zazzarā(i)-(di)
‘to sway’
- Language
- Common Luwian
- Grammar
- verb
- ID
- 883
1. Individual Anatolian Languages
1.1 Hieroglyphic Luwian
/zazzara-(di)/, za-za+ra/i-
‘to surge(?), to sway(?)’1.1.1Transmission
This hapax legomenon is attested in an inscription from Karkamiš, dated to the 10th century BCE.
[AH.B.]
1.1.2Forms
| 3pl. pres. ind. med. | /zazzarantari/ | za-za+ra/i-ta+ra/i | KARKAMIŠ A14a, §5 (Karkamiš) |
1.1.3Graphic Features
1.1.3.1Phonological Interpretation
The phonological form of the word becomes clear from the syllabic spelling used in the attestation. Because of its position before a consonant, the desinential /n/ is omitted in writing (cf. Melchert 2003b:182).
[AH.B.]
1.1.4Meaning
An approximate semantic interpretation is suggested by Sasseville 2021a:95f. (‘to shake’) on the basis of the CLuw. cognate of the same shape, which is likewise attested but once. In CLuw. the verb occurs in a ritual context and is used to describe an action performed on things fixed on a thread, corresponding to the Hittite verb /nininkiške/a-/ ‘to set in motion; to shake, sway’ that is used in similar contexts (see under lemma). The HLuw. context is rather different, however, for /zazzara-(di)/ appears in a dedicatory inscription on a building and is used to describe an action performed on the author’s fathers and grandfathers by an unknown plural agent. While the clause is partially destroyed and therefore not entirely clear, it seems clear that the verb denotes a negative, probably harmful action.
[AH.B.]
1.1.5Stem
The verb shows reduplication and is derived from /zara-(di)/, which is not attested in HLuw., but can be found in CLuw. as /zara(i)-(di)/ (Sasseville 2021a:95f.).
[AH.B.]
1.2 Cuneiform Luwian
zazzarā(i)-(di)
‘to sway’1.2.1Transmission
The word is a hapax attested in a NS ritual fragment.
[E.R.]
1.2.2Forms
| 3sg. pres. med. | za-az-za-ra-a-ta-r(=) | KBo 29.58, 5’ | (CTH 762, NS) |
While the grammatical analysis as a verbal form was still considered not assured in Melchert 1993g:282 due to a lack of context, it is now confirmed by Sasseville 2021a:95f., 556 based on his new join.
[E.R.]
1.2.3Graphic Features
Checked against the photograph in the Konkordanz. – Reading of -r[a following Sasseville 2021a:556 very probable when compared with another instance of -ra- earlier in the line.
[E.R.]
1.2.4Meaning ‘to move, sway, wave, undulate’
No meaning is given in CLL:282 and Dempsey 2015a:246. Recently, Sasseville 2021a:95f. joined KBo 29.58, 5’ to another fragment and gained more context. This allowed him to relate the ritual to the incantation in more detail. In the description, the ritualist is said to fix an (unknown) item to a thread and to move (Hitt. ninink-) it ‘here and there, back and forth’. Parallel to this, in the incantation, a taparu-, a curse and a false oath are performing zazzarā(i)- (med.). The suggestion of Sasseville that zazzarā(i)- means ‘to shake’ is slightly modified here to ‘to move, sway, wave, undulate’, in view of the picture of something being dangled on a thread and swinging gently from side to side, which is also in agreement with the intransitive middle form. Luw. zazzarā(i)- is thus the semantic equivalent of Hitt. ninink- meaning ‘to mobilize, move, set in motion, (mid. and act. intrans.) to behave in a disorderly manner’ with further metaphorical uses.
[E.R.]
1.2.5Stem
The reduplicated verb is classified by Sasseville 2021a:95f. as a denominative stem in -ā(i)-(di), probably based on the lenited ending and the plene spelling of the stem vowel -a-.
[E.R.]
For the lemma head see Luw. *zar-.