/tarPunalla(/i)-/, tara/i-pu-na-la-
‘rival (?), playmate (?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- subst
- ID
- 3949
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/tarPunalla(/i)-/, tara/i-pu-na-la-
‘rival (?), playmate (?)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested twice in a single inscription from Karkamiš, dating to the 8th century BCE.
[A.P.]
1.1.2Forms
| nom. pl. | /tarPunallanzi/ | tara/i-pu-na-la-zi-i | KARKAMIŠ A5a, §9 (Karkamiš) |
| /tarPunallinzi/ | ˹tara/i˺-pu-na-li-zi | KARKAMIŠ A5a, §11 (Karkamiš) |
[A.P.]
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation of this word is provisional, because it is not clear to which word family it belongs, e.g. to that around /tarba-(di)/ ‘to tread, trample’ or that around /tarPuna-/ ‘(a kind of toy)’. No logograms accompany the attestations for the present word that would render one connection more likely than the other.
The suffixes involved in the stem formation are well-known from other lexemes, but the fact that the two attested forms show different stem finals in KARKAMIŠ A5a, §9 and §11, viz. /a/ and /i/, again introduces some uncertainty; see the discussion of the stem below. The two signs used are 〈la〉 (sign *176) and 〈li〉 (*278), whose shapes resemble each other only in the most general terms with both being roughly triangular, but otherwise they differ in design and, more importantly, orientation. That renders an accidental scribal mistake unlikely, albeit not entirely impossible.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning assigned to this lexeme is hypothetical and depends on which etymological connection will turn out to be correct, viz. /tarba-(di)/ ‘to tread, trample’ or /tarPuna-/ ‘(a kind of toy)’ or indeed yet another word beginning with /tarP°/. The contexts of attestation are indecisive, and the word only appears in a single inscription, viz. KARKAMIŠ A5a. A funerary inscription, the text appears to detail the familial struggles the author felt he faced during his lifetime, and KARKAMIŠ A5a, §11 perhaps puts into words his hopes for good treatment in death: wa/i-mu-u á-˹mi˺-zi ˹tara/i˺-pu-na-li-zi (LIGNUM)wa/i-su ˹POST˺+ra/i-ta á-wa/i-ti, approx. /wa=mu amminzi tarPunallinzi wasu apparanta awinti/, meaning ‘Afterwards, my rivals? shall come well for me’ (cf. Hawkins 2000a:182).
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The attested spelling shows differences regarding the stem-final vowel, i.e. the nom. pl. may be /tarPunallanzi/ or /tarPunallinzi/. The former would represent the correct form of an a-stem /tarPunalla-/, the latter that of an i-mutated stem /tarPunalla/i-/. Since both are valid formations in Luwian, but represent different suffixes, it cannot be said with certainty which one should be assumed for the present lexeme, viz. the agent noun suffix /-alla-/ or the adjectival suffix /-alla/i-/ with subsequent substantivisation.
If the emendation for the putative derivative HLuw. /tarPu(na)llahid-/ should be correct, the present lexeme is more likely to be formed with the adjectival suffix /-alla/i-/ than with non-mutating /-alla-/, but cf. the discussion there. It is tempting to see /tarPuna-/ ‘(a kind of toy)’ as the derivational base for /tarPunalla(/i)-/, but without a secure semantic interpretation for the present word, the link remains hypothetical.
[AH.B.]