/sarli/, SUPER+ra/i-li
‘highly’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- adv
- ID
- 3830
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/sarli/, SUPER+ra/i-li
‘highly’1.1.1Transmission
This adverb occurs twice in the two versions of the Karatepe bilingual inscription from Cilicia. The text is dated to the early 7th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| indecl. | /sarli/ | SUPER+ra/i-li-há-wa/i-sá | KARATEPE 1 Hu., §50 (Cilicia) |
| SUPER+ra/i-lí-ha-wa/i-sá | KARATEPE 1 Ho., §50 (Cilicia) |
Both attestations in KARATEPE 1 Hu. and Ho., §50 are followed by a string of clitics using different sign variants to represent /=ha=wa=as/ ‘and he’ with the quotative particle intervening between the two other clitics.The original morphological analysis Bossert 1953a:322f. of the word as an adjective has since been voided. He regarded the attested form to be a nom. sg. c. whose final /-s/ had been omitted in writing because of the following clitic /=ha/. It has since been discovered that only /-n/ is dropped in such positions, whereas other consonants are spelt out; the attested form is therefore complete as is and represents an indeclinable adverb, see Hawkins 1975a:149.
[AH.B.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
Despite a mere two attestations and no fully syllabic renditions, the phonological interpretation of this lexeme can be regarded as secure. This is due to the fact that it is part of a larger word family involving /sarl(a)i-(di)/ ‘to offer’ and related words as well as to other forms sharing the same root as the adverb /sarra/ ‘above’. The word family is tied together not only by semantics and the phonological form of its members, but also by the frequent use of the logogram SUPER (sign *70), employed as a determinative or more often replacing part of the syllabic spelling.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The general meaning of the present lexeme was clear at an early date based on etymology and the shape of the logogram SUPER, see Bossert 1953a:309 and 322f. The Phoenician version of KARATEPE 1, §50 differs considerably from the HLuw. rendition of the passage, and it was only fully elucidated by Hawkins 1975a:149, who identifed the word as an adverb. The context of attestation leaves little doubt over the meaning of the lexeme: SUPER+ra/i-li-há-wa/i-sá FRONS.LA/I/U-sá i-zi-ia+ra/i-ru OMNIS.MI-ma-za REX-ta-za, approximately /sarli=ha=wa=as hantilis izziyararu tanimanz hantawattanz/, ‘And he shall be made highly preeminent over all kings’. Yakubovich 2013b:157f. suggests a translation of /sarli hantili-/ as ‘foremost’, analysing it as an analytical superlative construction, which is supported by cross-linguistic parallels. Yakubovich 2010d:263 notes the use of the related, but in HLuw. unattested adjective */sarla/i-/ ‘high’ in personal names, denoting ‘superior’.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The adverb derives from the same root as the adverb /sarra/ ‘above’ with the suffix /-la/i-/, which can be found in several other adjectives as well, e.g. CLuw. ipal(i)- ‘left-hand’ (Melchert 2003b:195; also cf. Yakubovich 2013b:157f.).
[AH.B.]
For the lemma head, see HLuw. /sarri/.