epad

This form occurs four times in four different inscriptions, all of which come from Sardis and can be dated to the 6^th, 5^th or 4^th century BCE. Two of the inscriptions are poetic, whereas the other two are written in prose.

[I.Y.]

The four occurrences of the same form without inflectional variation suggest that the lexeme is indeclinable. In all its occurrences epad appears immediately after the clause-initial clitic chain. The translation ‘here’ was offered in Brandenstein 1932a:81 n. 4, while ‘there’ was proposed as an alternative in Gusmani 1964a:100 and affirmed in Gusmani 1971a:7, apparently on etymological grounds. The translation ‘here’ appears, however, to be more appropriate at least in LW 22.2, where the performative clause calls for the hic et nunc interpretation. The identical final consonants of kud ‘where’ and epad, which occur in proximity of one another in LW 10.17 and LW 10.19 respectively, are noteworthy. Nevertheless, now as before, the primary support for the postulated meaning of epad comes from its traditional etymology; cf. Melchert 1994a:338.

[I.Y.]