/sasalli(ya)-/
‘hunting ground’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, n.
- ID
- 3507
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/sasalli(ya)-/
‘hunting ground’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme has two attestations and occurs in inscriptions from Malatya, dating to the 11th or 10th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. pl. | /sasalliya/ | (*262)sa-sa-li-ia | MALATYA 1 (Malatya) |
| MALATYA 3 (Malatya) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
Attested twice in matching and transparent spellings, the lexeme has a reasonably secure phonological interpretation, save for the fact that the quality of the medial sibilant remains unclear, i.e. it could be /sasalli(ya)-/ or /sassalli(ya)-/; cf. the discussion of the stem below. Laroche 1958c:261f. points out the etymological links with HLuw. /sas(a)-/ ‘seal’ and Hittite šāi-/ši(ya)-(ḫi) ‘to press, seal; to shoot’ (see CHD Š:15-21 for more semantic detail), and the suffixes involved in the stem formation are well-known from other lexemes and thus have a secure interpretation.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The general semantic direction for this word was first proposed by Laroche 1958c:260-262, who connected it to the domain of hunting and its Luwian and Hittite cognates, regarding it as an abstract noun ‘hunt’. Realising that the denotation must have a more concrete meaning, Hawkins 2000a:319 tentatively altered it to ‘shooting’, thereby opting for a more literal interpretation based on the etymological link with the Hittite verb šāi-/ši(ya)-(ḫi) ‘to press, seal; to shoot’; a more recent version of Hawkins’ hypothesis is the denotation ‘hunting ground’ used here. The two attestations occur on stelae that may have served as sign posts for their respective areas; the text of MALATYA 1 runs: za-ia-wa/i (*262)sa-sa-li-ia TONITRUS.HALPA-pa-AVIS3-sa ICRUS+RA/I-sa HEROS MAx.LIx-i(URBS) DOMINUS-ia-ia INFANS.NEPOS-ia MONS.CORNU?.CERVUS3 INFANS-mu-wa/i-ia-ia REX?, likely translating as ‘These (are) the hunting grounds of Halpasuluba, grandson of the hero Ara, lord of the city Melid, son of King Wasuruntiya’.
[AH.B.] [I.Y.]
1.1.5Stem
The attested form is a neuter noun, as already noted by Laroche 1958c:262. It is ultimately based on the noun /sas(a)-/ ‘seal’ (the quality of whose medial sibilant is likewise unclear) and has undergone two derivational processes. The first derivation involved one of two possible suffixes. Either, it was derived with the suffix /-alla/i-/, creating a denominal adjective */sasalla/i-/ ‘belonging to the seal / the hunt’, which was subsequently used as a noun itself, representing a very common path of development. Or, the suffix used was /-alla-/, which creates agent nouns, i.e. */sasalla-/ ‘person who applies a seal; hunter’, and does not undergo i-mutation, cf. Sasseville 2014-2015a:116f. Without further data, however, both hypotheses remain equally likely. In a subsequent step, a (second) denominal adjective was derived from the form in /-alla/i-/ or /-alla-/ with the suffix /-i(ya)-/, meaning ‘belonging to the hunt(er)’, and its neuter forms were then (likewise) used substantively.
[AH.B.]
For the lemma head, see HLuw. */siya-(i)/, */sasa-(i)/.