/kwarissamm(i)-?/, kwa/i-ti-sà-mi-
‘(some type of defensive armour?)’
- Language
- Hieroglyphic Luwian
- Grammar
- u
- ID
- 626
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/kwarissamm(i)-?/, kwa/i-ti-sà-mi-
‘(some type of defensive armour?)’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is attested twice, once in an inscription from Tabal, and once in one of the letters found in Assur, both dated to the late 8th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| acc. sg. | /kwarissammin?/ | kwa/i-ti-sà-mi-na-i | ASSUR letter d, §9 |
| dat./loc. pl | /kwarissammanz?/ | kwa/i-ti-sà-ma-za | EĞREK, §2 (Tabal) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological interpretation is supported by reasonably clear spelling, but should be taken with caution because the link of the lexeme to the word family around /kwar-/ ‘to cut’ is tentative for its unclear semantics (see discussion of meaning below).
An alternative interpretation based on an earlier suggestion by Hawkins 2000a:493, 546 would suggest the forms be read /kwarissammin/ and /kwarissamman=za/ respectively, i.e. /-mma/i-/ participles of an otherwise unattested verb */kwarissa-(i)/ ‘to cut’ vel sim.
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
The meaning of this word is difficult to ascertain, as it appears in two rather disparate contexts. In the Assur letter, it denotes a concrete object, occurring in a request by the addressee for a number of things to be sent, and it is preceded by (*91)za-la-la-si-na /zallallassin/, the acc. sg. c. of a genitival adjective in /-assa/i-/ of /zallall(a)-/ ‘cart’. It is therefore highly probable that /kwarissammin?/ denotes something of which there can be a version for a cart, e.g. armour, but it remains unclear what exactly. In EĞREK, on the other hand, the word occurs in a funerary inscription and constitutes the first clause of the historical narrative about the buried person, after which the text breaks off. The clause wa/i-ti-ta 〈〈I〉〉á-pa-sá wa/i+ra/i-pa-sa-hi-i-sà kwa/i-ti-sà-ma-za á-pa NEG2-a ha-si-[ ... probably translates as ‘For him, his military career? did not end in (parts / a set of) armour?’, i.e. a soldier who died of something else than combat (see also lemma /warpassahid-/).
[AH.B.] [I.Y.]
1.1.5Stem
If the word is indeed related to the family around the verb /kwar-/ ‘to cut’, it would constitute the substantivised participle of a deverbal derivative in /-ssa-(i)/, cf. Sasseville 2021a:488-490. If it is not related to the verb /kwar-/, its formation remains unclear.
[AH.B.]
For the lemma head, see PAnat. *ku̯ér-/ku̯r-´.