/sarlatt(a)-/
‘exaltation’
- Language
- Common Luwian
- Grammar
- subst, n.
- ID
- 3838
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/sarlatt(a)-/, (LIBARE)sa5+ra/i-la-ta-
‘offering’1.1.1Transmission
Attested five times, this lexeme can be found in inscriptions from Karkamiš, Malatya in the east, and Hama in the far south. The texts date to between the 10th century and approx. 700 BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. sg. | /sarlattan=za/ | (LIBARE)sa5+ra/i-la-ta-za | KARKAMIŠ A1a, §33 (Karkamiš) KARKAMIŠ A11a, 6-7§27 (Karkamiš) |
| (“VITIS”)sa5+ra/i-la-ta-za | HAMA 4, §15 (Hama) | ||
| (VITIS)sa5+ra/i〈-la〉-ta-za | HAMA 4, §13 (Hama) | ||
| /sarla(tta)n=za/ | sa5+ra/i-la〈-ta〉-za | PALANGA, §12 (Malatya) |
The attestation in HAMA 4, §13 is emended to 〈(VITIS)sa5+ra/i〈-la〉-ta-za〉 by Hawkins 1975a:137 (followed in Hawkins 2000a:405).
In the same vein, it is possible that the form attested in PALANGA, §12 should be emended to 〈sa5+ra/i-la〈-ta〉-za〉, cf. Hawkins 2000a:326.
[AH.B.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this lexeme is reasonably secure, although it remains unclear how seriously the forms attested in HAMA 4, §13 and PALANGA, §12 should be taken instead of being emended. As it is, /sarlatt(a)-/ is part of the word family around /sarl(a)i-(di)/ ‘to offer (in sacrifice)’ with a host of written evidence, so that even the change in logogram chosen as determinative, i.e. LIBARE (sign *27) and VITIS (sign *160), has not prompted scholars to suspect two different lexemes. Moreover, /sarlatt(a)-/ has an exact etymological match in CLuw. šarlātt(a)- ‘exaltation, worship’ (see below), whose more transparent spelling proves that the dental is unlenited, cf. Rieken 2010a:302f.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning assigned to the HLuw. noun is closely aligned with that of the verb it derives from, viz. /sarl(a)i-(di)/ ‘to offer (in sacrifice)’. In the inscriptions, it is either used in curse formulae, denoting what should be protected from damage, or in passages detailing sacrificial duties, and the meaning is therefore also contextually supported. Now outdated is the more precise semantic assignment offered by Poetto 1986a:161, who suggested ‘ritualistic drink’ (Italian original: “bevanda rituale”), but this meaning does not fit all contexts that have since become available.
A similar, though not identical meaning is suggested for the CLuw. cognate šarlātt(a)- ‘exaltation’ by Laroche 1959c:293f., also based on etymological and contextual evidence.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The present lexeme constitutes a noun derived from the verb /sarl(a)i-(di)/ ‘to offer (in sacrifice)’ (Starke 1990a:119), following the analysis by Laroche 1959c:293f. for the exact cognate in CLuw. šarlātt(a)- ‘exaltation’. Originally an adjective, the form was subsequently substantivised with abstract meaning, cf. Melchert 1999e:370 and Melchert 2003b:196.Carruba 1978a:864 noted that the suffix /-tt(a)-/ (then still considered to have the form /-att-/) can also be found in Lycian.
[AH.B.]
1.2 Cuneiform Luwian
šarlātt(a)-
‘exaltation, worship’1.2.1Transmission
All attestations belong to ritual fragments from the Kuwattalla tradition (from MS onwards).
[E.R.]
1.2.2Forms
| gen. adj. acc. sg. c. | ⸢šar⸣-la-at-ta-aš-⸢ši-in⸣ | KBo 9.143 ii! 5 | (CTH 763, MS) |
| [šar-la-at]-ta-aš-ši-in | KUB 32.8 iv 3’ | (CTH 759, NS) | |
| [šar-l]a-a-at-t[a-aš-ši-in] | KUB 35.14 i 18’ | (CTH 760, NS) |
1.2.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.
[E.R.]
1.2.4Meaning ‘exaltation, worship; praise offering’
The translation follows the semantic interpretation drawn from Hittite contexts; cf. Luw. šarlātt(a)- in Hittite transmission below.
[E.R.]
1.2.5Stem
For the neuter -tt(a)- stem, see Luw. šarlātt(a)- in Hittite transmission below.
[E.R.]
1.3 Luwian in Hittite transmission
šarlātt(a)-
‘exaltation, praise offering’1.3.1Transmission
The lexeme has numerous attestations, mostly from ritual texts, but also some festival texts (from MS onwards).
[E.R.]
1.3.2Forms
| nom./acc. sg. | šar-⸢la⸣-at-ta-an-za | KUB 29.4 iii 57 | (CTH 481, NS) |
| SISKURšar-la-at-ta-an-za | KUB 29.4 iv 7 | (CTH 481, NS) | |
| šar-la-at-ta-anSISKUR | KUB 17.16 iv 8 | (CTH 425, NS) | |
| gen. sg. | šar-la-at-ta-aš | KUB 39.90, 4’ | (CTH 718, NS) |
| ⸢šar-la-at-ta-aš⸣ | KBo 29.3 i 6 | (CTH 760, NS) | |
| [š]ar-la-a-at-ta-aš | KUB 35.18 i 11 | (CTH 760, MS) | |
| SISKURšar-la-at-ta-aš | KUB 29.4 ii 35 | (CTH 481, NS) | |
| dat./loc. sg. | šar-la-at-ti | KUB 29.4 ii 26 | (CTH 481, NS) |
| SÍSKURšar-la-at-ti | KUB 29.4 ii 10, 35 | (CTH 481, NS) | |
| nom./acc.pl. | šar-la-at-ta | ABoT 1.25 rev. 11’ | (CTH 489, MS) |
| ⸢šar-la-at-ta⸣ | IBoT 3.148 iv 48 | (CTH 485, NS) | |
| SISKURšar-la-at-ta | KUB 58.73 iii 15’ | (CTH 485, NS) | |
| ⸢SISKURšar-la-at-ta⸣ | IBoT 3.148 iv 26, 29 | (CTH 485, NS) | |
| gen. adj. nom. sg. c. | šar-la-ad-da-aš-ši-iš | KBo 12.60, 4’ | (CTH 682, LNS) |
| gen. adj. acc. sg. c. | šar-la-a-at-[ta-aš-ši-in] | KBo 29.6 i 5’ | (CTH 762, NS) |
The syntagma kūš šarlatta at IBoT 3.148 iv 48, which Tischler (HEG Š:915) offers as evidence for a common gender stem, must be read as ku-⸢iš⸣ šar-la-at-ta with kuiš as the subject pronoun and šarlatta as the direct object. The acc. sg. šarlattanSISKUR at KUB 17.16 iv 8 does not provide a clue as to the gender of the word. Thus, no clear evidence for a common gender stem is attested.
[E.R.]
1.3.3Graphic Features
1.3.4Meaning
Already Götze 1939a:227 recognized that “*šarlat-” and its adjectival formation šarlāttašši- are derived from šarlā(i)-(mi), which he, by contextual analysis, interpreted correctly as ‘to exalt, praise; to lift off’. For the abstract noun he suggested ‘praise, thanks’. Probably in view of the etymological link with Hitt. šer ‘up, above’, the ‘praise’ aspect of the meaning was generally preferred and backed by the translation ‘exaltation’, which also includes the notion of ‘lifted, up’. Moreover, since šarlātt(a)- frequently combines with the determinative siskur/sískur ‘offering’ and is specified by items of offering such as sheep and bread (see CHD Š:275-277 for contexts), it can be safely concluded that the word designates a specific kind or the purpose of an offering, hence ‘exaltation, praise offering’ (Laroche 1959c:293, Beckman 1983a:295, Starke 1990a:539, CLL:191, Oettinger 2001b:457, CHD Š:275-277, HEG Š:914-916, HED SA:182f., EDHIL:736, Steitler 2017a:386). While several scholars prefer a generic term (Yakubovich & Mouton 2023b:419: ‘a type of sacrifice’; still without translation DLL:86), include the aspect of thanking (Ünal 2007a:615, HW:186, HHw:145), or, like Haas 1996a:91 n. 54, or suggest a different translation (‘Lösungsritual’), a more confident stance towards the etymology-based concretization is taken here.
[E.R.]
1.3.5Stem
In earlier scholarship the stem in -att- c. (Luw. -att(i)-) and the Luwian neuters in -tt(a)- were hopelessly confused, and šarlātt(a)- was not an exception (Götze 1930a:227, Laroche 1959c:296, HW:186, still followed in HHw:145, Oettinger 2001b:457, HED SA:182; Ünal 2007a:615 and HEG Š:914-916, even with an additional nt-stem šarlattant-; the latter also in HHw:145). Only much later, the Luwian stem neuter thematic -tt(a)-, including its nom./acc. sg. forms šarlattan and šarlattanza, was recognized correctly by Starke 1990a: 248 n. 1666, 537 (followed in CLL:191, Rieken 1999a:125f. with n. 576, CHD Š:277, HEG Š:914-916, EDHIL:736, Giusfredi & Pisaniello 2021a:266; unclear DLL:86).
[E.R.]
1.3.6Origin
Laroche 1959c:296 (followed in HEG Š:914-916, HHw:145, HED SA:183) assumes that the adjective šarla/i- and its derivatives are inherited in both Luwian and Hittite. Regarding šarlātt(a)-, the stem formation, the Luwian nom./acc. pl. n. šarlattanza, and the genitival adjective šarlāttašša/i- point to a borrowing from Luwian (cf. DLL:86, Starke 1990a:119, 537, CLL:191, Rieken 1999a:125f. with n. 576, Melchert 2005a:449, van den Hout 2006a:249, EDHIL:736, CHD Š:277, Giusfredi & Pisaniello 2021a:266).
[E.R.]
*The forms in the table were checked together with Marian Wehrstein.
For the lemma head see CLuw. šarri.