zammurinu-

The verb zammurinu- is attested once in Hittite transmission in the apology of a Hittite official.

[E.R.]

3sg. pret. ind. act.

za-am-mu-ri-nu-ut

KUB 54.1 Vs. II 20

(CTH 389, NS)

Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

[E.R.]

The verb zammurinu- is related to the verb zammurā(i)-^(mi) (cf. EDHIL:1030), which indicates words and actions that would profane objects of reverence such as the gods and the king. HEG IV:652 thus translates it similarly as ‘kränken, beleidigen’.

The form zammurinut appears in the apology of a Hittite official who had been demoted from a position of honor in the palace (Archi & Klengel 1985a:63). In the passage in question, the speaker explains his misfortune: EN-IA=wa=mu ḪUL-uwaḫta nu=wa=mu=kan Z[I-an^?] arḫa zammurinut nu=wa=mu kedani pedi arnut nu=wa=kan ANA ŠEŠ^MEŠ-IA NIN^M[^EŠ-IA] TI-anza akun “My lord mistreated me. He humiliated me (my person) and moved me to this place. To my brothers and sisters, though living I have died.” (KUB 54.1 II 19–23). The object of zammurinut may have been lost to the fragmentation of the tablet. Nikolaev 2019a:187, citing Melchert p. c. plausibly restores ZI-an ‘self, soul, person’. Alternatively, =mu may serve as the object, which amounts to the same in terms of self-reference. 

Archi & Klengel 1985a:55 also translate zammurinut as ‘beleidigte’, but Nikolaev (ibid.) demonstrates that the context warrants a stronger translation, since the passage does not describe a personal offense, but an action with severe societal consequences for the actor. The speaker’s rejection by his kin is a direct result of his suffering zammurinu-. Thus, like zammurā(i)-^(mi), this verb indicates a severe loss of face on part of the patient.

[E.R.]

As demonstrated by Nikolaev 2019a:189, the stem zammurinu- is a causative verb that is related with an unattested Luwian intransitive verb *zammuri-^(ti) (perhaps meaning ‘to lose face, be disgraced’) and distinct from the transitive verb that appears in Hittite as zammurā(i)-^(mi). However, it not possible to determine whether the verb zammurinu-^(mi) is an inner-Hittite causative in -nu-^(mi) formed from Luwian *zammuri-^(ti) or the Hittite adaptation of an inner-Luwian causative *zammurinu(wa)-⁽ⁱ⁾.

[E.R.]

For the Luwian origin of the base *zammur- and its derivatives, see zammurā(i)-^(mi).

[E.R.]

*This lemma was written in collaboration with the trainee Ben Korb.