/kuruppa(/i)-/, ku-ru-pi-

This lexeme is attested twice in inscriptions from Assur, dating from to the late 8^th century BCE.

[A.P.]

dat./loc. sg.	/kuruppi/	ku-ru-pi	ASSUR letter f+g, §37 (Assur)
			ASSUR letter b, §5 (Assur)

Scholars have put forward different morphological analyses for the forms listed above. Morpurgo Davies 1980b:98 suggests a dat./loc. sg., as followed here, whereas Hawkins 2000a:544 (followed by Giusfredi 2010b:214 n. 427) analyses ASSUR letter b, §5 and ASSUR letter f+g, §37 as nom./acc. pl. of a neuter noun. Yet, the latter view seems unnecessary with the reinterpretation of the phrase /warma tapsallaiya/, which constitutes a more likely direct object in the respective clauses (pace Hawkins 2000a:543), cf. the discussion of the meaning below.

[A.P.] [AH.B.]

This word long escaped interpretation,E.g. Meriggi 1967b:134 suggests ‘vow’ (“voto”); Hawkins 2000a:544 adduces an unlikely comparison with a type of ovid. but Giusfredi 2010b:214 n. 427 links it to Akkadian kuruppu ‘(a basket or container)’ (cf. also CAD K:581, AHw:513) and suggests that it denotes a type of basket. Giusfredi 2012a:155 argues that several words for different types of vessels and containers in Hittite have stems in /°p(i)-/, e.g. ^DUGḫuppi- and ^DUGkappi-.For his HLuw. comparison, spelt 〈CAELUM.PI〉, now see HLuw. /tabisa-/ ‘cup’. His semantic assignment is further bolstered by the fact that the phrase /warma tapsallaiya/ (also in reverse order), exclusive to the ASSUR letters so far, likely denotes a commodity that is transported in /kuruppa(/i)-/ or /arut(i)-/ ‘basket’, each attested twice; see HLuw. /arut(i)-/ ‘basket’, HLuw. /tapsallaiya-/ ‘(unknown)’, and HLuw. /warma-/ ‘(unknown)’.The co-occurrence is also noticed by Hawkins 2000a:543, but he reaches a rather different conclusion, regarding the phrase as modal adverbial. ASSUR letter b, §5 reads: a-wa/i á-pi ku-ru-pi kwa/i-ia (“*286.*317”)(-´)wa/i-ra+a-ma LEPUS-pa-sà-la-ia ARHA-a (“*69”)sa-ha-na, approx. /a=wa appi kuruppi kwiya warma tapsallaiya ahha sahhan/, perhaps translating as ‘Back (with me), the high quality (?) warma-s that I released out of/from the kuruppi-basket, (collect them and dispatch them to me!)’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:534).

[AH.B.]

If the analysis of the two attestations as dat./loc. sg. is correct, the grammatical gender of /kuruppa(/i)-/ remains in the dark.Hawkins 2000a:544 (followed by Giusfredi 2010b:214 n. 427) assumes a neuter noun with a nom./acc. pl. in /-i/. However, the words used in Hittite such as ^DUGḫuppi- and ^DUGkappi- are common genders, and a similar assumption is hence possible for HLuw.

[AH.B.]