/pu-(di)/
‘to grab’
- Language
- Common Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 3804
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/pu-(di)/, (VIA.PUGNUS)pu-
‘to lift’1.1.1Transmission
With six attestations, this verb is well-represented in the HLuw. corpus. It can be found in inscriptions mainly from Amuq, but also in Karkamiš, Maraş, and Tabal, all dating between the 10th and 8th centuries BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| 2sg. pres. act. | /pusi/ | (VIA.PUGNUS)pu-si | MARAŞ 14, §9 (Maraş) |
| 3sg. pret. act. | /puda/ | (MANUS)pu-tà-i | PANCARLI, §4 (Amuq) |
| pu-tà | ARSUZ 1, §20 (Amuq) | ||
| VIA.PUGNUS-tà | ARSUZ 2, §20 (Amuq) | ||
| 3pl. pret. act. | /punta/ | pu-˹tá˺ | KARKAMIŠ A5a, §6 (Karkamiš) |
| 3sg. impv. act. | /puntu/ | pu-tu | KARABURUN, §13 (Tabal) |
In ARSUZ 2, §20, the signs are arranged in such a way that it is difficult to assign a definite reading order, and an alternative reading may be 〈PUGNUS.VIA-tà〉.
[AH.B.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this lexeme can be deemed reasonably secure. While there is some variance in the use of the logograms employed either as determinatives or as representing parts of the lexeme, the signs PUGNUS (*39) and MANUS (*59) are very similar, as both show outstretched hands and only differ by the length of the fingers depicted. The attestations show consistent spelling of the 3sg. pret. act. with 〈tà〉, suggesting very strongly that the ending should be regarded as lenited to /-da/ (see Rieken 2008b:639).
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning of this verb has seen considerable discussion among scholars, not least concerning which forms are actually considered part of the same paradigm or assigned to a different one, cf. e.g. Payne 2010b:184 incl. n. 11 and previously Hawkins 2000a:183 and 482f. Melchert 2016d:206-211 provides a comprehensive discussion of the verb and its forms, noting that it is transitive, and assigns to it the meaning ‘to take, grasp; to hold’. In addition to the simplex form, the verb is used with various preverbs, which alter its basic meaning. Combined with SUPER+ra/i /sarra/ ‘over’, it denotes a positive action performed by a god towards a favoured human(Dinçol, Dinçol, Hawkins, Peker & Öztan 2015a:68), specified by Melchert 2016d:207 as ‘to lift up, exalt’. In MARAŞ 14, §9, the preverb SUPER-i /sarri/ ‘above’ is used, possibly meaning ‘to hold up’, and KARKAMIŠ A5a, §6 combines the verb with ARHA /ahha/ ‘away’ to indicate the removal of an ill.
Outdated is the analysis of some occurrences of /pu-(di)/ as meaning ‘to write’, which was still in use by the time Payne 2010b:184 wrote her analysis of the semantic field of writing in HLuw.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The lexeme is a root verb and uses the lenited endings of the mi-conjugation; cf. Melchert 2016d:210f. and Sasseville 2021a:303f.
[AH.B.]
1.2 Cuneiform Luwian
pū-(di)
‘to grab, snatch’1.2.1Transmission
All attestations occur in ritual texts that belong to the Kuwattalla tradition.
[E.R.]
1.2.2Forms
| 3pl. impv. act. | [pu]-⸢u⸣-wa-an-du | KUB 32.5 iv 5’ | (CTH 759, NS) |
| pu-u-wa-[an-du] | KBo 29.9 obv. 11’ | (CTH 760, NS) | |
| pu-wa-an-du | KUB 35.117 iv 3’ | (CTH 760, NS) |
1.2.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.
[E.R.]
1.2.4Meaning
It was Melchert 2016a:206-211 (followed in Rieken 2018a:343 n. 3 and Sasseville 2021a:303f.) who first successfully elucidated the meaning of HLuw. /pu-(di)/ through contextual analysis (see under Lemma) as ‘to hold’, and transferred his findings to CLuw. pū- attested in the form pūwanduThe verb forms were formerly assigned to puwā(i)-(di) ‘to pound, crush’ in spite of the deviant 3rd pl. in -andu and an unsatisfactory interpretation of the passages in, e.g., Starke 1990a:379, CLL:182, HEG P:677f., HED PE, PI, PU:147, Rieken 2005b:69, EDHIL:684, Goedegebuure 2010a:86, but see Sasseville 2021a:304. The newly assigned meaning conforms well with the context in which the gods are requested to punish the evil-doer by snatching up his liver and heart and nailing it down with a copper nail (for a recent restoration and translation of the relevant text passages, see Yakubovich & Mouton 2023a:195, who also slightly adapted the translation of the lexeme (‘to snatch’) to the situation described).
[E.R.]
1.2.5Stem
The new assignment to the class of root verbs ending in a vowel is based on the Hieroglyphic Luwian evidence (see Melchert 2016a:210f., Sasseville 2021a:303f., DCL:s.v.).
[E.R.]
2. Reconstruction
2.1Reconstruction
Following its semantic elucidation of Luwian /pu-(di)/ ‘to grab’, Melchert 2016a:211 suggests an etymological connection with Latin pūgnus ‘fist’ and Greek πύξ ‘with the fist’, thus assuming a root *peug-. Since *g is regularly lost in Luwian, this etymology looks extremely attractive. Sasseville 2021a:314 n. 21 however points out that the loss of *g is a Proto-Luwic phenomenon, whereas the lenition of the verbal ending following a diphthong is of Proto-Anatolian date, which creates problem of relative chronology. A way to circumvent this problem would be to assume that the verb belonged to the unlenited mi-conjugation in Proto-Anatolian, i.e. *péu̯g-ti. In Proto-Luwic, the *g is lost, i.e. *péu̯-ti. Then, the verb is transferred to the class of the lenited mi-conjugation in analogy to other root verbs of the same shape (see Sasseville 2021a:314f.), i.e. *péu̯-ti → *péu̯-di. As an alternative, Melchert (ibid.) suggests that the loss of *g in the root before obstruent could be a Proto-Anatolian phenomenon, presents however no evidence from Hittite or Palaic for this sound change. Despite these unclarities vis-à-vis the historical phonology and morphology, Melchert’s etymology remains highly probable.
[D.S.]
3. Proto-Indo-European
3.1Semantic Reconstruction
The meaning of the root verb in Cuneiform Luwian, viz. ‘to grab, snatch’, probably reflects the basic meaning of the root *peu̯g-. This interpretation accounts well for the meaning ‘fist’ (< *‘a grab, handful’), which underlies the formations found in Greek and Latin.
3.2Morphological Reconstruction
As Latin pungō, -ere, pupugī, punctum ‘to sting’ belongs to *peu̯k̑- ‘sting’, attested in Ancient Greek πεύκη ‘pine’ and ἐχε-πευκής ‘piercing’ (on which see LIV2+s.v. ?*peuk̑- ‘stechen’), the verbal evidence for the root *peu̯g- ‘to grab, snatch’ appears to be restricted to the Anatolian branch.
[S.H.]
4. Transmission
Cuneiform Luwian pū-(di) ‘to grab, snatch’, Hieroglyphic Luwian /pu-(di)/ ‘to lift’.
Ancient Greek πύξ adv. ‘with the fist’ (Il.+), πυγμή f. ‘fist, boxing’ (Il.+), πυγών, -όνος m. ‘the distance from the elbow to the first joint of the fingers’ (Hdt., X., etc.), πύκτης ‘boxer’ (Pi., Xenoph., etc.), πύγ-μαχος ‘boxer’ (Od., Pi., Luc.).Cf., e.g., GEW II:619f. s.v. πυγμή.