nakkuššā(i)-(di)
‘to perform a scapegoat rite’
- Language
- Cuneiform Luwian
- Class
- Derivative
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 3888
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Cuneiform Luwian
nakkuššā(i)-(di)
‘to perform a scapegoat rite’1.1.1Transmission
All attestations of the verb are found in conjurations from the Kuwattalla tradition (from MS onwards).
[E.R.]
1.1.2Forms
| 1pl. pret. act. | [na-a]k-ku-uš-ša-a-ú-un-t[a] | KUB 35.14 i 21’ | (CTH 760, NS) |
| na-ak-ku-⸢uš-ša-a-ú⸣-un-ta | KUB 35.15 iii! 4 | (CTH 761, MS) | |
| na-ak-ku-u[š-ša-a-ú-un-ta] | KBo 9.141 iv 17’ | (CTH 761, MS) |
For the interpretation of the ending -unta, recognized as such first by Otten 1953a:72 with n. 64 and Meriggi 1957b:73, as the marker of the 1pl. pret. act., see Melchert & Yakubovich 2022b.
[E.R.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.
[E.R.]
1.1.4Meaning
The verb is found in very similar variants of an incantation, whose occurrence in KBo 9.141 14’-18’ is restored and translated by Yakubovich & Mouton 2023a:261: “For a while we [have been performing] conju[rations (on account of) judgments], curses, (and) [perjuries, past] (or) present, [of the dead (or) the living]. Now, [we] perform[ed] the scapegoat rite. [May (those) be affected b]y the scapegoat rite!” Since the text lists evils affected by the actions of the ritualist before the billy goat is led away and taken by the practitioner, the verb must mean ‘to perform the scapegoat rite’ as proposed by Yakubovich & Mouton 2023a:173 and Yakubovich & Mouton 2023b:414, and most recently Ivanov 2024a:210, instead of ‘to furnish a scapegoat’ (thus assumed before in CLL:153, HED N:53, Sasseville 2021a:194f.).Outdated is the translation ‘to substitute’ (DLL:73, HHw:110), ever since it became clear that nakkušša/i- functions as a scapegoat and sin carrier, not a substitute; see under Lemma.
[E.R.]
1.1.5Stem
Deriving from nakkušša/i- ‘scapegoat, sin carrier’ (Otten 1953a:72 with n. 64, Yakubovich & Mouton 2023a:173, CLL:s.v.) and featuring a 1pl. pret. act. in -āunta, the verb belongs to the class of stems in -ā(i)-(di). In contrast, the ideas of Sasseville 2021a:194f. and Starke 1990a:537 about stem final -au- (including -u-) or -āwa- are now obsolete, see under Forms.
[E.R.]
1.1.6Origin
The verb is an inner-Luwian derivative of the Hurrian base noun nakkušša/i- ‘scapegoat, sin carrier’ (see under Stem).
[E.R.]
For the lemma head see nakkušša/i-.