duddumišša
‘benevolence, grace’
- Language
- Hittite
- Grammar
- subst, n.
- ID
- 3461
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Luwian in Hittite transmission
duddumišša
‘benevolence, grace’1.1.1Transmission
The lexeme occurs only once in a Hittite instruction text.
[E.R.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. sg./pl. | du-ud-du-mi-eš-ša | KBo 16.24 i 53’ | (CTH 251, MS) |
Due to the following lacuna, it remains formally unclear whether the form du-ud-du-mi-eš-ša is a nom. sg. c. or neuter s-stem plus geminating -a ‘and’, or a Hittite noun in -eššar with the loss of final -r (for the phenomenon in pre-NH texts, see Neu 1982b). The latter two options are considered by Starke 1990a:119f. and HEG T:477 (incomprehensible Rizzi Mellini 1979a:546).
[E.R.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.
[E.R.]
1.1.4Meaning
The context of the noun runs as follows: ([That which] I have placed in your hands, [accom]plish every la[st bit of it]!) (53’)na-[aš-t]a ša DutuŠI du-ud-du-mi-eš-ša x[ ú-ul] (54’)[ku-e-d]a-ni-ik-k[i] me-er-zi ‘(Then) the benevolence of My Majesty [ ] won’t diminish for anyone’ (cf. Rizzi Mellini 1979a:522-525; differently Miller 2013a:172f.). The semantic interpretation starts from the assumption that duddumiešša is a cognate Luw. duddu- ‘to show mercy’ in Hittite transmission and CLuw. duddumani-(ti) ‘to have mercy on (?)’ and the Hittite word family of duddu- ‘to have mercy, grace’, and it accords well with the context (see Rizzi Mellini 1979a:522, 546, followed by Starke 1990a:119f., HEG T:477, Ünal 2007a:743, Miller 2013a:172f.; the semantic alternative ‘deafness’ suggested in HEG T:477 can be excluded on contextual grounds).
[E.R.]
1.1.5Stem
For Starke’s analysis as neuter s-stem, see under Forms. However, the interpretation as a Hittite abstract noun in -ešša(r) is the most attractive, since, in its variant proposed here, it needs the least number of steps: the attested Hittite verbal noun duddumar ‘mercy, grace’ (ša dingir-ia du-ud-du-mar ‘the grace of my (personal) god’, KUB 30.10 i 10), itself based on nominalized duddu- ‘mercy, grace’, a recharacterized abstract duddumieššar/n- serves as base for a derivational process also attested in Hitt. šunnumar → šunnummeššar ‘fill’ and wetumar → wetummeššar ‘building’.
[E.R.]
1.1.6Origin
A Luwian origin of the putative s-stem duddumiš- (see under Forms) was advocated by Starke 1990a:119f. In contrast, Tischler (HEG T:477) seems to prefer the alternative interpretation as a Hittite stem in -ešša(r), which is, with a different derivational base, also assumed here.
[E.R.]
For the lemma head see CLuw. duddu-.