hẽmene/i-

This lexeme is attested in the inscription of the inscribed pillar of Xanthos, dated contextually to shortly after the ascension of Artaxerxes II in 405-404 BCE and stylistically to around 400 BCE (Borchhardt & Eichner 1997-1999a:19f.).

[D.S.]

abl./instr.

hẽmenedi

TL 44a.36 (Xanthos)

The word hẽmenedi is an attribute of esbedi ‘with horses’, a word further characterized by trm͂milijedi se=medezedi ‘Lycian and Median’. Starke 1990a:297 suggests the meaning ‘victorious’, assuming a connection to the Lycian word ahãma-, which he translates with ‘victory’ (but here interpreted as ‘occupation (?)’, see under lemma). A different approach is put forward by Hajnal 1995a:51 n. 53, who compares Hitt. šāmana- c. ‘foundation’ and attributes the meaning ‘monument, image’ to Lyc. hẽmenedi, though without a contextual analysis. His approach is followed by Eichner 2005a:24 n. 126, who then translates the passage esbedi : hẽmenedi : trm͂milijedi : se=medezedi as ‘on horses on both Lycian and Median grounds’, assuming that hẽmenedi means ‘ground’. However, his translation using the “locative” completely neglects the abl./instr. cases and is therefore unpersuasive. Cau 1999c:26 follows Meriggi 1980b:226 in taking hẽmenedi as an ethnicon meaning ‘Achaemenid’, which is contextually possible, though phonologically difficult to motivate.

Adducing an etymological connection with HLuw. sà-ma-ia, an epithet of wild beast (see under lemma), Schürr 2012a:139 translates hẽmenedi with ‘bows’, assuming that the HLuw. word means ‘shooting’ (following Payne 2010a:99).

Finally, Neumann (apud HEG S:1040 and Neumann 2007a:93) deduces from the context that the word should mean ‘combined’, i.e. ‘with combined Lycian and Median horses’, which makes sense both contextually and grammatically. Moreover, he adduces the PIE root *sem- ‘one’ as further evidence, which reinforces his approach (followed by DLL:23 and Gehrisch 2018a:62). His interpretation is also preferred here, but definite proof is still lacking.

[D.S.]

The attribute hẽmenedi may reflect a mutated stem in -ẽne/i-, although a thematization in -e/i- (< *-o-) from an original stem in *-men-/-mn̥- (as per Starke 1990a:297) would in principle be possible. The stem assignment also depends on the etymology of the noun, for which see under Meaning.

[D.S.]