ḫūtanu(i)-

Attestations of this gloss wedge word appear twice in the legend of Atramḫaši.

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nom. pl. c.	ḫu-ta-nu-en-zi	KUB 8.63 iv 13’	(CTH 347, NS)
unknown	ḫu-u-ta-nu[-	KUB 8.63 iv 14’	(CTH 347, NS)

For the possible “colloquial” (i.e. in this context, Empire Luwian) origin of the acc. pl. form in -inzi, see Yakubovich 2010d:30f. and already van den Hout 2006a:236.

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Checked against the photographs in the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

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The lexeme ḫūtanu(i)- is, in extant scholarship, consistently translated as ‘excavation pit’ (vel sim.): ‘Baugrube’ (HHw:57); ‘ditch; moat; excavation pit’ (DCL:95); and ‘taş ocağı’ (quarry) (Ünal 2016a:210). However, this is due to its frequent conflation with the Hittite term ḫūtanu- (ḫu-u-ta-nu-e-iš in KUB 31.86 ii 6 and ḫu-u-t[a]-nu-uš in KBo 32.14 iii 41, perhaps also ḫu-da-nu-i in KBo 62.5, 20; cf. HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:790), which indeed designates a ‘foundation pit.’ The meaning of the gloss wedge words ḫu-ta-nu-en-zi and ḫu-u-ta-nu[- in KUB 8.63 cannot be that of ‘excavation/foundation pit’, contra DCL:95. Their attestation in KUB 8.63 thus remains untranslated by Beckman 2019a:66, 78 in Ḫamša’s advice to his son Atramḫaši:

“Take the ḫūtanu! And when [the ant … ], the ḫaršanta and the ḫūtanu [ … ] Drive   out in the wagons! Drive out [in the chariots]! Take the grain for yourself [ … ] !”

HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:790f. also prefers to separate the two lemmata. Although the Hittite and Luwian terms may be cognates and the latter may indeed exhibit a metaphoric use of the former’s meaning, no suitable semantic interpretation comes to mind.

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The i-mutated stem bears a resemblance to Hitt. ḫutanu-, although further clarification remains impossible while the Luwian term is undefined.

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The noun is likely Luwian in origin, on account of the usage of the Glossenkeil in its Hittite transmission and the distinctly Luwian nom. pl. c. ending -enzi. It is also classified as a Luwian term by DLL:48, CLL:78, Melchert 2005a:449, van den Hout 2006a:236, 243, Yakubovich 2010d:30f., HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:790f., DCL:82.

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*This Lemma was written together with Marcello Koraicho.