/izzista-⁽ⁱ⁾/, i-zi-i-sa-ta-

This lexeme is attested twelve times in inscriptions from Aleppo, Cilicia, Commagene, Karkamiš, and Tabal, dating from the late 10^th or early 9^th century to the beginning of the 7^th century BCE.

[A.P.]

3sg. pres. act.	/izzistai/	i-zi-i-sa-ta-i	KARKAMIŠ A1b, §2 (Karkamiš) KARKAMIŠ A1b, §3 (Karkamiš) KARKAMIŠ A1a, §34 (Karkamiš)
		i-zi-i-[sa-ta-i	KARKAMIŠ A17b, §4 (Karkamiš)
		[... i-zi-]i-sa-ta-i	KARKAMIŠ A1a, §29 (Karkamiš)
		˹i˺-zi-i-[sa]-˹ta˺-i	ANCOZ 12, §1 (Commagene)
1sg. pret. act.	/izzistahha/	i-zi-i-sa-tà-ha	ALEPPO 6, §2 (Aleppo)
		i-zi-i-sa-ta-ha	KULULU 4, §12 (Tabal)
3pl. impv. act.	/izzistantu/	i-zi-i-sa-ta-tú-u	KARKAMIŠ A17b, §3 Karkamiš
inf.	/izzistuna/	i-zi-sa-tu-na	KARATEPE 1 (Hu.), §48 (Cilicia)
		i-zi-i-sa-tú-na	KARATEPE 1 (Ho.), §48 (Cilicia)
unclear	/izzis-…/	i-zi-i-s[a-...	KARKAMIŠ A29c, l.2 (Karkamiš)

The attestation at KARKAMIŠ A29c cannot be verified, because no photograph is available.

Morpurgo Davies 1982-1983a:264 n. 42 notes that the forms 〈i-zi-i-sa-ta+ra/i〉 attested in KARKAMIŠ A6, §15 and §17 do not belong to the present verb as had been assumed by scholars, but instead represent abl./instr. of the noun /izzista-/ ‘honour’.

[A.P.]

The meaning of this verb has long been clear and was first proposed by Meriggi 1934a:93 with immediate acceptance by the scholarly community. Instructive is the occurrence of the verb in adjacent clauses in KARKAMIŠ A1b, §§2-3: *a-wa/i-ti *a-mi-i-sa VIR-ti-i-sa kwa/i-i-ta kwa/i-i-ta á-lá/í-ma-za i-zi-i-sa-ta-i *a-mu-pa-wa/i-ta BONUS-sa₅+ra/i-ti CUM-ní i-zi-i-sa-ta-i, approx. /a=wa=di ammis zidis kwitta kwitta alaman=za izzistai ammu=ppa=wa=tta wassaradi anni izzistai/, meaning ‘Everywhere my man (i.e. husband) honours his name, he will then honour me with goodness’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:92).

Contrasting it with the etymologically related Hittite verb iye/a-^(mi) ‘to do, make; to celebrate’ whose semantic range is broader, Rieken 2007b:265 notes that HLuw. /izzista-/ denotes the specialised meaning ‘to honour’, whereas /izzi(ya)-/ covers the basic semantic range ‘to do, make’, which Rieken views as a retention of the older meaning. Differently, Yakubovich 2020a:475 analyses both /izziya-/ and /izzista-/ as compound verbs, assigning the basic meaning ‘to do/make reverently’, with /izzista-/ becoming more specialised over time, and /izzi(ya)-/ less.

[AH.B.]

The stem formation of this verb has seen a good deal of scholarly discussion. Thus Stefanini 1979a:605 n. 27 clarifies that the dental towards the end of the attested forms represents part of the stem, not the ending. Rieken 2007b:266 notes the difficulties presented by the HLuw. orthography and hypothesises that two derivations may have taken place, one with the verbal suffix /-ssa-/ and another nominal one with /-tta-/, before the form was converted to a verb again. Recently, Yakubovich 2020a:475f. has proposed an analysis of the form as a compound verb: the adverbially used verbal stem /izzi/ and the verb /ta-⁽ⁱ⁾/ ‘to stand’ retaining its older form */sta-/ (followed by Sasseville 2021a:345f.).

[AH.B.]

1. /izzista-/ ‘honour’

For the lemma head, see HLuw. /izzi(ya)-^(di)/