pašta-

The lexeme is attested once in an inventory text (probably from the Middle Hittite period).

[E.R.]

nom. sg.	ba-as-ta-aš	KBo 9.92, 5’	(CTH 249, MS?)
	pa-as-ta-aš	Bo 9391, 7’	(CTH 247, NS)
	pa-aš-ta?!-aš	KBo 31.56, 4’	(CTH 250, NS)

The last two attestations are cited after Burgin 2022a:452.

[E.R.]

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv (except for Bo 9391).*  ̶  The reading ma-aš-ta-aš by Košak 1978a:109 and Košak 1982a: 56 can be regarded as outdated. Instead, the spelling ba- is very clearly visible (see also Neu apud HEG P:525, with a detailed research history.

[E.R.]

CHD P: 209f. (followed in Ünal 2007a:532; similar HEG P:524) proposes the meanings ‘trim (?)’, ‘filigree (?)’ and ‘embroidery (?)’, whereas Rieken & Yakubovich 2020a:218 argue for a more general meaning or a generic term like ‘decoration’.Puhvel (HED PA:192f.), who does not take into account the equation with Akk. mašlu, opts for “some inferential meaning like ‘clasp’ and ‘buckle’”. No translation is offered by Siegelová 1986a:500.

[E.R.]

Within Hittite, the form is built from a common gender a-stem noun.

[E.R.]

1. baštaima/i-

2. bāštant-

The use of word-initial ba- is limited to very rare instances of genuinely Hittite words and more generally to Hurrian and Akkadian borrowings (Kloekhorst 2010a:225f.). Since in Hittite, Luwian and Hurrian initial stops are unvoiced and, therefore, ba- is unexpected, an ultimately Semitic origin is a priori likely. Accordingly, Rieken & Yakubovich 2020a:218f. postulate a foreign origin, assuming that CLuw. bašta- and its derivatives are borrowed from Akk. baštu ‘dignity, good looks, pride, ornament, characteristic feature’. The intermediary step via Luwian is suggested by the existence of baštaima/i- with the Luwian suffix -aimma/i-, and now further supported by the use of the gloss wedges in paštaš.

See also Lyd. masta-. 

[E.R.]

*This lemma has been written together with Marian Wehrstein.