*ku̯od
‘what, why’
- Language
- Proto-Anatolian
- Grammar
- adv
- ID
- 3181
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Palaic
=kuwāt
‘anyhow, in any way’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is found in a mythical passage of an Old Hittite ritual.
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| indecl. | ku-wa-a-at | KUB 32.18 i 8’ | (CTH 752, OS or MS) |
| ku-wa-at | KUB 35.168 i 3’ | (CTH 752, OS) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photograph in the Konkordanz (Mainzer Fotoarchiv).
[D.S.]
1.1.4Meaning
Melchert 1984b:28 analyzes kuwāt as an adverb of manner, e.g. ni=kuwat parāit ‘He did not emerge in any way.’ (KUB 35.168 3’). On the pragmatic level, Melchert shows persuasively that it can be used in a question to express a distancing emotion such as impatience or dismay, e.g. kāt=kuwāt kuit ‘What the hell is this?’ (KUB 32.18 i 8’). Outdated Carruba 1970a:61, Carruba 1972a:10 n. 12.
[D.S.]
2. Reconstruction
2.1Reconstruction ‘what, why’
Equating Hitt. kuwat ‘why’ with Pal. =kuwāt and perhaps also Lyd. =kod (in nã=kukod and edkok) (see Carruba 1961a:461, Melchert 1992a:32 n. 3), a PAnat. pronominal stem *ku̯od ‘what, why’ (LIPP II:455) can be reconstructed.
[D.S.]