a:184, Tischler 2016a:350), similarly Ünal 2007a:674 (in the German and Turkish version, but ‘a functionary’ in the English version), Ünal 2016a:507 (only as ‘cult functionary’), who, however, translated it earlier as ‘priestess (of middle rank)’ (Ünal 2005a:74, 75, 87f.). Only CLL:204 does not give any meaning.

According to the texts the dammara- were both male and female and served in temples, their job included simple tasks as grinding (KUB 5.6 ii 26’-27’), making amends for imprecations and the purification of a temple (KUB 5.6 ii 46’-47’), catching intrusive snakes, slaughtering a sheep (KUB 16.16 obv. 13-14) and other offerings (KUB 16.16 obv. 19), cf. also Haas 2008a:124. Thus, the traditional translation ‘cult personnel of low rank’ is probably precise.

[Zs.S.]

Listed as Luwian by virtually all scholars (Friedrich 1952a:207; Laroche 1959a:89; Pecchioli Daddi 1982a:397; CLL:204 [but not in the list of Luwianisms of Melchert 2005a]; van den Hout 2007a:250; Ünal 2007a:674, Ünal 2016a:507; Tischler 2008a:184 [but not in Tischler 2016a:350]; Yakubovich 2010d:32). According to Neumann 1961a:37, the word was marked “gelegentlich” by gloss wedge(s), but actually none of the attestations mentioned in the literature is marked with gloss wedges (no example is to be found in the forthcoming CHD T s.v. either, Oğuz Soysal per litt. 15 May 2016).

The Luwian classification of this form is undoubtedly correct in view of its Luwian ending. Whether the forms with Hittite endings represent a fully integrated Luwian loanword or a genuine Hittite word can be decided only on etymological grounds and since its etymology is unclear (cf. under Reconstruction), it must remain an open question.

[Zs.S.]

The word dammara- ‘a type of temple servants’ is suggested to be borrowed in two languages, Cypriote Greek and Biblical Hebrew.

First, Neumann 1961a:36f. identified a reflex of dammara- ‘a type of temple servants’ in the Cypriote Greek priestly title Ταμιράδαι known from a Hesychian gloss explained as ἱερεῖς τινες ἐν Κύπρῳ ‘certain priests in Cyprus’ (followed by Arbeitman 2000b:348–350). Since he follows the claim of Tacitus (Historiae II.3) that elements of the cult of Aphrodite in Paphos were introduced by a Cilician called Tamira-, he derives the Greek term from this name (accepted also by Egetmeyer 2010a:289). Therefore, it is not clear how he imagined the exact relationship of the Anatolian and Greek words: a direct loanword from Cilician is excluded by the personal name, since the personal name serves as the morphological base of the title. The connection can be upheld in this account only if dammara- was secondarily used as a personal name, which is unusual. Even more problematic in this account is that the different vowels of the second syllable remain unexplained.

Morphologically speaking, the term Ταμιράδαι belongs to a transparent group of Cypriote Greek words built by the appurtenance suffix -adā-, e.g. pa-si-le-wa-ta-u /basilēwadau/ ‘de race royale’ or ti-ma-ta-u /Tīmadau/ (Egetmeyer 2010a:289). As these examples show, the suffix can be used both with appellatives and with personal names, thus tamira- can be both. Although the claim of Tacitus supports its identification as a personal name, it cannot be excluded that Tamira- was created only secondarily as an eponymous hero: probably the same applies to another group of priests of Aphrodite in Cyprus, the Kinyradai: in their name Kinyra- was identified with Kinyras, a mythical king of Cyprus, the founder of Aphrodite’s temple in Paphos.

Thus there are two possibilities: If Tamira- was originally indeed a personal name and Tacitus’s claim is correct, we arrive at the same problem as mentioned above. If tamira- was originally a simple appellative (and thus Tamira- only a legendary hero), it is not clear if Tacitus’s claim is enough to prove the Cilician origin of the word or we are just dealing with a local, Cypriote Greek word. Even if Tacitus’s claim could prove the Cilician origin of the word, the different vowels in the second syllable remain unexplained and exclude the derivation of Neumann. Either way, the “kilikische Priesterbezeichnung tamira-”, as formulated by HEG T,D:71, does not exist.

Second, based on the events related in Gen 38 (Judah’s sexual encounter with his widowed and disguised daughter-in-law, Tamar, whom he thinks to be a prostitute) Arbeitman 2000b:343–353 suggests that the Biblical Hebrew personal name Tāmār does not originate in the Semitic word tāmār ‘(date)palm tree’ as traditionally explained, but was originally an appellative meaning ‘cultic prostitute / temple priestess’ and in this form a loanword from dammara- ‘a type of temple servants’ referring also to the alleged function of the Anatolian title as cultic prostitutes.

Although Anatolian religious influence on Israel via the Neo-Hittite states is well-attested (Hutter 2004b), there is no specific reason why this personal name should at all originate in the Anatolian term. The dammara- was not a cultic prostitute: First, there were male dammara- too; second, the alleged promiscuity of the female dammara- is based on a remark of KUB 16.16 obv. 26’-27’, that they constantly sleep with men from Arzawa, from which, however, nothing follows. Thus there remains no reason why Tāmār should originally be a title and/or should originally mean ‘temple priestess’.

[Zs.S.]