/sarrawiya-(i)/, sa5+ra/i-wa/i-ia-
‘to be(come) higher (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 3842
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/sarrawiya-(i)/, sa5+ra/i-wa/i-ia-
‘to be(come) higher (?)’1.1.1Transmission
A hapax legomenon, this lexeme is attested in an inscription on a stele from Tabal, dating to between 740 and 730 BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| unclear | /sarrawiya/ | sa5+ra/i-wa/i-ia | SULTANHAN, §27 (Tabal) |
Scholars have proposed different analyses for the present form. Hawkins 2000a:466 and Rieken & Sasseville 2014a:307 n. 10 consider the form to be a 3sg. pres. act. of a verb in /-a-(i)/, in the context possibly with future meaning. Yakubovich (pers. comm.) instead analyses it as a 2sg. impv. act. of a verb in /-iya-(i)/ or /-i(ya)-(di)/. A third possibility is a scribal error due to haplology, resulting in a possible emendation to 〈sa5+ra/i-wa/i-ia〈-ia〉〉, which would be a 3sg. pres. act. of a verb in /-iya-(i)/.
[AH.B.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this lexeme is somewhat unclear, unless the etymological link with the adverb /sarra/ ‘over’ is borne out by future evidence; see the discussions of the meaning and the stem below. The spelling also permits an interpretation different to the form tentatively suggested above, viz. /sar(r)awaya-/. Only further data and a secure etymological connection can decide the issue.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The general direction of the meaning was first suggested by Hawkins 2000a:466 as ‘to increase (?)’, based mostly on the context in SULTANHAN, §27: POST+ra/i-ta-pa-wa/i a-ta sa5+ra/i-wa/i-ia, approx. /apparanta=ba=wa anta sarrawiya/, meaning ‘But it (scil. the yield from the vineyard) (will) increase afterwards’. Rieken & Sasseville 2014a:307 n. 10 follow an earlier idea by Yakubovich and suggest a more literal translation such as ‘to be(come) higher’, making transparent the link with /sarra/ ‘over’. This interpretation, however, faces the conundrum that the particle chain at the start of the clause does not contain a subject pronoun as would be expected for an intransitive verb.
An alternative interpretation is offered more recently by Yakubovich (pers. comm.), who has come to regard the form as a 2sg. impv. act. directing a future official on sacrifices to be made and translates the clause in question as ‘But afterwards, you shall send (it, scil. the aforementioned sacrifices) over’. This interpretation comes up against the lack of an overt object pronoun, which would be expected to find expression in the initial chain of particles. Further evidence is needed to reach a decision regarding the semantics of the verb.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The formation of this verb is not entirely clear, and two propositions have been put forward that only further data can settle, because the analysis depends crucially on the meaning of the word. One hypothesis sees the verb meaning ‘to increase, be(come) higher’ and thus ultimately derived from the adverb /sarra/ ‘above’ by two steps of suffixation, first with /-wa-/ and secondly with the verbal suffix /-iya-(i)/, see Rieken & Sasseville 2014a:307 incl. n. 10 building on Yakubovich pers. comm.
Alternatively, the verb may mean ‘to send over’ vel sim. and then likely constitute a compound of the adverb /sarra/ ‘over’ and the verb */wiya-/ (attested in HLuw. only as /wiyani-(ti)/ ‘to send(?)’). In this case, the adverb and verb would have undergone univerbation before the simplex */wiya-/ fell out of use and was replaced with the verb /harwanni-(ti)/, while the root was continued only in the derivation /wiyani-(ti)/ ‘to send(?)’, cf. Yakubovich 2013a:96, 107f. and Yakubovich 2016a:71f.
[AH.B.]