masta-

This lexeme is attested once in an inscription on a decorated stele, which was found in the precinct of Artemis in Sardis and is broadly datable to the 5^th or 4^th century BCE.   

[I.Y.]

dat. pl.

mastãν

LW 26.10 (Sardis)

It is theoretically possible that masta- represents a collective noun, just as laqrisa- and anlola-, which occur in similar syntactic positons. Such a hypothesis, however, does not impose itself.

[I.Y.]

The noun masta- occurs in the protasis of a curse formula alongside šadmẽ- ‘inscription’ and mru- ‘stele’ (Gusmani 1964a:164). These are the three objects that the formula protects from desecration. Besides the inscription, the stele also features an elaborate ornamental relief (Buckler 1924a, Table XI). The ornamental decorations are generally not typical of the inscribed Lydian stelae, and the unusual character of this feature correlates with the hapax legomenon masta- placed next to the designations of familiar objects. Accordingly, one can advance a hypothesis that masta- is used here with reference to the ornamental relief.

A different interpretation ‘(peripheral part of the installation)’ is found in Hajnal 2004a:199. The motivation for such an analysis is the mismatch between the appearance of masta- in the curse formula and its absence in the initial part of the inscription, which introduces the monument and its commissioners. One must, however, keep in mind that LW 26 is not a burial inscription, and so there are no reasons to think that the stele bearing it had any associated installations.

[I.Y.]

Synchronically, this is an oxytone a-stem.

[I.Y.]

See under CLuw. pašta-.

[I.Y.]