alašša/i-

The lexeme occurs in two ritual texts, one of which belongs to the Tauriša tradition, and a fragment with presumably mythological content (all NS).

[E.R.]

acc. pl. c.	a-la-aš-ši-in-zi	KBo 13.260 iii 6’	(CTH 766, NS)
nom./acc. sg. n. or dat./loc. pl.	⸢a⸣-la-a-aš-ša-za	VBoT 60 i 6’	(CTH 770, NS)

In Kizzuwatna Luwian, the ending -inzi marks the nom. pl. c. However, in the present context, an acc. pl. is needed (contra CLL:8), which leads to the conclusion that -inzi must show the influence of Empire Luwian, where the two cases merged in the plural (Yakubovich 2010a:337-345). – For a-a-la-aš-⸢ša⸣(-)[ at KUB 60.59 iv 9’ and a-a-l[a- ibid. iv 10’ (cited in CLL:8), see under ālašša(/i)- in Hittite transmission.

[E.R.]

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv. In ⸢a⸣-la-a-aš-ša-za at VBoT 60 i 6’, the nasal of the ending is graphically suppressed.

[E.R.]

No semantic interpretation is offered in the handbooks mentioning the word (DLL:25, CLL:8, HHw:13, Ünal 2007a:16). In a recent article, Rieken & Yakubovich 2022a:276f. suggested a meaning ‘wild’ for the lexeme, based on 1) the assumed etymological relation with aliya- ‘wild animal (?)’ and 2) the context of KBo 13.260 iii 6’-9’, in which it occurs as the first member of a list that was assumed to include also terrifying, ill-making, and extremely aggressive persons. The other contexts, within Luwian and Hittite, do not provide any further information.

Meanwhile, it became clear that the listed persons are not the aggressors, but the ones suffering from oppression, i.e. the terrified, the ill and the eviscerated (see under the lemma CLuw. šarḫā(i)-). Accordingly, the passive meaning ‘alienated’ for alašša/i-, still in accordance with the connection with the root al- ‘other, distant, alien’, suits the context better.

[E.R.]

It is obvious that the word is derived with the suffix -ašša/i-, used for the formation of genitival adjectives. Melchert (in CLL:8) proposes as its base an unattested noun *ala- or a substantivization of the adjective āla/i- (thus also DLL:25). CLuw. āla/i- is translated synchronically as ‘distant’ here. The meaning ‘alienated’, assumed for alašša/i- here, indicates that the underlying root showed additional connotations that also triggered the development of another branch of the word family.

[E.R.]

1. alaššamma/i-

For the lemma head see CLuw. āla/i-.