(MANUS)li-*375-
‘to damage, destroy (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 3330
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
(MANUS)li-*375-
‘to damage, destroy (?)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is probably attested five times in inscriptions from Tell Ahmar, Malatya and Karkamiš, dating from the 12th to the early or mid-8th century BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| 3sg. pres. act. | /…/ | (“MANUS+*218”)li(-x?)-ti | TELL AHMAR frag. 5, l.1 (Tell Ahmar) |
| (MANUS)li-*375-ti | GÜRÜN, §6 (Malatya) | ||
| li-*375-ti | ŞIRZI, §5 (Malatya) | ||
| [li]-*375-˹ti?˺ | ŞIRZI, §8 (Malatya) | ||
| inf. | /…/ | MANUS.*218.LA/I/U | CEKKE, §21 (Karkamiš) |
The broken sign x at TELL AHMAR frag. 5, l.1 is potentially compatible with *375, but too little is preserved for a positive identification.
In view of the other attestations, CEKKE should probably be understood as 〈(MANUS.*218)LI〉.
[A.P.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this word is partly unclear, because sign *375 has yet to be fixed with a reading. Hawkins 2000a:298f. considers it a likely syllabogram, yet its rare occurrences make an identification difficult. The sign sometimes occurs with double horizontal bars at the bottom, suggesting that it should be understood to have an a-vocalisation. Taking into account another attestation of the sign in HLuw. /tawall(i)-/ ‘evil eye (?)’, its syllabic value could be /wa/, but a putative verb /liwa-/ does not readily connect with any cognates, either, and thus more evidence is required for taking the reading /wa/ out of the hypothetical realm.
[AH.B.] [A.P.]
1.1.4Meaning
Even though the phonological form of the word is unclear and it has yet to be etymologically connected, its meaning becomes clear from its contexts of attestation. Thus, it occurs mostly in the protases of curse formulae and denotes a damaging action the object in question is to be protected against, see Hawkins 2000a:298. For instance, the roadside inscription ŞIRZI, §5 ends with a curse formula: za-pa-wa/i i-mára/i PES2.PES-pa-mi-na kwa/i-sá ARHA li-*375-ti, approx. /zan=ba=wa immari tarpammin kwis ahha li…Ti/, meaning ‘(He) who destroys this country highway, (the stag-god Runtiya of the Open Country shall trample him terribly and bring disaster upon him)’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:323). Combined with the adverb /ahha/ ‘back, away’, the damaging action can be expected to be fully destructive.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
Unclear beyond the fact that the verb belongs to the stems taking the mi-conjugation. If the a-vocalisation of sign *375 should turn out correct, the verb may be a stem in /-a-(ti)/, cf. Sasseville 2021a:19-21.
[AH.B.]