šalḫitt(i)-

This lexeme is found in a ritual text for a man (CTH 492), in the myth of Telipinu and related fragments (CTH 324, 325) and in a ritual for Ištar of Ninive.

[D.S.]

nom. sg.	šal-ḫi-it-ti-iš	KUB 47.59 obv. 10’	(CTH 492, NS)
	šal-ḫi-it-ti-i[š]	KUB 33.12 iv 22’	(CTH 324, NS)
acc. sg.	šal-ḫi-it-ti-in	KBo 2.9 i 23’	(CTH 716, LNS)
		KBo 23.3, 4’	(CTH 458, MS?)
	[šal?-ḫi?-it?-t]i?-˹in˺	KUB 33.24 i 9	(CTH 325, LNS)

Pace CHD Š:92, KUB 47.59 obv. 16’ is not an additional attestation, but rather the same one as KUB 47.59 obv. 10’. The last restored form could belong to the other lexeme šalḫant(i)- instead. For the lexeme šalḫant(i)-, which results from a different stem formation, see under lemma.

[D.S.]

Checked against the photographs in the Konkordanz (Mainzer Fotoarchiv).

[D.S.]

The lexeme šalḫitt(i)- is mainly attested in beneficial formulas and often paired with mannitt(i)- ‘fertility’, then refering to a natural condition. From a contextual and an etymological perspective with Hitt. šalli- ‘great’, it is usually translated with ‘growth, prosperity (vel sim.)’ (CHD Š:92, HEG S:765f., CLL:186, Hoffner 1998b:18 “plenty”, Tischler 2008a:157, Fuscagni 2011b, Melchert 2014e:261, but left untranslated by Beckman 1983a:55 and Mazoyer 2003a:80, and doubted by EDHIL:710), although the basic sense should be ‘magnitude, plenty’ as per Hoffner (since it occurs right after miyātar ‘growth, prosperity’ in KBo 2.9 i 23’, the same sense for šalḫitt(i)- appears redundant, even though a (near-)synonym is entirely possible).

[D.S.]

Melchert 1999d:23 compares convincingly the parallel formations of šalḫitt(i)- and šalḫant(i)- with those of Hitt. tukzi- (< Pre-Hitt. *tuk-ti-) and tukanzi- (Pre-Hitt. *tuk-ant-i-). For the base of the formation in -tt(i)-, Melchert 2014e:261 assumes a substantive in -i-, which he also takes as the source of the i-adjective, which is wholly unnecessary. The formation šalḫ-i-tt(i)- with the retention of the -i- implies an old formation built on the i-adjective *šalḫ-i- before the paradigmatic phenomenon of i-mutation developed, i.e. šalḫ-a/i- (with derivational vowel -a-).

[D.S.]

For the lemma head see CLuw. šalḫa(/i)-.