alalani-^(ti)

The lexeme is attested once in a fragment of a prayer to the Storm-god of Nerik.

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Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv. – While the lexeme is well preserved, the preceding gloss wedges are only partly recognizable.

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Melchert (DCL:8) was the first dictionary to include this hapax legomenon (as alalanima/i- ‘?’). The context does not permit an informed contextual analysis, but an onomatopoetic origin (intensifying reduplication) is likely. It appears to be a derivative of an interjection alala- with the suffix -ani-^(ti) (mainly used for rustic vocal expression, as attested in, e.g., ārraḫḫani-^(ti) ‘to curse’; for the suffix see Sasseville 2021a:148-151, with references, and Yakubovich & Rieken 2026a:222). The verbal interpretation alalani-^(ti) ‘?’ allows for further analysis as a participle of a denominal verb in -i-^(ti), i.e. a stem in -im(m)a/i-.

This analysis also suggests a connection with alalamneške/a-^(mi) ‘to wail’ attested in Hittite transmission. Starke 1990a:258 assumes that it is a Hitt. -ške/a-formation from a Luwian loanword, a denominal verb based on a -m(ma)n- formation for abstract nouns (cf. Starke 1990a:256-260), hence *alala- ‘alas’ (see HED A, E, I:27) → *alala-m(ma)n- ‘wailing’ → *alalamn-i-^(ti) ‘to wail’. However, an inner-Hittite derivation is proposed under the Lemma. Irrespective of the linguistic assignment of alalamneške/a-^(mi) ‘to wail’ to Hittite or Luwian, the meaning of alalani-^(ti) should belong to the semantic field of wailing as well, which is supported by naḫšarnuwant- ‘made afraid’ in the preceding line.

The same line of argument also allows us to interpret alalatta(/i)- ‘(a body part)’ as an abstract noun derived from *alala-, originally meaning ‘calling’ and concretized as ‘oral cavity, throat, gorge, mouth’.An etymological relationship with alalanti ‘(unknown)’ is formally possible, but cannot be ascertained without an informed semantic interpretation.

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For the stem formation, see under Meaning.

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Apart from the use of the gloss wedges, the suffixes as well as the ending are clearly of Luwian origin, cf. Meaning (cf. also the mention in DCL:8 and van den Hout 2006a:246).

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*This lemma was written together with Alexandra Daues.