še-

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

[I.Y.]

3pl. pret. act.

šers

LW 10.8 (Sardis)

In earlier literature this form was usually taken as nominal or participial (Meriggi 1935a:99 n. 61, Gusmani 1964a:194, Carruba 1969a:74). After -rs was reinterpreted as the 3pl. pret. verbal ending in other contexts (Melchert 2004b:147 n. 14), the same reinterpretation also imposes itself in the present case. It is all the more likely given that there is no other candidate for a verbal form in the relative clause qλ šers ciwνališ kaττadmẽs in LW 10.8.

[I.Y.]

The meaning of this form can be defined only approximately, and largely with reliance on comparative and etymological considerations. The strongest cue is the likely etymological connection with šadmẽ- ‘seal, inscription’, which is found in LW 10.7, i.e. in the next line after šers. This suggests a verb pertaining to the semantic domain of writing, and the existence of a potential Hittite cognate with the meaning ‘to press’ yields further support to this hypothesis. Given that šers also governs the indirect object qλ, a ditransitive verb with the meaning ‘to prescribe’ or something similar will fit the bill.

[I.Y.]