hruttla

This lexeme is found in two funerary inscriptions of eastern Lycia.

[D.S.]

nom./acc. pl. or coll.	hruttla	TL 131.3 (Limyra)
	hr[uttla]	N 309c.5 (Myra)

Neumann 1975a:255 suggests the restoration hr[uttla] in N 309c.5 by comparing the similarity of this passage with the one in TL 131.3, which is very probable; cf. DLL:25.

[D.S.]

The Lycian word hruttla is in both cases (TL 131.3, N 309c.5) accompanied by the proximal deictic pronoun ebeija, which implies that the hruttla can be seen by the reader of the inscription. In each attestation, it is the direct object of the verb xtta(i)-^(di) ‘to damage’. Savelsberg 1878a:101 suggests that hruttla refers to the inscription. Savelsberg (ibid.) adduces an Indo-European etymology to support his semantic assignment, which is now outdated on phonological grounds. Neumann 2007a:104 (and Neumann 2012a:404) follows Savelsberg’s assumption, but takes into account the plural number of hruttla into consideration and suggests ‘letters’ or ‘decree’ (thus Schürr 2014c:137). Others have suggested that hruttla refers to a part of the tomb installation (Meriggi 1936b:261, DLL:25f.). All these suggestions are plausible, but none has been proven so far.

[D.S.]

The word hruttla could be either the nom./acc. plural of a neuter e-stem, i.e. *hruttle- n., or the collective of a common gender stem, i.e. *hruttla- c. or *hruttle/i- c. or simply a collective stem hruttla-.

[D.S.]

Schürr 2013d:267 n. 106 suggests tentatively a compound with the prefix hr- (Lyc. B zr-), which cannot be proven. No etymology possible.

[D.S.]