iška-
‘to be’
- Language
- Palaic
- Class
- Derivative
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 634
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Palaic
iška-
‘to be’1.1.1Transmission
This lexeme is found in the festival text for the Palaic pantheon.
[D.S.]
1.1.2Forms
| 2sg. impv. act. | iš-ka | KUB 35.165 obv. 22 | (CTH 751, OS or MS) |
1.1.3Meaning
The form iška, which is interpreted as an iterative formation in *-sk̑e/o- (Melchert 1984b:30, Watkins 1993a:477f.), has nothing to do with the Palaic verb ´to be´ according to Yakubovich 2005c:109f. Instead, he translates it as ‘to anoint’. However, his rejection of the interpretation of iš-ka as a form of the verb ‘to be’ cannot be withheld. Pace Yakubovich, the sign 〈iš〉 instead of “expected” 〈eš〉 cannot be taken at face value, since both signs are used interchangeably in Palaic texts in all Hittite periods. Furthermore, the imperative ending -a is not uncommon for thematic suffixes; cf. 2sg. impv. aniya.
The clause division in KUB 35.165 obv. 22 suggested in Yakubovich 2005c:112f. must be refuted. The verb iška must belong to the previous sentence and not to the following one, i.e. pa-a-pa-az-ku-ar ti-i [a-an-na-]az-ku-ar ti-i iš-ka ‘You (be) a father! You be a mother!’. The following sentences go as follows: [n]u-uš-ši-ia-am-pí ti-i a-ri nu-uš-ši-am-pí ti-i (a-ri) ‘You raise him yourself up! You (raise) him yourself up!’, if one follows Melchert apud Yakubovich 2005c:113 n. 19. However, pace Yakubovich (ibid.), the lack of an expressed verb at the end of the second sentence could be a scribal mistake. Otherwise, it could be the second sentence that represents a mistake of diplography. In any case, this faulty passage is not a cogent argument to take the conjunction nu with the clitic chain afterwards as being not restricted to the sentence initial position.
[D.S.]
For the derivational base see Pal. āš-/aš-(ti).
2. Proto-Indo-European
2.1Semantic Reconstruction
The Palaic verb functions not as a copula, but as an existential verb. As such, it functionally matches Old Latin, Homeric Greek and Tocharian.
Hom. Gk. ἔσκε(ν) may function as an iterative-habitual, cf. ἔστι πόλις Ἐφύρη μυχῷ Ἄργεος ἱπποβότοιο,| ἔνθα δὲ Σίσυφος ἔσκεν, ὃ κέρδιστος γένετ᾽ ἀνδρῶν. “There is a city Ephyre in a corner of Argos, pastureland of horses. There used to dwell Sisyphos, who was craftiest of men” (Il.6.152f., trans. Wyatt).
Regarding OLat. escit, Fraenkel 1925a:442f. claimed a non-inchoative, existential meaning of escit ‘is extant [“ist vorhanden”]’. However, contrary to Fraenkel’s claim, which was simply repeated by Watkins 1993a and Melchert 2000c:146, the OLat. context clearly permits an iterative(-habitual) reading of escit as ‘is there repeatedly/usually/habitually’ (Homeric Greek, Tocharian); cf. Si morbus aevitasve vitium escit, qui in ius vocabit, iumentum dato “In case (= Always if) illness or old age turn into an impediment, he who summons to court is supposed to provide a team” (Leg. XII tab.1.3). An iterative(-habitual) reading is also attested for PIE *h1s-sk̑e- in Ancient Ionic Greek, Hittite, and possible for Palaic and Tocharian B 3sg. ste, 3pl. skente, cf. e.g. kroścana toṃ nrainta skente “There used to be the cold hells” (Hackstein, Habata & Bross 2019a:153 [31c], cf. also p. 129 [18a]). Besides, however, Tocharian B ste may also convey an inchoative-perfective meaning, cf. e.g. B ste ‘has become’: kuse no su uttare mñcuṣke ṣai se ña(ke) rāhule st(e) “He, who used to be prince Uttara, now has become Rāhula” (B95a2).
2.2Morphological Reconstruction
PIE sk̑e/o-pres. 3sg act. *h1s-sk̑e-ti, injunctive *h1s-sk̑e-d (Homeric Greek). Tocharian B attests middle *h1s-sk̑e-tor and injunctive *h1s-sk̑e-to.
Pal. iška continues the imperative of the inherited sk̑e/o-iterative present of PIE *h1es- ‘be’. The expected zero-grade root shape *h1s- is unambiguously preserved in Toch. B star, ste, which derive, contra Watkins 1969b:200 and Adams 2014a:30, not from a putative PIE *sth2o, but rather, in light of 3pl. Toch. B skentar-, skente, unequivocally from PIE *h1s-sk̑o-. Palaic iška may also continue *h1s- with prothetic prop vowel i-. Old Latin escit exhibits an analogical full grade. The further morphological analysis of Palaic iška is controversial, either as imperative 2sg. active PIE *-e (Melchert 1984b) or as 2sg. middle ending PIE *-o (Watkins 1993a:477f.).
[O.H.]
3. Transmission
Gk. ἔσκε(ν), ἔσκον (Hom., Hdt.)Unaugmented preterite iteratives often denote backgrounded information and therefore lack of the augment.
Chantraine 1973a:290, 320
OLat. pres. 3sg. act. escit, pres. 3pl. act. escuntAnalogical full grade of the root as in Hittite.
Toch. B pres. 3sg. ste, stár-, 3pl. skente, skentár-, stare
Hackstein 1995a:272-282, Malzahn 2010a:691