pašattarma-

This lexeme is a hapax attested in a treaty of Tudhaliya IV with an unknown vassal.

[O.B.]

The form has been checked against the photograph in the Konkordanz (Mainzer Fotoarchiv).

[O.B.]

The form pašattarmaš is attested in a Hittite treaty document where the king Tudhaliya IV scolds an unknown subject (see Beckman 2019b). It occurs in a figura etymologica as subject to the related verb pappaša-⁽ⁱ⁾ ‘to swallow’, i.e. nu=kan EN^MEŠ pašattarmaš arḫa pappašai. How this clause is to be interpreted is not obvious. Starke 1990a:495-497 assumes a segmentation pašattar=ma=aš (with Kammenhuber 1954a:438f. n. 92). In his view, pašattarmaš arḫa pappašai is an idiom meaning ‘der wird (dir) nämlich den Schluck wegschlucken!’, expressing surprise or fear, inserted into another clause with the subject EN^MEŠ. This analysis is firmly rejected by Melchert (CLL:172) on syntactic grounds. In CHD P:100, the clause is interpreted as a rhetorical question, i.e. ‘does p. swallow up (?) (the) lords?’, with EN^MEŠ taking the role of object to pappašai. No meaning is assigned to pašattarmaš, however (CHD P:205). Sasseville 2021a:356 speculates that a pašattarma- is some form of instrument used metaphorically for the king as enforcer of his vassals’ subjugation. This interpretation is difficult to substantiate, however.

A plausible option is presented by Puhvel (HED PA:182), who takes pašattarma- as an “animated derivative” of *pašattar ‘swallow(ing)’ with a resulting meaning ‘swallowing, guzzling; embezzling, corruption’. Puhvel’s translation of the clause given above is accordingly ‘embezzlement engulfs chiefs’. With the following clause nu=kan ÚŠ-an ANA LUGAL ÌR^MEŠ-zi akkanzi ‘they are put to death [lit. die death] before the king (as) servants’ (note, however, that ÚŠ-an ‘death’ is rather read as BE-an ‘when’ in CHD P:100), the clause with pašattarma- may be understood as describing the event resulting in the death of a royal subject (i.e. lords being “swallowed” by “corruption” or “ambition”, vel sim.). In the context of the document, where the vassal is repeatedly warned not to betray the king in any way, this interpretation would seem plausible. The semantic development of a word derived from a root meaning ‘to swallow’ to something like ‘corruption’ should in this case probably be understood as the “hunger” for more power or independence from the king. Note, however, that this analysis remains tentative for lack of further evidence.

[O.B.]

CLuw. pašattarma- is a common gender a-stem (with e.g. CLL:172, contra the analysis in Kammenhuber 1954a:438f., where pašattarmaš is segmented as pašattar=ma=aš). It is apparently derived from an abstract noun *pašattar, in turn derived from pašš-^(ti) ‘to swallow’.

[O.B.]

For the derivational base, see pašš-^(ti).