malušteya-

The word is a hapax attested in the Ullikummi myth.

[E.R.]

The reading has been checked against the photograph of the Konkordanz.

[E.R.]

The lexeme appears as the subject of =mu waket ‘(it) bit me’ in a list of aggressive actions of animals against the Sea, a mythological character. This supports the interpretation of malušteya- as yet another animal name (cf. CHD L-N:137, Tischler 2008a:88, DLL:67).

On the other hand, Tischler (HEG M:111) draws attention to the fact that a line earlier (iv 10) the putative designation of an animal ḫuwanḫuwanala- reminds of the Palaic name of a body part, ḫuwanḫuwani-, and considers the possibility that malušteya- belongs to the same semantic class and denotes a body part that is used for biting. However, if Sasseville’s translation ‘breast’ of the Palaic word is correct (see under Lemma), the ḫuwanḫuwanala- animal could be so termed after a prominent body part. Accordingly, there is also no indication that, in the case of malušteya-, we are dealing with a “biting body part”, rather it is the name of another animal as assumed earlier. Although this is far from assured, it is at least a possibility to reconcile contextual and etymological considerations.

[E.R.]

The use of the gloss wedge and the frequency of Luwian lexemes in the Ullikummi Cycle (Otten 1950a:33) point strongly towards Luwian origin of malušteya-.

[E.R.]