*317.CRUS2(-)pa-sa-
‘(a craft or item that requires skill to produce)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst
- ID
- 3559
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
*317.CRUS2(-)pa-sa-
‘(a craft or item that requires skill to produce)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested twice in letters found in Assur, dating to the late 8th century BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| acc. sg. or nom./acc. pl. | /…/ | *317.CRUS2(-)pa-sa | ASSUR letter e, §29 (Assur) |
| dat./loc. pl. | /…/ | *317.CRUS2(-)pa-sa-za | ASSUR letter e, §25 (Assur) |
Both attestations from ASSUR letter e are followed by the connective 〈-ha〉, i.e. /=ha/ ‘and, also’. In the case of §29, the particle obscures the ending of the word, since a final /n/ would be omitted in writing when followed by the connective, cf. Melchert 2003b:182, and the spelling may therefore represent either a nom./acc. neuter sg. /°Pas=sa=ha/ or pl. /°Passa=ha/, or an acc. sg. of a common gender /°Passan=ha/. The neuter pl. is favoured by Hawkins 2000a:548, but additional evidence is needed for a reliable identification.
[A.P.] [AH.B.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this word is largely unclear. It cannot be said with certainty how the spelling should be interpreted, i.e. as 〈(*317.CRUS2)pa-sa-〉 or 〈(*317)CRUS2-pa-sa-〉 with the first or both logograms as determinatives or as 〈*317.CRUS2-pa-sa-〉 with both logograms representing part of the phonological form of the word. CRUS2 (*84) also has a syllabic interpretation as 〈nà〉, a rare usage and only reported for Empire times so far, see Hawkins 2005d:429. Still, that value should not be discarded entirely, and an ensuing phonological form would be /nappas(s)a-/ or /nabas(s)a-/, perhaps a borrowing, cf. the discussion of the origin below; the HLuw. writing system leaves the quality of the medial plosive underspecified.
The sign *317 takes the form of a rectangle with a diagonal line and a hook attached to one bottom corner, a shape that still escapes interpretation. It is found only once more in a likewise unknown word, i.e. *317-niya-.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning of the word is largely unclear, cf. Hawkins 2000a:548. It occurs twice paired with the likewise semantically opaque noun /kirad(i)-/ ‘(item requiring skill to produce)’. ASSUR letter e, §29 reads: (*198)ki+ra/i-ti-zi-wa/i *317.CRUS2(-)pa-sa-ha kwa/i-i-sà (LITUUS)u-ni-ti, approx. /kiradinzi=wa …-Passa(n)=ha kwis unidi/, partly translating as ‘(And send us a serf’s child,) who knows kirad(i)-s and *317.CRUS2(-)pa-sa-!’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:536). If the word should indeed be /naPas(s)a-/ vel sim., which hinges on whether CRUS2 can be read 〈nà〉 here, it may be related to one of two Babylonian words and mean either ‘red-dyed wool’ vel sim. or ‘wool-combing’, see the discussion of the origin below. Either translation would fit the contexts at ASSUR letter e, §25 and §29.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
Unclear. If the noun should be neuter gender, it would be an s-stem; if it was common gender, it would be an a-stem. If the tentatively proposed relation to one of the Babylonian words should turn out correct (see below), an a-stem of the shape /naPas(s)a-/ would be more likely.
[AH.B.]
1.1.6Origin
If CRUS2 can be read 〈nà〉 here, it may be considered that the present word is a loan based on one of two possible Babylonian words: (1) Babylonian nabāsu ‘(a red-dyed wool)’, a word attested from Old to New Babylonia and also used at Nuzi, see CAD N:21; (2) Babylonian napāšu ‘to comb and clean wool’, see CAD N:291.
[AH.B.]