/tapsallai(ya)-/, (“LEPUS.ANIMA”)ta-pa-sà-la-ia-
‘(unknown)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- adj
- ID
- 3865
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/tapsallai(ya)-/, (“LEPUS.ANIMA”)ta-pa-sà-la-ia-
‘(unknown)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested four times across as many letters, which were found in Assur but likely originated elsewhere. The texts are dated to the late 8th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom./acc. pl. n. | /tapsallaiya/ | (“LEPUS.ANIMA”)ta-pa-sà-la-ia | ASSUR letter c, §9 |
| (“LEPUS”)ta-pa-sà-la-ia-a | ASSUR letter a, §10 | ||
| (“LEPUS”)ta-pa-sà-la-ia | ASSUR letter f+g, §37 | ||
| LEPUS-pa-sà-la-ia | ASSUR letter b, §5 |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of the present lexeme is reasonably clear because of its transparent spelling, although it is marginally possible that the cluster between the first and second syllable should be split up, i.e. /taPasallaya/,
It should be mentioned that despite some spelling differences across the attested forms, the use of 〈sà〉 (*104) is consistent. However, this is unlikely to be due to any conditioning as described in Rieken 2010b:659, as the attestations date to a time well past the period when the orthographic differentiation between the different SA signs was applied reliably.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The lexeme appears consistently in conjunction with /warma-/, a noun whose meaning is likewise unknown. In one of the four attestations in the ASSUR letters, /tapsallaiya/ is put behind /warma-/, whereas it precedes in all other cases. No meaning has so far been offered for this lexeme, although Hawkins 2000a:543f. discusses various possibilities and connects it tentatively to CLuw. tapašša- often translated as ‘fever (?)’, but cf. under lemma. However, none of the suggestions find true support in the context. In fact, the idea voiced by Hawkins 2000a:543, i.e. that the noun phrase /tapsallaiya warma/ modifies the clause in some way instead of representing a tradable commodity seems rather unlikely.
Instead, it is suggested here that /warma-/ is a commodity frequently sent in baskets and modified by the adjective /tapsallaiya/, which provides information about the quality requested by the sender of the letter, cf. e.g. ASSUR letter c, §§8-9: wa/i-mu-u 10 ha-sà-pi-na 100-ha-wa/i-mu “(*187.ZÚ)”mi-la-a-na VIA-wa/i-ni (“LEPUS.ANIMA”)ta-pa-sà-la-ia-ha-wa/i (*286.*317)wa/i-ra+a-ma-i kwa/i-ta-ha LITUUS+na-ti-sà 4-zi ni-pa-wa/i 5-na-´ (“*78”)a-ru-ti-na, translating as ‘Send me 10 hasp(i)- and (send) me 100 mila-, and tapsallaiya- warma- wherever you see four or five baskets (of them)’. If the word should indeed be based on a borrowing from Old Babylonian/Assyrian ṭapšu ‘plump, fat’ (cf. CHD Ṭ:49; see the discussion of the origin below), the present lexeme could denote something like ‘fat, plump’ or a more general sense such as ‘of high quality’. Still, this cannot be proved at present, and therefore the lexeme remains without a semantic assignment until further data are found.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The formation appears to be an adjective in /-i(ya)-/, derived from an unattested noun in /-alla-/. The latter suffix does not show i-mutation (see Sasseville 2014-2015a:119f.), hence the lack of contraction between the two suffixes. Likewise unattested in HLuw. is the probable derivational basis */tapsa-/.
[AH.B.]
tapašša-