*Peu̯-ri-
‘lip’
- Language
- Proto-Anatolian
- Grammar
- subst
- ID
- 3710
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Cuneiform Luwian
pūr(i)-
‘lip, rim’1.1.1Transmission
The few existing attestations come from ritual fragments of the Kuwattalla and Tauriša traditions (all NS).
[E.R.]
1.1.2Forms
| acc. sg. | pu-ri-in | KBo 13.260 ii 8 | (CTH 766, NS) |
| pu-ri-in | KBo 13.260 ii 9 | (CTH 766, NS) | |
| pu-[ri-in] | KBo 29.27 i 4’ | (CTH 766, NS) | |
| nom. pl. | pu-u-⸢ri-in-zi⸣ | KBo 29.63, 10’ | (CTH 762, NS) |
| unknown | pu-ri-i[n(-) | KBo 60.305 r. col. 6’ | (CTH 768, LNS) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv. – The restoration of the nom. pl. at KBo 29.63, 10’ follows Yakubovich & Mouton 2023a:342f.
[E.R.]
1.1.4Meaning
The interpretation as the designation of a body part (‘lip’), also used metaphorically as ‘rim, edge’, goes back to Poetto 1983c:37-40, who equated the word with Hitt. puri- ‘lip, rim, edge’.
Following Yakubovich 2019a:554 (contra Poetto 1983c:37-40), the attestations in KBo 13.260 point to another metaphoric semantic shift as the name of a tool (‘tray’ or ‘pliers’; DCL:s.v. suggests ‘vise (?)’). The meaning already generally accepted (CLL:179, HHw:136) was recently confirmed by Yakubovich & Mouton 2023a:342f., who were able to restore and make sense out of KBo 29.63, 10’: [a-a]r-ši-iš pu-u-⸢ri-in⸣-z[i na-a-ú-wa a-a-ia-ri] “[the b]ottom [does not become] the rim”, referring to a pithos, whose bottom and opening are irreversibly separated and not interchangeable.
[E.R.]
1.1.5Stem
The stem is most easily understood as a mutated stem derived from a root pu- by means of a -r(i)- suffix.
[E.R.]
1.1.6Derivatives
- PN Puriyanni- (HEG P:658)
- pūri(ya)-
- puriyaima/i-
- pūriyalla/i-
1.2 Luwian (Glossenkeilwörter)
pūr(i)-
1.2.1Transmission
Two of the attestations of Hitt. pūri- c. are marked with gloss-wedges. They are found in a mythological text and a ritual. The rest of the attestations are not listed here; see under Hitt. pūri- below.
[E.R.]
1.2.2Forms
| dat./loc. sg. | pu-u-ri |
KBo 26.82 obv. 8 | (CTH 348, NS) |
| abl. (Hitt.) |  pu-u-[ri-i]a-az |
KUB 45.26 ii 7 | (CTH 490, NS) |
1.2.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.
[E.R.]
1.2.4Meaning
The attestation of the gloss-wedge marked puriya- ‘lip, edge, rim’ at KUB 45.26 ii 6f. occurs together with its antonym ārra- ‘buttocks, bottom’ in the context of a pithos DUGpalḫi- and, a few lines later (ii 11) with the unmarked dat./loc. pl. pūriyaš. Accordingly, the identification of the word with CLuw. pur(i)- ‘lip, edge, rim’ is beyond doubt.
[E.R.]
1.2.5Stem
See under CLuw. pūr(i)- above.
[E.R.]
1.2.6Origin
The shape of the lexeme is identical in Hittite and Cuneiform Luwian, which may very well have led a Hittite scribe to identify a token of the genuinely Hittite noun with its Cuneiform Luwian equivalent, or vice versa.
[E.R.]
1.3 Hittite
pūri-
‘lip, rim, edge’1.3.1Literature / Comments
CHD P:384-386
2. Reconstruction
2.1Reconstruction ‘lip’
Puhvel (HED PE, PI, PU:131-133) suggests an Indo-European etymology by abstracting a root pū- from a formation in *-ri-, which is fine for both Hitt. pūri- and CLuw. pūr(i)-. The reconstruction of the initial labial as either *bh-, *b or *p (or even *ph) cannot be independently confirmed; see below.
[D.S.]
3. Proto-Indo-European
3.1Semantic Reconstruction
What all the formations in the table above have in common is a base *bu-, *bhu-, *pu-, *phu- (and/or *bū-, *bhū-, *pū-, *phū-) and meanings ranging from verbal ‘to blow’ to nominal forms denoting ‘lip’, ‘kiss’, ‘breath’, ‘cheek’, etc., that is, things that are (remotely, at least) connected to the human lips. Rather than being etymologically related (which would be difficult to argue for due to the anlaut variation), it seems likely that they are all based on imitative sound symbolism or onomatopoeia, featuring an iconic labial stop *b(h)- or *p(h)- in anlaut. This is followed by the close back rounded vowel *u, typically pronounced with protruded lips, giving it a “labial” character evocative of concepts like ‘lip’ and ‘blow’. The following consonants and/or suffixes differ from language to language, which is not surprising if we are dealing with sound symbolism rather than conventional word formation. For a collection of (even more) material see IEW:98–102 (s.v. 2. b(e)u-, bh(e)ū̆- ‘aufblasen, schwellen’), IEW:103 (s.v. bu- ‘Lippe, Kuss’), IEW:847 (s.v. 1. pū̆-, peu-, pou- auch phu- … ‘aufblasen; aufgeblasen, angeschwollen, aufgebauscht’).
[S.H.]
4. Transmission
Hittite pūri- c. ‘lip, rim, edge’, Cuneiform Luwian pur(i)- ‘lip, edge, rim’, Luwian Gloss wedge word pūr(i)- c. ‘lip, rim’. See above and HED PE, PI, PU:131-133.
Cf. Sanskrit phupphusa- m. ‘lungs’, pupphula- m. ‘flatulency, wind in the stomach’, puppuṭa- m. (name of a particular disease; swelling of the palate and gums).Cf., e.g., EWAia III :350 s.v. phupphusa-.
Cf. Modern Persian pūk ‘wind from the throat in blowing a fire’; bōs ‘kiss’, bōsīdan ‘to kiss’.Cf., e.g., IEW:847; Olsen 1999a:44.
Cf. Ancient Greek φῦσα f. ‘breath, wind; flatulence; bladder; pair of bellows (in pl.)’ (Il.+).Cf., e.g., GEW II:1055–1057 s.v. φῦσα.
Cf. Latin bucca f. ‘the soft part of the cheek (puffed or filled out in speaking or eating)’, pustula f. ‘inflamed sore, blister, pustule’. Cf., e.g., EDLIL:76 s.v. bucca, 501f. s.v. pustula.
Cf. Classical Armenian pʻukʻ ‘breath, fart; pair of bellows (in pl.)’, pʻčʻem ‘to blow, breathe’. Cf., e.g., Olsen 1999a:44.
Cf. Middle Irish bus, pus ‘lip’, Middle Welsh gwe-fus ‘lip’; Gaulish PN Bussu-gnata, Bussu-maros (epithet of Jupiter ‘with big lips’?).Cf., e.g., Delamarre 2003a:95, EDPC:84 s.v. *bussu-.
Cf. English to pout ‘push out one´s lips’ < *pūt°; English buss ‘kiss’, Southern German Bussi, Busserl ‘kiss’.Cf., e.g., IEW:99, 103.
Cf. Czech pysk m. ‘lip’, Polish pysk m. ‘muzzle’; Old Czech puchati ‘swell’, Polish puchać ‘blow’, Serbo-Croatian púhati ‘blow’. Cf., e.g., EDSIL:423 s.v. *puxati.
Cf. Albanian buzë f. ‘lip’, puth ‘to kiss’. Cf., e.g., Demiraj 1997a:114f. s.v. buzë, 336f. s.v. puth.