/salumas(s)a-/, (HORDEUM)sà-la/i/u-ma-sa-

This lexeme is a hapax legomenon, and its sole attestation occurs in one of the Assur letters, dating to the late 8th century BCE.

[AH.B.]

acc. sg.

/salumas(s)an/

(HORDEUM)sà-la/i/u-ma-sa(=)

ASSUR letter e, 3§23 (Assur)

In the attestation, the lexeme is followed by a particle chain: <-ha-wa/i>. While the analysis as an acc.sg. /salumas(s)an/ is the most likely option, it is also possible that the attested form represents a collective in the accusative: /salumas(s)a/.

[AH.B.]

Despite a fully syllabic rendition, the phonological interpretation of this word is tentative, not least due to the following particle chain which may or may not obscure a final /n/. It has no known cognate link in CLuw. that could aid in deciding the ambiguous points left by the HLuw. spelling conventions.

[AH.B.]

The lexeme is used in an Assur letter in which the writer requires the addressee to send certain things, very probably goods, /kwalayanan/ and /salumas(s)an/ (or collective /salumas(s)a/) among others. The meaning of neither word is clear, but the spelling of both includes the logogram HORDEUM (*179) ‘barley’. Therefore, a connection to barley, or grain more generally, may be possible.

[AH.B.]

The lexeme appears to be a common gender noun that does not undergo i-mutation. As the meaning of the word is unclear, however, nothing further can be said about its stem formation (cf. also Sasseville 2018a:308).

[AH.B.]