šarẽta-

This lexeme is attested twice in the identical blessing formulae found in two inscriptions, one from Sardis and one from the Middle Kaystros valley. As evident from the dating formulae of both inscriptions, they were made in the second half of the fourth century BCE. and postdate the conquest of Lydia by Alexander the Great.

[I.Y.]

While a contextually fitting translation ‘merciful’ had already been offered in Littmann 1916a:55, the structure of the recurring blessing formula ‘Zeus (will be) his šarẽta-’ suggests that šarẽta- must be considered together with šaroka-, which likewise belongs to the formulating language. If šaroka- means ‘patronage’, then šarẽta- must mean ‘patron’. Such a translation was suggested as one of the options in Melchert 1992a:47. A common alternative ‘protector’, adopted e.g. in Gérard 2005a:112, is fairly close semantically by conveys the presumption of derivation from a verbal root, which is not borne out by the available data. Cf. further under šaroka-. 

[I.Y.]

For the lemma head see *šar-.