trppeme/i-

This hapax is found in an undated funerary inscription.

[D.S.]

dat./loc. pl.

trppeme

TL 109.5 (Limyra)

Contra Eichner 1992a:74, the end -e is dative/locative plural and not nominative/accusative plural.

[D.S.]

The meaning of the word trppeme is not assured. It appears within a direct speech expressing that upon which one could place further dead bodies. Since three people are mentioned as to be legally buried in the tomb, i.e. Uwẽmi, his wife and Muwẽte (Kogler & Seyer 2007b:129f.), the noun trppeme was connected to the Lycian number three (Meriggi 1936b:265). Shevoroshkin (apud Neumann 2007a:377) compares the stem formation of trppeme with the one of tupm̃me and mupm̃me. The two latter examples contain likewise short forms of numbers, i.e. tu- ‘two’ (cf. Lyc. A kb-, Lyc. B tb-), mu- ‘four’ (cf. CLuw. māuwāti). However, these formations are not likely to represent the cardinal numbers only, for which there are words already. Instead, one could posit that trppeme means ‘a unity of three’, thus ‘trio’. The sound -p- in trppeme remains unexplained.

[D.S.]

For the lemma head see Lyc. A *trija, *tri