/sarrahha/, SUPER+ra/i-ha-a
‘up from’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- adv
- ID
- 3843
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/sarrahha/, SUPER+ra/i-ha-a
‘up from’1.1.1Transmission
The two occurrences of this lexeme can be found in an inscription from Tabal and one of the letters discovered in Assur, but likely originating from elsewhere. Both texts date to the mid- to late 8th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| indecl. | /sarrahha/ | SUPER+ra/i-ha-a | SULTANHAN, §19 (Tabal) |
| SUPER+ra/i-ha | ASSUR letter e, §25 |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
Because of its spelling, the present lexeme is connected securely to the word family around /sarra/ ‘over’ and therefore reasonably transparent regarding its phonological shape. The medial fricative is likely a geminate /hh/, see the discussion of the stem below, but it should be borne in mind that, in the case of a different morphology, a singleton /h/ is also possible, because the HLuw. writing system is unable to convey the difference between the two.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
With only two attestations, the meaning of this lexeme remained partly opaque for some time, although scholars agreed on the word belonging to the family around /sarra/ ‘over’. The clause in SULTANHAN, §19 introduces the protasis of a curse formula following after a passage about those who show piousness to a god, and Hawkins 2000a:469 suggested ‘over(much)’: kwa/i-sa-pa-wa/i-ta SUPER+ra/i-ha-a PUGNUS-ri+i-ti-i-´, translating it as ‘But who(ever) arises (?) over(much)’ (meaning: to show a lack of piousness) and assuming the verb to be intransitive, with /sarrahha/ likely serving as a preverb. Alternatively, the verb may be transitive after all, for the particle chain in the beginning of the clause may contain an acc. sg. c. pronoun /=an/, which is fully expected to remain graphically unexpressed in accordance with the HLuw. spelling practices. It would then be possible to interpret the verb and adverb more literally, viz. ‘But he who raises him (scil. the god depicted) up from (the base), …’. The interpretation of the other attestation, i.e. ASSUR letter e, §25, is somewhat hampered by the fact that the meaning of at least two words in the clause has remained largely unclear so far: a-wa/i-wa/i-mu-ta (“*198”)ki+ra/i-ra+a-za *317.CRUS2(-)pa-sa-za-ha SUPER+ra/i-ha (“LONGUS”)ia-ti-na-ia, meaning approx. ‘Promote me up from (the crafts) k. and *317’. However, it is evident that /sarrahha/ serves as postposition to the two datives preceding it.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The adverb is likely a compound of the two adverbs /sarra/ ‘over’ and /ahha/ ‘away, back’. An alternative analysis is offered by Hawkins 2000a:469, who seems to consider the structure to reflect /sarra=ha/, i.e. the adverb combined with the conjunctive particle ‘and’, although he does not state this explicitly. The attested spelling permits both views, but the former is semantically more compelling.
[AH.B.]