*trób-/tr̥p-´
‘to tread on’
- Language
- Proto-Luwic
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 3942
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
*/tarba-(i)/
‘to tread on (?)’1.1.1Derivatives
1.2 Cuneiform Luwian
*tarpa-(i)
‘to tread on (?)’1.2.1Derivatives
1.2.1.1Uncertain Derivatives
1.3 Lycian A
trbbe-(ti)
‘to tread on’1.3.1Transmission
This lexeme is a hapax attested on TL 44, the pillar of Xanthos, dated stylistically to around 400 BCE and contextually to shortly after the ascension of the Persian emperor Artaxerxes II in 405-404 BCE (Borchhardt & Eichner 1997-1999a:19f.).
[O.B.]
1.3.2Forms
| 3sg. pret. ind. act. | trbbetẽ | TL 44a.54 (Xanthos) |
1.3.3Meaning
This verb is transitive, taking the mountain Turaxssi as its direct object. Moreover, it governs the infinitives zxxãna ‘to fight’ and tebãna ‘to defeat’. As pointed out by Sasseville 2021a:377f. (and Sasseville 2021c:165, 168), the only reasonable action described by Lyc. A trbbe-(ti) is thus ‘to tread on (vel sim.)’ (thus also in Serangeli 2019a:234, pace Melchert DLL:69 ‘to oppose, resist (?)’ and Schürr 2005a:152 ‘verstärken’). A plausible translation of the passage is consequently made possible, for which see Sasseville 2021a:338. Additional supporting evidence for this interpretation might be available in the probable radical cognate Lyc. A tarb(e)i-(di) ‘to trample (vel sim.)’. The lexeme being a hapax hinders clear understanding of its precise semantics, however.
[O.B.]
1.3.4Stem
Lyc. A trbbe-(ti) is on account of the stem forming -e- and unlenited ending in trbbetẽ a non-leniting e-stem verb.
[O.B.]
1.3.5Derivatives
2. Reconstruction
2.1Reconstruction ‘to tread on’
Considering the semantics of the root well attested in Luwian and Lycian (see below), Sasseville 2021a:399 adduces the root etymology with Greek τραπέω ‘to tread (grapes)’ (see also the reconstruction of Lyc. tarb(e)i-(di) and Yakubovich 2010a:389), conceding however that the voiced -b-, which can be clearly seen in Lycian trbbe-(ti) ‘to tread (on)’ and Lyc. A tarb(e)i-(di) ‘to trample’ requires a secondary voicing of the PIE root *terp-/trep-. Since a root verb of the ḫi-conjugation is reflected in Lyc. trbbe-(ti), a pre-form *tróp-/trp-´ with lenition of the 3rd singular, as it is well known from Hittite ḫi-verbs of the type -āCi, -aCCanzi (Melchert 2012cand Sasseville 2021a:391-92 both with further literature), i.e. → trób-/trp-´, can be posited. It is very likely that the plural stem was analogically reshaped to *trb-´ already in Proto-Luwic, although this cannot be verified at the moment due to the lack of attestations in Lycian. Regarding the singular, it is likely that the accent was columnized on the secondarily developed theme vowel and that the root vowel was subsequently syncopated.
For a causative-iterative formation to the same root, see PLuw. *tr̥béi̯e/o-.
Another word family that is here dealt with is likely to belong to the same Indo-European root, see PLuw. trep- ‘to tread (in place of), replace (?)’.
For the PIE root *trep- ‘to turn’ in Anatolian that is here separated from the root for ‘to tread’, see Hitt. teripp-(mi) ‘to plow’ and possibly 
tarpanuti(ya)- and Lyc. trepe.
[D.S.]
3. Proto-Indo-European
3.1Semantic Reconstruction
The basic meaning of the root *trep- seems to have been ‘to tread, stamp (with one’s foot)’ (cf. LIV²:650 s.v. 1.*trep- “treten, stampfen”; not to be confused with the homonymous *trep- ‘to turn’ LIV²:650 s.v. 2.*trep- “wenden”). It is not clear whether Latin trepidus ‘fearful, anxious’ and Old Church Slavonic trepetŭ ‘fear, trepidation’ (and its Slavic cognates) belong here, or if their *trep- is a variant of *tres- (Vedic trásati, Greek τρέω ‘tremble’, etc.) and *trem- (Greek τρέμω, Latin tremō ‘tremble’, etc.).
3.2Morphological Reconstruction
The formal parallel between Proto-Luwic *tr̥béi̯e/o- ‘to trample’ (HLuw. /tarb(a)i-(di)/ ‘to attack, trample’, Lyc. A tarb(e)i-(di) ‘to trample’) and Ancient Greek τραπέω ‘tread grapes’ (Od., Hes., Anan.), both from *tr̥p-éi̯e/o-, is striking. According to LIV²:19, there are 15 secure examples of this present-stem type with a zero-grade root and a suffix *-éi̯e/o- in PIE, 10 of which have cognates in more than one branch. To these, *tr̥p-éi̯e/o- can now be added as another example.
[S.H.]
4. Transmission
Cuneiform Luwian tarpā(i)-(di) ‘to tread, walk (on)’, Lycian B trbbe-(ti) ’to tread on’, Cuneiform Luwian tarp(a)i-(di) ‘to attack, advance against’, Hieroglyphic Luwian /tarb(a)i-(di)/ ‘to attack, trample’, Lycian A tarb(e)i-(di) ‘to trample’, etc.
Ancient Greek τραπέω ‘tread grapes’ (Od., Hes., Anan.), τράπεον[το]· ἐπάτουν[το] ‘they tread’ (Hsch. τ 1262 Latte-Hansen-Cunningham), τραπητός· ὁ οἶνος ‘the wine’ (Hsch. τ 1267 Latte-Hansen-Cunningham), πρό-τροπος (οἶνος) m. a sweet Mytilenean wine, that flowed from the grape before the treading (medic. etc.), τροπήϊον n. ‘press’ (Hippon.), etc.Cf., e.g., GEW II:918f. s.v. τραπέω, EDG:1499 s.v. τραπέω, LIV²:650 s.v. 1.*trep-.
Proto-Germanic *þrapp/bōn- ‘to trot’ (Old English þrafian ‘to urge, press’, English (dial.) thrave ‘id.’, Dutch draven, drabben ‘to trot’, German traben, etc.).Cf., e.g., EDPG:544f. s.v. *þrapp/bōn-.
Old Prussian er-treppa ‘they infringe’, trapt ‘step’, Lithuanian trepsė́ti ‘stamp one’s feet’ (3prs. trèpsi, also trèpsia, 3prt. trepsė́jo), trapinė́ti (dial.) ‘stamp one’s feet’ (3prs. trapinė́ja, 3prt. trapinė́jo), trem̃pti (3prs. trem̃pia, 3prt. trem̃pė) ‘to step sharply on something, to crush (with the feet), to stamp on the ground’.Cf., e.g., LEW II:1111 s.v. trapinė́ti , 1116f. s.v. trem̃pti, EDBIL:469f. s.v. trapinėti, 470 s.v. trepsėti, LIV²:650 s.v. 1.*trep-.
Russian tropá f. ‘path, trail’, tropátĭ ‘to stamp, trample’, Bulgarian trópam ‘to stamp, trample, dance’, (?) Old Church Slavonic trepetŭ ‘fear, trepidation’, etc.Cf., e.g., Vasmer III:141 s.v. тропáть.