ambaššit-
‘(a movable cultic object; the name of a ritual)’
- Language
- Hittite
- Class
- Derivative
- Grammar
- subst, n.
- ID
- 412
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Luwian (Glossenkeilwörter)
ambaššit-
1.1.1Transmission
Attested in a Hittite inventory text (LNS) and religious texts (a prayer, a ritual and, a festival description, all in NS).
[Zs.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| dat.-loc. sg. | am-ba-aš-ši-ti | KBo 4.6 Rs. 2’ | (CTH 380, NS) |
| KBo 15.68 iv 14 | (CTH 628, NS) | ||
| am-ba-aš-ši-ti-i | KBo 15.59 iv 7’ | (CTH 628, NS) | |
| KUB 29.4 ii 38 | (CTH 481, NS) | ||
| am-ba-aš-ši-ti |
KUB 38.25 i 8’ | (CTH 524, LNS) |
Attestations following HW (2nd ed.) A:68 complemented with H. M. Kümmel 1967a:40 (cf. also HED A & E/I:49f., not included in Laroche 1959a and CLL) checked against the photographs of the Konkordanz. Some of the forms without endings may in fact be nom.-acc. sg. n. (for their list see HW (2nd ed.) A:68), but this cannot be proven.
[Zs.S.]
1.1.3Meaning ‘(a movable cultic object; the name of a ritual)’
Based on the contexts it is generally agreed that this word is both a movable cultic object and the name of a ritual (HW (2nd ed.) A:68f. [with discussion of outdated proposals, cf. also HED A & E/I:50], followed by HED A & E/I:49; HEG A-K:22; Tischler 1981a:15, 41, 70; Tischler 2008a:15). It is often left untranslated when it refers to the ritual (Haas 1994a:664; Collins 2003b:175; Daues & Rieken 2015a:36, Daues & Rieken 2018a:401; Rieken et al. 2016b:§5’’; cf. also Richter 2012a:20f.), but it is also frequently translated as ‘burnt-offering’ (Miller 2004a:283; Beckman 2010b:82; Groddek 2010a:377; Mouton 2016a:355; Tischler 2016a:13; Ünal 2016a:60 [with question mark, also considering ‘smoke offering’]), although ambaššit- is only a part of the burnt-offering, not the offering itself.
[Zs.S.]
1.1.4Origin
In earlier research this form was sometimes considered to be of Hurrian origin since the ending °ti was falsely explained as a reinterpreted Hurrian ending (Friedrich 1952a:20; H. M. Kümmel 1967a:40 [with question mark]; HED A & E/I:50), but an alternative interpretation of this word as Luwian appears already in Miller 2004a:305 (who left open the issue). There is no doubt that it ultimately originates in Hurrian (cf. HEG A-K:22; HED A & E/I:50; HW (2nd ed.) A:86), but its -it-stem requires Luwian mediation. Nevertheless, it was not included either in the recent Luwian glossaries (CLL; Tischler 2008a, Tischler 2016a; Ünal 2016a:949–977) or in the lists of Luwianisms (Melchert 2005a; van den Hout 2007a) and also the Glossenkeilwort collection of Zorman 2007a neglects this word.
[Zs.S.]