tāpa/i-

The six attestations are distributed across the Ištanuwa festival and rituals fragments from the Kuwattalla and the Tauriša traditions (from MS onwards).

[E.R.]

nom./acc. sg. n.	ta-pa-an	KUB 35.142 iv! 6’	(CTH 772, NS)
	[t]a-pa-an	KUB 32.8+5 iv 25’	(CTH 759, NS)
	ta-pa-an	KBo 29.25 iii 4’, 5’	(CTH 764, MS)
	[ta-p]a-an	KBo 29.25 iii 6’	(CTH 764, MS)
	[ta-pa-a]n	KBo 29.25 iii 7’	(CTH 764, MS)
	[t]a-a-pa-am(=)	KUB 35.14 i 13	(CTH 760, NS)
unknown	ta-pa-⸢a⸣-[	VBoT 43 iii 1	(CTH 763, NS)

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv (with the exception of VBoT 43 iii 1).

The change of -n > -m in [t]a-a-pa-am= at KUB 35.14 i 13 is prompted by the particle =pa attached to the form.

[E.R.]

Until recently, the lexeme remained untranslated (DLL:90, CLL:206, HEG T:115, HHw:165, Yakubovich & Mouton 2023a:116f.). Now, Melchert (DCL:s.v.) has tentatively suggested a translation ‘firm, solid’, on account of the ritual context of KUB 32.8+5 iv 25’. However, Melchert’s interpretation of tapan seems to be based on a misunderstanding of the passage. It says that the liver and heart of the evil-doer are to be nailed down, the copper nail should stay in its place and the smith must not do a bad job ([t]apan kin-an), from which, Yakubovich (pers. comm.) concludes that tapan must denote something bad. Accepting the broad sense, the lexeme is formally analyzed as an adjective here, meaning ‘bad’ or, more precisely, ‘shoddy, of minor value’ (cf. Hitt. tēpu- ‘small’ for a possible etymological connection assumed here; contra DCL:s.v.).

As for the other contexts, Melchert’s understanding of tapan alan pata[š^?] at KBo 29.25 iii 4’-7’ is highly implausible in terms of phonology (with 4 times alan ‘place (?)’ instead of *allan) and morphology (with the ending -aš for the dat./loc. pl.). However, one must admit that the sense of the fragmentary paragraph eludes us, as does that of KUB 35.142 iv^! 6’.

[E.R.]

Since only the acc. sg. is attested, the analysis of the stem formation must be regarded as provisional. Unless we are dealing with an nt-stem (as considered in DLL:90), the statistically most likely way to account for the form in -an is to regard it as a neuter nom./acc. sg. of a mutated -a/i- adjective (contra HHw:165 “a neuter noun”).

[E.R.]