mruwasa-

This lexeme is attested in the inscription of the inscribed pillar of Xanthos, dated contextually to shortly after the ascension of Artaxerxes II in 405-404 BCE and stylistically to around 400 BCE (Borchhardt & Eichner 1997-1999a:19f.), as well as in the poetical inscription engraved on the lion sarcophagus of Antiphellos, dated on stylistic grounds to the beginning of the 4^th century BCE (Zahle 1979a:318, Mühlbauer 2007a:91).

[D.S.]

The word of the first attestation has been read instead as padmruwasa (Kalinka 1901a:43, Borchhardt & Eichner 1997-1999a:24, DLL:123, Neumann 2007a:255, Gehrisch 2018a:38), although scholars have suggested various segmentation and emendations (Kalinka 1901a:106 “padmru wasa”, Schürr 2016d:167 “pad〈r〉mruwasa”). Sasseville 2018a:311f. points out that the sequence -dm- is not allowed in Lycian (likewise Schürr 2016d:167), thus emending to =pa{d} mruwasa and recovering the emphatic particle =pa following the verb uweti (from =pe with vowel harmony caused by the following mruwasa). Furthermore, this existence of the word mruwasa- is supported by the second attestation in TL 55 (already compared in Schürr 2005a:145).

The second attestation in TL 55 had not been deciphered properly until the edition of Schürr (see Schürr 2005a:126); cf. Neumann 2007a:224 with further literature. The double -ss- read by earlier scholars could be an erroneous word divider followed by an s, which would have to be emended, i.e. mruẉa{:}si or, as per Schürr 2005a:126, a slight damage in the stone.

[D.S.]

In TL 44c.38, mruwasa is a divine agent pertaining to Kybernis (Lyc. kuprlli), the grandfather of Gergis (Lyc. xeriga), capable of favoring the river-valleys, whereas in TL 55.4, it is the beneficent of an action pertaining to the river-valleys (Sasseville 2018a:311f.). From an etymological perspective, Melchert (DLL:121) compares the base of mruwasa- with Lyd. mruwa- ‘stele’ (followed by Shevoroshkin 2011b:147 translating mruwasa- with “stele” (also Shevoroshkin 2014a:246), Gehrisch 2018a:82 “monument”). Since, mruwasa- is expected to be a divine agent, Melchert (apud Sasseville 2018a:311f.) suggests that it represents a divine stone containing the soul of the ancestor, a religious phenomenon known from Hittite culture. Therefore, one may conclude for the first context that mruwasa refers to the funerary stone (or stele) of the deified ancestor Kybernis.

[D.S.]

The noun mruwasa- is a formation in -asa- (from -ese/i- + -a-) derived from a non-attested noun *mruwe- ‘stele (?)’ (matching Lyd. mruwa- (or Sasseville 2018a:312f.).

[D.S.]

For the lemma head see Lyc. B *mruwe-.