korfi-^(d)

This lexeme is found once in a final formula of a poetic inscription found at the cemetery of Sardis and datable to the 5^th or 4^th century BCE.

[I.Y.]

The verb occurs in the protasis of the text-final formula, which occupies the same structural position as the curse formulae in many other Lydian inscriptions.  Its apodosis features the predicate nid kantrod ‘(let him) not hand over/allow’. The protasis contains the infinitive ifrol, which is apparently dependent on the verbal phrase fakorfid katofn. It appears likely on contextual grounds that fakorfid katofn means ‘undertakes an attempt’, or something similar, while ifrol refers to an undesirable action, which will not be allowed according to the apodosis of the same sentence.

The contextual analysis proposed above squares well with the etymological connection between korfi- and Hitt. karpiye/a-^(mi) ‘to take away, lift’, offered for the first time in Carruba 1963a:394 and accepted in Oettinger 1978a:87. The translation fakorfi-^(d) ‘to undertake’ is systematically used in Melchert 1994a and became standard in modern treatments of Anatolian historical grammar. The tentative translation ‘to damage’, proposed in Brandenstein 1931b:13,40 and adopted in Gusmani 1964a:120 can be now considered obsolete.

[I.Y.]

As plausibly argued in Melchert 1992a:47-50, the Lydian verbal i-stems triggering lenition on the ending in 3sg. pres. represent reflexes of Anatolian *-i̯e/o- stems, which are accented on the root. The accent on the root is directly supported in this case by the presence of the vowel -o-, which does not occur in unstressed position in Lydian (Gérard 2005a:54). The verbal stem korfi- is attested in combination with the prefix fa-; cf. šawkorfλ[.

[I.Y.]