dannamma/i-

This word appears only once in Hittite transmission with gloss marker in the LNS birth ritual of Pittei.

[A.B.]

nom./acc. pl. n.

dan-na-am-ma

KBo 13.241+KUB 44.4 rev. 4

(CTH 767, LNS)

The attestation follows CLL:204, HEG D/T:95f. (cf. Starke 1990a:544 n. 2013, Ünal 2007a:679 and Ünal 2016a:510, not in Laroche 1959a). The transliteration has been checked against the photos of the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

[A.B.]

Two different meanings have been suggested for dannamma/i- ‘every, all’ and ‘drawn, bare’ (both are listed in Tischler 2008a:185 “all, jeder’ and ‘gezückt”, cf. Tischler 2016a:353 “couteau, épée” under the Sumerogram gír Tischler 2016a:494 indicates a meaning “couteau acéré” (?) for dannamma gír^ḫi.a, which probably also refers to the aspect that the blade is drawn).

The context of KBo 13.241+KUB 44 rev. 4 shows the following (the transliteration is based on the photos of the Mainzer Fotoarchiv, furthermore the hand copies as well as the transliterations and translations of Beckman 1983a:176f., 184; Starke 1985b:234; HEG T/D:95; Giorgieri 2004a:410; Dardano 2010a:76 and Bachvarova 2013a:136, 139 have been taken account of):

⁽⁴⁾[... š]u-za wa-ri-wa-ra-an pa-aḫ-ḫur ḫar-ta šu-az-ma dan-na-am-ma gír^ḫi.a ḫar-ta

⁽⁴⁾[...] with the [ha]nd he (the moon-god) held blazing fire, but with the (other) hand he held the dannamma-sword.

The Glossenkeilwort is an attribute of gír^ḫi.a, which is translated as ‘daggers’ by Beckman 1983a:177, 184 (cf. also Rüster & Neu 1989a:91 indicating a meaning “Messer, Dolch” for the Sumerogram gír, but note that Hittite deities that appear with such a weapon are usually depicted with a sword, cf. also Weeden 2011b:502, who indicates the meanings ‘dagger’ and ‘short sword’, similarly Ünal 2007a:130 ‘dagger, knife, sword’). Beckman furthermore assumes that dannamma/i- is a quantifier and translates it as ‘all’ (cf. HEG T/D:95, Ünal 2007a:679 and Ünal 2016a:510), connecting it with CLuw. tanima/i- based on Laroche 1959a:90 (cf. HEG T/D:95, also connecting CLuw. tanama/i-, but cf. below). However, Starke 1990a:544 n. 2013 rightly points out that dannamma/i- cannot belong to tanima/i- ‘all’ and rather connected it with CLuw. tanama(/i)- (followed by CLL:204), cf. under the respective lemma.

Starke (following a semantic parallel suggested by Poetto, Ital.: “spada nuda = sguainata”) translates dannamma/i- as “gezückt” (cf. Giorgieri 2004a:410, 412; Dardano 2010a:76 “un pugnale sguainato”; Bachvarova 2013a:139 ‘drawn sword’ and CLL:204 ‘brandished’< ‘bare’, with question mark). This meaning fits the context very well (plural instead of the singular is unexpected, but not unparallelled, see Starke 1990a:544 n. 2013).

[A.B.]

The Glossenkeilwort dannamma/i- is assumed to be of Luwian origin by CLL:204, Starke 1990a:544 n. 2013, HEG T/D:95 and Tischler 2008a:185 (it also appears in the lists of Luwianisms of van den Hout 2006a:251 and Ünal 2016a:954 though, not in that of Melchert 2005a). The Glossenkeilwort is attested in a mixed Hittite-Luwian context, in which Hittite is the matrix language, but the text is heavily interspersed with Luwian forms (cf. Yakubovich 2010d:403f. and Bachvarova 2013a:146–152 for the use of Luwianisms in this text). HEG T/D:95 assumes a Luwian foreign word because of the gloss marker and although its use does not constitute proof of a word’s Luwian origin (cf. Schwartz 1938a:75, 78 and Melchert 2005a:445), the vast majority of words provided with this marker are in fact of Luwian origin.

The morphology of dannamma/i- also points towards a Luwian origin, it most probably shows the Luwian suffix -m(m)a/i- that forms verbal participles and secondarily possessive adjectives from nouns (cf. Melchert 2003b:195). A connection of dannamma/i- with CLuw. tanama/i- (as suggested by Starke 1990a:544 n. 2013, cf. CLL:204), is possible but remains uncertain due to the formal ambiguity of this word (cf. under the respective lemma).

Starke 1990a:544 n. 2013 suggests a base verb “*danna” (with unknown stem) and assumes that it is also included in other Luwian words (and Luwianisms) such as HLuw. /tannatta/i-/. This was rejected in CLL:204, pointing out that there is no further evidence for the underlying verb. It remains unclear, from which base dannamma/i- is derived and if it is a verb at all (as already mentioned, the suffix -m(m)a/i- could derive not only verbal participles but also possessive adjectives from nouns).

Thus, the Glossenkeilwort dannamma/i- is either a Luwian foreign word or a loan word in Hittite.

[A.B.]