/hurnalla/i-/, hú+ra/i-na-li-

This lexeme is attested twice in inscriptions from Kululu dating to the mid- or late 8^th century BCE.

[A.P.]

[A.P.]

The connection with Hittite ḫurna- ‘to hunt’ was first made by Kalaç 1978a:123f.Despite suggesting the link, Kalaç inexplicably chose ‘shepherd’ (“Hirte, Schäfer”) as a translation for the HLuw. word; later scholars understandably opted for ‘hunter’ instead’. and has been followed by scholars since, cf. e.g. Hawkins 1987a:141 and Hawkins 2006b:53. In the HLuw. corpus, the word is exclusive to the KULULU lead strips, whose economic character is clear, yet they present unique challenges for their brevity. They seem to record allocations of goods, and KULULU lead strip 2, §3.15 reads: 20 OVIS-sa 2 hú+ra/i-na-la-za, approx. /… hawis tuwanz hurnallanz/, translating as ‘Twenty sheep to two hunters’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:510).

[AH.B.]

The attested forms show that the word undergoes i-mutation, ruling out an agent noun in /-alla-/ (pace Giusfredi 2012b:149f.). Instead, the word represents a substantivised adjective in /-alla/i-/ (see Sasseville 2014-2015a:109f. for the differentiation between the two suffixes), deriving from an unattested noun */hurna-/ ‘hunt’ vel sim., closely related to Hittite ḫurna- ‘to hunt’. Meriggi & Poetto 1982a:106 point out that the base word is frequently found in proper names.

[AH.B.]