tišḫa-⁽ⁱ⁾

The verb occurs in prayers and in an instruction.

[E.R.]

3sg. pret. act. (Hitt.)	ti-eš-ḫa-aš	KUB 43.50 obv. 20	(CTH 486, NS)
2sg. impv. act.	ti-iš-ḫa	KUB 54.1 i 26	(CTH 389, NS)
part. nom. pl. c. (Hitt.)	ti-iš-ḫa-⸢an-te⸣-eš	KUB 26 12 + iv 35	(CTH 255, NS)

An erroneous analysis as 1sg. pret. act. of an otherwise unknown verb tiš- is presented in DCL:s.v.

[E.R.]

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

[E.R.]

The meaning of the verb was elucidated by Götze & Pedersen 1934a:41, 69. In the contexts of attestation, the king is supposed to keep away from a woman in the course of a ritual, a high official has to be vigilant not to get killed, and the eunuchs have to take care to stay pure when coming close to the pure king. Their interpretation was followed by most scholars; cf. HEG T:382f. for the text citations and references, but also for the other interpretations that were driven by etymological considerations. More recent references accepting Götze’s & Pedersen’s translation are, e.g., HHw:177, Ünal 2007a:719, Miller 2013a:291, Görke 2015f.

[E.R.]

The verb follows the ḫi-conjugation in Hittite. If the same was true in Luwian, the verb could not represent a denominative formation from a noun *tišḫa- (i.e. a derivative of an abstract noun in -šḫa-); cf. Sasseville 2021a:374. However, too little is known about the assignment of Hittite stem classes to verbs borrowed from Luwian.

[E.R.]

In spite of the problems raised under Stem, it is still probable that tišḫa- is based on an abstract noun in -šḫa-, though with its derivational path unclear. Considering also the use of the gloss wedge in one instance, a Luwian origin is more likely than not (also DCL:s.v., albeit based on the erroneous analysis of ti-iš-ḫa as a verbal form with 1sg. pret. act. ending).

[E.R.]