/sti-?/, (PONERE)sà-ti-

The only attestation of this hapax legomenon can be found on an inscription from Commagene, dated to between 770 and 750 BCE.

[AH.B.]

With just one attestation, the phonological interpretation of this lexeme remains tentative. Clearly related to the derived verb /stinu(wa)-^(i)?/, its cognate link to Pal. ištinašši provides further aid in the interpretation. Use of 〈sà〉 (*69) over 〈sa〉 or 〈sá〉 may indicate that the quality of the sibilant is different, possibly palatalised to /ʃ/, cf. the argument in Rieken 2010b:654-656 for the heyday of the Karkamiš tradition in the 10^th and 9^th century BCE., i.e. rather earlier than the attestations of the present lemma.

[AH.B.]

The suggested meaning relies on a contextual interpretation of the verb as well as the evidence gleaned from its spelling. Thus, it is noteworthy that the present lexeme as well as its derivative /stinu(wa)-⁽ⁱ⁾/ are the only verbs besides /tu(wa)-⁽ⁱ⁾/ ‘to put’ to use the logogram PONERE(*65) as a determiner, indicating that they belong to the same semantic field.
Contextually, /sti-^?/ is used after the introduction of the sacrifice of a sheep at the behest of the author of the inscription. In the relevant clause, /a=wa sturna^? stintu^?/, the verb appears to be used transitively with the nom./acc. pl. /sturna^?/ as an object, whose precise meaning is unknown but probably denotes parts of the sacrificed sheep. The following clause, /a=wa=ada kummayala ahha adarintu/ very probably means ‘And they shall feed them to the temple official.’ That implies that the verb /sti-^?/ results in there being something left over for the temple official to eat, i.e. ‘to put aside’ vel sim.

[AH.B.] [I.Y.]

1. /stinu(wa)-⁽ⁱ⁾/