pašḫulla-

This lexeme is found in festival texts for the Palaic pantheon.

[D.S.]

For the grammatical interpretation cf. Carruba 1970a:67, Hajnal 2000a:165f., Yakubovich 2008a:201.

[D.S.]

Checked against the photograph in the Konkordanz (Mainzer Fotoarchiv).

[D.S.]

The word pašḫulla- in its genitival adjective form serves as an epithet to the Palaic Sun-god. Carruba 1972a:43 suggests the meaning ‘divine’ based on the assumption that is contains the Hattic word for god, i.e. -šḫap/w-. This is rightly rejected by Yakubovich 2005c:109, who points out that the final -p/w- in -šḫap/w- is part of the root, whence it cannot be reconciled with the form pašḫ-ulla-. Yakubovich (ibid) connects it instead with the deity ^dwa_a-aš-ḫu-ú-li-li, which is surely correct, but does not shed any light on the semantics of the epithet. Steitler 2017a:405 n. 1228 suggests that pašḫulla- might mean ‘window’ because of the association of the Sun-god with the window (i.e. the entry of light) in the festival for Palaic pantheon. However, the window is also used for other deities of the same pantheon, i.e. ^dIlaliyanteš and ^dḫašamili. Tischler (HEG W-Z:391) translates the epithet with ´of the light´, which is a mere guess.

In the Old Hittite version of the festival for the Palaic pantheon, pašḫullašaš tiyaz corresponds to: A+N[A KI^?]-pa ^dUTU-⸢i⸣ (KBo 38.70 + KBo 30.137 ii 9´/11´), in which the sign KI ´earth´ (i.e. daganzipa) is the only logical restoration. Moreover, if one considers the same festival, which later becomes part of the larger AN.TAḪ.ŠUM und Nuntarriyašḫa festivals, the sun deity carries on the last day of this festival the epithet ´of the earth´, i.e. ták-na-aš ^dUTU-aš ´Sun-god(dess) of the earth´ (IBoT 2.80, Bo 5328). Therefore, pašḫullašaš tiyaz can be best equated with [KI^?]-pa ^dUTU-i and ták-na-aš ^dUTU-aš, which would yield the meaning ´earth´ or perhaps ´underworld´ for pašḫulla-. Further evidence can be adduced from the derivative wāšḫullati-.

[D.S.]

1. wāšḫullati-

There is general agreement that the word pašḫulla- is of Hattic origin; see above under meaning. The typical evidence used for the Hattic origin is drawn from the vacillation between p- and w- in the base p/wašḫulla-, which would speak for the sound /f/. However, we no longer consider this argument to be valid. In a forthcoming edition of the Palaic texts, Görke & Sasseville argue that the Palaic language could used the ligatur signs and the vacillation between p/w to express its own phonemes; cf. under p/wūzzanni-.

Morphologically, the noun p/wašḫulla- can be analyzed as an instrument noun in -ulla- (< *-u-d^hlo-) derived from an abstract noun in -ašḫa-, i.e. *p/wašḫa- < (without aphaeresis) *ap(p)ašḫa- to Pal. ap-^(ti) ´to seize (?)´ (cf. p/wūzzanni-). Thus, p/wašḫulla- would refer to something that pertains to "seizing" or "receiving", which would have been used metaphorically to refer to the dark earth or the underworld. 

[D.S.]