/kwitta/, kwa/i-i-ta
‘where’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- adv
- ID
- 3178
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/kwitta/, kwa/i-i-ta
‘where’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested ten times in inscriptions from Karkamiš, Tell Ahmar, Maraş, Assur, Aleppo and Tabal, dating from the 10th to the late 8th century BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| indecl. | /kwitta/ | kwa/ix-tax | TOPADA, §25 (Tabal) |
| kwa/i-˹i˺-tá | KARKAMIŠ A27k, l.2 (Karkamiš) | ||
| kwa/i-ta | ASSUR letter c, §9 (Assur) | ||
| ASSUR letter f+g, §43 (Assur) | |||
| MARAŞ 1, §9 (Maraş) | |||
| kwa/i-i-ta | KARKAMIŠ A1a, §5 (Karkamiš) | ||
| KARKAMIŠ A1b, §2 (Karkamiš) | |||
| KARKAMIŠ A1b, §2 (Karkamiš) | |||
| BABYLON 1, §8 (Aleppo) | |||
| ˹kwa/i?˺-ta | ALEPPO 2, §3 (Tell Ahmar) |
[A.P.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this word is quite certain, even though it has no direct cognate in CLuw. However, the quality of the dental as /tt/ can be determined by etymology, and the absence of rhotacism in this word despite several occurrences in some very late texts corroborates it, although it does not serve as proof in itself.
It should be noted that the spelling leaves room for interpretation. Bossert 1949a:112 read it with a-vocalism,With an old reading for the first sign as /wa/. i.e. /kwadan/ or /kwattan/. Either is less likely than /kwittan/, though; see the discussion of the stem below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning of this lexeme proved difficult to pin down for some time, and early scholars made incremental progress. Thus, Hrozný 1933a:196 n. 9 had realised that the form belongs to the relative and interrogative pronoun,Transcribing it as “já-a-tà-ta” in accordance with the early transliterations for HLuw., which have long since been corrected. but had classified it as an ablative, not realising that it had become an adverb. Laroche 1956d:63, 66 eventually assigned the present meaning, comparing the word to Hittite kuwatta(n) ‘where(to)’. The meaning can be observed e.g. in ALEPPO 2, §3: *a-wa/i-mu *a-mi-i-sa (DOMINUS)na-ni-sa FRATER.LA-i-sa-ha X+RA/I-ti kwa/i?-ta, approx. /a=wa=mu ammis nannis …nis=ha …-Ti kwitta/, meaning ‘Where my lord and brother send me, (these gods shall walk with me for kingship)’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:236).
The lexeme can also occur in repetition /kwitta kwitta/, changing the semantics to indefiniteness, i.e. ‘wheresoever’, first noted by Meriggi 1934a:60Meriggi applies to the present lexeme an earlier realisation by Forrer 1932a:41 about repeated pronouns such as /kwatti kwatti/ ‘to whomever’ having an indefinite meaning. and observable e.g. in KARKAMIŠ A1b, §2: *a-wa/i-ti *a-mi-i-sa VIR-ti-i-sa kwa/i-i-ta kwa/i-i-ta á-lá/í-ma-za i-zi-i-sa-ta-i, approx. /a=wa=di ammis zidis kwitta kwitta alaman=za izzistai/, meaning ‘Wheresoever my man (i.e. husband) honours (his) name, (he also honours mine with goodness)’ (see Hawkins 2000a:92).
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
This word belongs to the family around the relative and interrogative pronoun HLuw. /kwi-/kwa-/ ‘who, which’. Based on the original nom./acc. sg. n. form */kwit/ (then still with its final stop intact), it was marked an adverb with the suffixation of /-a/, which also prevented the apocope otherwise ubiquitous for word-final stops.
[AH.B.]
1.1.6Derivatives
2. Proto-Indo-European
2.1Morphological Reconstruction
2.1.1Morphosyntactic Reconstruction
Hieroglyphic Luwian /kwitta/, kwa/i-i-ta ‘where’ (adverb) is likely to be reconstructed as PIE *ku̯id téh2, i.e., the interrogative *ku̯id ‘what’ and the allative form of the demonstrative *téh2 ‘thereto’. PIE *ku̯id téh2 was likely generalized from a focal cleft construction and copula-less nominal clause ‘what [is it directed] to; where’; cf. in the same vein the emergence of Fr. qui est-ce qui/ qu’est-ce que? as an innovative complex interrogative, and many more parallels in other Indo-European languages, such as: PIE *ku̯os só(s) ‘who [is] this (one)’ > Alb. kush ‘who’ (see Hackstein 2021, in the online dictionary DPEWA at #kapitel6">https://www.dpwa.gwi.uni-muenchen.de/dictionary/?lemmaid=9537kapitel6); PIE *ku̯os tód? > OCS kŭtó ‘who’; PIE *ku̯is só(s)? > West Tocharian kuse ‘who, what’; PIE *ku̯id tód > OCS čĭtó ‘what’ (for details and further examples, see Hackstein 2004a).
Crucially, under the reconstruction PIE *ku̯id teh2, Hieroglyphic Luwian /kwitta/, kwa/i-i-ta ‘where’ forms an equation with the East Tocharian interrogative pronoun East Tocharian tā ‘where?’ from *(ku)tā (Hackstein 2018b:102f.). East Tocharian tā ‘where?’ lends itself to the same reconstruction as PIE *ku̯id téh2 ‘what to(ward), where(to)’, with Tocharian aphaeresis of the *kwi-onset (see Hackstein 2017b:20f., and cf. West Tocharian kucé ‘what’ > ce, and kusé ‘who, what’> se), followed by PIE *téh2 > *tah2 > *ta which constitutes the PIE allative of the demonstrative stem *to- (cf. Pinault 2014a:301); for the juxtaposition of *kwid plus demonstrative adverbs, cf. also West Tocharian kutameṃ ‘whence’ (literally ‘what from?’), and Hilmarsson 1996a:198f.).
In light of the East Tocharian evidence, HLuw /kwitta/ ´where´ would be primary, and HLuw /kwittan/ ´where´ would exhibit the secondary addition of an -n.
[O.H.]