/tarkasni(ya)-/, ASINUS(ANIMA)
‘homer (unit of weight)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Class
- Derivative
- Grammar
- subst
- ID
- 321
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/tarkasni(ya)-/, ASINUS(ANIMA)
‘homer (unit of weight)’1.1.1Transmission
The lexeme is attested three times in the royal inscriptions of Carchemish of the 10th and 8th centuries.
[I.Y.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. sg. | /tarkasniyan=za/ | ASINUS(ANIMA) | KARKAMIŠ A11a, §10 (Carchemish) |
| ASINUS | KARKAMIŠ A2, §8 (Carchemish) | ||
| /tarkasnin=za/ | ASINUS(ANIMA)-i-za | CEKKE, §7 (Carchemish) |
For the lexical assignment of the nom. sg. forms as units of weight see already Hawkins 1986b:96b, 98a. The stem identification, however, comes from the last context. According to Hawkins 2000a:148a this is a “collective” acc. sg. n. derived from /tarkasna-/ ‘donkey’, but the stem i-vocalism remains unclear under such an assumption. In addition, the collective plurals normally coincide with acc. pl. n. rather than acc. sg. n. forms. It stands to reason that that the form in CEKKE, §7 cannot belong to the same lemma as /tarkasna-/ ‘donkey’. It is tentatively identified as an -i(ya)- derivative in Hawkins & Morpurgo Davies 1998a:252, but its ostensive neuter gender speaks rather against assigning it to /tarkasni(ya)-/ c. ‘equid’. In contrast, nothing formally precludes taking this neuter form as belonging to a lemma for a unit of weight, which is derived from the word for ‘donkey’. This would explain its neuter gender as a lexical property, which differentiates the lexeme under discussion from /tarkasniya-/ c. For the predominant use of singular forms with numerals higher than four, see Bauer 2011a.
[I.Y.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
The logogram ASINUS yields a marginal support to the synchronic connection of the stem under discussion from /tarkasna-/ rather than /tarkasni(ya)-/ c. This argument, however, is not conclusive in view of the aberrant form (“ASINUS”)tara/i-ka-sa-ni-ia-za in BULGARMADEN, §9; cf. the discussion under /tarkasniya-/ c.
[I.Y.]
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
See under HLuw. /tarkasna-/. The absence of contraction /tarkasniyan=za/ > /tarkasnin=za/ in 10th century inscriptions is likely in view of /tadiyan=za/ ‘paternal’ (KARKAMIŠ A11a, §3, KARKAMIŠ A2, §2).
[I.Y.]
1.1.4Meaning ‘homer’
The lexeme under discussion always is modified by numerals in all the attested examples. The nom. sg. forms occur in statements of ideal prices involving units of barley, as seen in Hawkins 1986b. Based on etymological considerations, but also taking into consideration the parallel Neo-Assyrian contexts, this measure is identified as homer, i.e. standard donkey load, in the same publication. For the likely restriction of the use of this unit to Syria and its possible complementary character with the /tiwattall(i)/-measure, see Giusfredi 2010b:181f.
The acc. sg. form apparently refers to a price for the purchase of a town Hawkins 2000a:145. A peculiarity of this passage is that it mentions ‘600 homers’ without indicating the commodity being measured. It is apparently left to the reader to infer it from context. One may wonder whether 600 donkey-loads of grain can be high enough of a price for the acquisition of a settlement unless the deal involved political pressure.
[I.Y.]
1.1.5Stem
/tarkasni(ya)-/ represents a synchronic derivative in -i(ya)- of the stem /tarkasna-/. For a similar example of the substantivized i(ya)-derivative, cf. /tarkasna-/ c. In this case one can start with the literal meaning “(load) typical for a donkey”, or something similar.
[I.Y.]
For the lemma head see Luw. /targasna-/.