MAGNUS.CENTUM
‘commander of one-hundred, centurion (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst
- ID
- 3274
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
MAGNUS.CENTUM
‘commander of one-hundred, centurion (?)’1.1.1Transmission
This hapax is attested in a single inscription from Tabal, dating to c. 740–730 BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom. sg. | /…/ | MAGNUS.CENTUM | SUVASA insc. D (Tabal) |
[A.P.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
For a lack of syllabic renditions, the phonological interpretation of this word remains unclear. The logograms MAGNUS (*363) and CENTUM (*399) otherwise usually represent HLuw. /ura(/i)-/ ‘great’ and HLuw. CENTUM ‘one-hundred’ respectively, but the phonological interpretation of the latter has so far remained in the dark.
The sign MAGNUS is consistently placed above other signs it belongs with, and its relative placement therefore does not necessarily have any bearing on the order of the words; cf. the discussions below.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The word is attested in a brief and badly fragmented inscription at SUVASA D: EXERCITUS zi x x x -ia? x x x-a-ia x MAGNUS.CENTUM x x tax -na-ri+i ara/i? ta?-u-tax?, with the only identifiable words being EXERCITUS, i.e. /kwalan-/ ‘army’, and MAGNUS.CENTUM (cf. Hawkins 2000a:462). The meaning ‘commander of one-hundred, centurion(?)’ is assigned tentatively, but seems to be a reasonable choice due to the presence of EXERCITUS and the fact that the HLuw. corpus holds a number of titles with MAGNUS, i.e. /ura/i-/ ‘great’. Hawkins 2000a:463 points out the parallel with Akkadian rab mē ‘commander of one-hundred’, whereas Hittite uses UGULA.10 and UGULA LÚMEŠ, i.e. not an exact match.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
Since the word can be assumed to refer to an animate entity, it can be hypothesised to be a common gender. If it should represent a compound of the type MAGNUS.REX, i.e. /hantawattura-/ ‘Great King’, it can be presumed also to end in /-ura(/i)-/, cf. Yakubovich 2017a:41f., but the beginning of the word remains unclear for now.
[AH.B.]