qištori-

This verb is attested once in an inscription found at the Sardis cemetery and datable to the 5^th or 4^th century BCE.

[I.Y.]

The verb occurs in a ditransitive construction, and as a first singular predicate in a burial inscription, it is likely to denote a positive action. Its likely genetic connection with Lyd. kan-toru (Brandenstein 1931a:37), and thus ultimately with Lyd. trodν ‘I handed over, delivered’ (vel sim.), with which it occurs in the same line,  strengthens the impression that it also represents a verb of transfer. The formal and syntactic similarity between kan-toru and qištoridν suggests a segmentation into qiš- + toridν. The second element of this reconstructed compound (i.e. Lyd. tro-^(d)) apparently represents a lexical cognate of Luw. /trawi-^(ti)/ ‘to pass, hand over’.  The first element of the compound is, however, more problematic. The hypothesis that it is in some way related to the Lydian relative pronoun qi- (Brandenstein 1931a:37) appears to be fully ad hoc, as already indicated in Meriggi 1935a:99 n. 57. More promising appears to be the observation that qištori- and qišre- ‘to take care (?)’ may contain the same initial element, which is implicit in the discussion of Carruba 1959a:24-29. Rather than comparing this element with the relative pronoun, as does Carruba, one attempt to reconstruct the element qišr- with the approximate meaning ‘thriving’. Then the denominative qišre- could originally mean ‘to cause to be thriving’, while the compound qišr-tori- > qištori- would have the literal meaning “to hand over in a thriving state”. Subsequent semantic bleaching in the direction ‘to hand over reverently, with care’ should not appear surprising. An unresolved issue is whether qištoridν and kantoru reflect the same stem, as implied in Brandenstein 1931a:37, or two different stems (cf. Lyd. kantoru). For the Lydian ending -idν see Melchert 1994b:181f.

[I.Y.]

Despite the resemblances between qištori- and tro-^(d) ‘to hand over’, the etymological connection between them must be considered tentative.

[I.Y.]