pawari(ya)-

Hapax in the so-called Comprehensive Annals of Muršili II.

[Zs.S.]

3rd sg. pret. ind. act.

pa-wa-ar-it-ta

KUB 14.20 i 11

(CTH 61, NS)

Attestation following CLL:175 and CHD s.v. (cf. also Ünal 2007a:535, Ünal 2016a:410; EDHIL:613; HED Pa:23) checked against the photograph of the Konkordanz.

CHD s.v. unnecessarily and methodologically speaking dubiously corrects the text into pa-wa-ar-<ri>-it-ta (followed by HED Pa:23 and implicitly Ünal 2007a:535, Ünal 2016a:410; similarly Starke 1990a:571) for reasons not disclosed.

[Zs.S.]

Although the first commentators cautiously translated the verb as ‘to bivouac’ (Götze 1933a:195, 266, with question mark; Friedrich 1952a:157; Otten 1968a:113; Oettinger 1976a:102; Houwink ten Cate 1979a:163; but also today: Zinko & Zinko 2007a:748), there is now a general agreement since Neu 1970a:48 n. 20 that the verb means ‘to light a fire’ (CLL:175; Melchert 2005a:450; Rieken 1999a:333; CHD s.v.; Ünal 2007a:535, Ünal 2016a:410; EDHIL:613; Tischler 2008a:143, Tischler 2016a:271 [however, with question mark and still adding ‘biwakieren’ in HEG P:550, just like Starke 1990a:571]). The context is as follows (KUB 14.20 i 10-13 + KBo 19.76 i 23-26; transcription, restoration and translation following CHD P:249, with slight orthographic changes):

INA ^URUPittag[aišša t]uzziyanun nu=za maḫ[ḫ]a[n] KARAŠ^ḪI.A=ma pawaritta ^DU NIR.GÁL[=ma=mu] EN=YA parā ḫandatar namma tetkušnun nu GE₆-an ḫūmandan ḫēuwaneškit ˹nu˺ IMBARU=ya dāiš nu=kan namma ^LÚKÚR ŠA KARAŠ paḫḫur UL aušta

‘I [= the Hittite Great King] encamped in Pittag[aišša]. But when the army p., the mighty Stormgod, my lord, showed (!) [me] his divine power again: it rained all night, and he laid a fog as well; so the enemy no longer could see the camp fires.’

CHD P:249 argues that “the mention of the enemy no longer being able to see the camp fires immediately after the action pawarritta” supports Neu’s idea (who, however, based his idea only on the similarity of the phrases KARAŠ^ḪI.A pawaritta and ŠA KARAŠ paḫḫur). This is actually not true, since p. and the camp fires are not necessarily connected. Nevertheless, the presence of tuzziya- ‘to encamp’ shows that p. cannot mean ‘to bivouac’, but must refer to another activity, a part of bivouacking, in this context the meaning ‘to light a fire’ indeed makes sense.

[Zs.S.]

There is a general agreement that we are dealing with a Luwian word (Götze 1933a:266; Friedrich 1952a:167 [both of them cautiously]; Laroche 1959a:81; Oettinger 1976a:102f.; Starke 1990a:571; CLL:175, Melchert 2005a:450; CHD s.v.; Rieken 1999a:333; van den Hout 2007a:248; Ünal 2007a:535, Ünal 2016a:410; Tischler 2008a:143, Tischler 2016a:271 [with question mark, however, in HEG P:550]; HED Pa:23).

This is based on two observations: first, that the verb shows a Luwian ending (Oettinger 1976a:103; Melchert 2005a:450, implicitly already Götze 1933a:266; Starke 1990a:571) and, second, that it is a denominative from Luwian pāḫūr ‘fire’ (see s.v.) via the loss of the laryngeal before /w/, which is a Luwian phenomenon (Oettinger 1976a:10; Starke 1990a:572; Rieken 1999a:333; EDHIL:613f.; HED Pa:24; cf. in general Melchert 1994a:258). Starke 1990a:572 rightly pointed out that this loss involves <ḫ>, but not <ḫḫ>, which again implies a Luwian origin (cf. Luw. pāḫūr ‘fire’ but Hitt. paḫḫur ‘id.’).

According to Neu 1970a:48 n. 20, this is a Hittite word, rejecting the idea of a Luwian ending (referring to papritta from paprē- ‘to be proven guilty by ordeal’ in KBo 3.28 ii 19; which is, however, not an active, but a middle form, cf. CHD P:106 with refs.). He recognized the problem of the missing laryngeal, for which he suggested (with question mark) the different ablaut grades as a possible reason (which is not helpful without further explanations) as well as pointing to laryngeal / zero alternations in Hittite words, which however, either do not exist (ḫanda(i)š- ‘heat’ vs. ā(i)-/i- ‘to be hot’, cf. EDHIL:164–166, 292f., resp. with refs.) or have a different explanation (armaḫḫant- ‘pregnant’ vs. armant- ‘dto’ are based on armaḫḫ- ‘to make pregnant’ and armae- ‘to be pregnant’, resp., where the former is a regular derivative of the latter, cf. EDHIL:207; the change irḫwi- > irui- ‘basket’ does exist, but this is a Luwian word, see CLL:92f. and s.v., for its explanation see above).

[Zs.S.]