mūwanu-

The epithet occurs only in a single festival text from the cult of Ištar. It is also attested as a divine name ^DMūwanu (van Gessel 1998a:319, Beckman 2015a:17f., 24).

[E.R.]

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

[E.R.]

The lexeme occurs as the epithet of the Storm-god (^D10] mu-u-wa-nu-un and a-na ^D10 mu-u-wa-a-nu) and without ^D10, obviously developed into an independent divine name (van Gessel 1998a:319; see also CHD L-N:316, HEG L-N:243, HHw:109, Ünal 2007a:463). The contexts do not hint at the part-of-speech of mūwanu-, which may represent an adjectival epithet substantivized as ^Dmūwanu- or an appositional epithet from the beginning. In the latter function, it appears next to ^DMuwattalli (KUB 40.2 rev. 10), the adjective mūwattalla/i- ‘mighty, related to feistiness’ being another epithet of the Storm-god (for the contexts, see Beckman 2015a:17f., 24). Thus, not only the base mūwa-, but also the context speak for a meaning in semantic field of mūwa- (Götze 1940a:67f., Laroche 1946-1947a:110, Bossert 1960b:7, CHD L-N:316, HEG L-N:243), which is translated here as ‘(overpowering) might, feistiness’; hence the concrete suggestion in HED M:198: ‘potent, puissant, powerful, mighty’.

[E.R.]

Götze 1940a:67f., Laroche 1946-1947a:110, and Bossert 1960b:7 assume that mūwanu- ends in the causative suffix -nu-. Weitenberg 1984a:227, of the conviction that there is no such denominative suffix (like HEG L-N:243), derives mūwanu- from the verb mūwa-⁽ⁱ⁾, interpreted here as ‘to conquer, overpower’. However, Sasseville 2021a:471-478 presents several clear cases of denominative verbs with the -nu- suffix, and the transitive verb mūwa-⁽ⁱ⁾ does not require additional -nu-. Therefore, if the nominal stem mūwanu- went back to a -nu- verb, the latter would be of the denominative type.

Some alternative analyses suggested are unlikely. A compound made of muwa- and -nu- (considered alternatively in Weitenberg 1984a:227) seems farfetched. With -u- suffixes unproductive in Luwian, Weitenberg 1984a:227 considers a third alternative, viz. a complex nominal suffix -nu- in Luwian (comparable to -nu- in Hitt. šeknu- ‘coat’, see Rieken 2013b:278, following Eichner 1979a:42f. n. 4), yet this cannot claim any likelihood either.

[E.R.]

For the Luwian origin of the entire word family, see under the lemma head and cf. Weitenberg 1984a:227.

[E.R.]

For the lemma head see CLuw. mūwa-⁽ⁱ⁾.