lammaur

Hapax in an Ištanuwan Luwian ritual (NS).

[Zs.S.]

nom.-acc. sg. n. (?)

la-am-ma-úr

KBo 4.11 rev. 48

(CTH 772, NS)

The attestation follows CLL:124 (cf. also Laroche 1959a:62 and Starke 1990a:547) checked against the photograph of the Konkordanz.

Its grammatical definition follows that of Starke 1990a:547 and CLL:124, but see the critical discussion under Meaning. If this is correct, one should explain the absence of the =ša/za particle. Jasanoff 2010a:172 argues that its presence/absence is lexically determined in case of r- and r/n-stems, which would solve the problem. However, Simon forthcoming argues that r-stems do not, but r/n-stems do show the particle. If this is correct, then it implies that lammaur is an r-stem.

[Zs.S.]

According to the general view, the meaning of this word is unknown (Laroche 1959a:62; CLL:124; Watkins 1995b:150; Starke 1990a:547; Eichner 1993a:111; Tischler 2008a:102, Tischler 2016a:193; Yakubovich 2010d:37 [but cf. below]; Teffeteller 2015a:721; Lebrun 2016a:180; Ünal 2016a:963). Nevertheless, Starke 1990a:547 reconstructs a verbal noun lammawar/*lammaun- (with an “unsicher” connection to lammamma/i-, an object of precious metal [see s.v.]), “vermutlich” a cognate of Hittite “lam- ‘sich vermengen, sich vermischen’” (whose existence is, however, disputed, see the critical overviews of HEG L-S:26 and HED L:51, both with refs.).

Carruba 1994b:578, Carruba 1998c:76, Carruba 1998f:72 (followed by Francia 2014a:5) emended the form to la-am-ma-‹du›-úr, i.e. lamma (dat. sg.) with the particle =tar and proposed different meanings for lamma: ‘rainfall, shower’, ‘ground’, ‘puddle, plash^?’. Alternatively, he also considered lammaur as the entire word (as a nom.-acc. sg. n.) proposing the meaning ‘storm^?’. Unfortunately, the emendation, the equation of “=dur” with =tar, and the proposed meanings are all completely ad hoc.

Finally, Yakubovich (pers. comm.) suggests that we are dealing with a “nom. sg.” of the participle of the verb lā- ‘to take’ combined with an “orientation particle” “(u)r” (on the meaning of the particle see, however, Giusfredi 2014a:312f. and here s.v. =(a)r).

The passage, the initial lines of an Ištanuwan song, is as follows (KBo 4.11 rev. 47-49, transcription following Starke 1985b:341):

tap-pa-ši-tar ta-pa-la tap-pa-ši-tar ta-pa^!-la la-am-ma-úr ti-ti-ya-a-la a-li-na-an ḫal-ti-it-ta-ri DINGIR^MEŠ-zi

The understanding of this passage is hampered by the fact that only some of its words are known by their meaning. Setting aside the problematic syntactic function of DINGIR^MEŠ-zi (see s.v. with discussion), ḫaltittari ‘to call, to appeal’ (3^rd sg., see s.v.) requires a direct object, which seems to be present in alinan (sg.) and probably also in tapala and titiyāla (both in pl.), all of unknown meaning (see the discussions s.vv.). “lamma”, the proposal of Yakubovich could indeed be a plural (but not singular) participle (whereby lā- ‘to take’ is definitely a possible root), in congruence with titiyāla. The problem with this solution is that this leads to a particle =ur, which is not compatible with its other attestations, as they require =r or =ar (with contraction), a form =ur is excluded by the cases a=tī=r (KUB 35.102 obv. i 6) and =wa=tī=r (KBo 29.28, 6), see the discussion s.v. =(a)r. Although a segmentation lammau=r would solve this problem, a Luwian ending °au is currently unknown. In theory one could speculate if *lammawi, a dat. sg. of *lammau- would lead to *lammau, but this is only possible if the change -uwi- > -ū- (Simon 2016f) affected *-Vwi-, too. An obvious advantage of this solution would be the parallel structure [dat.sg.=particle + nom.-acc. pl. n.], i.e. tappaši=tar tapala // lammau=r titiyāla.

However, the interpretation of lammaur as a nom.-acc. sg. fits the context without any further unsubstantiated assumption, as it would be yet another item in the list of the objects of the verb, and thus this solution is to be preferred. Since it is not clear, how the meaning of the cognates suggested by Starke would fit this context, the meaning of this word must remain open.

[Zs.S.]

Last updated: 26 March 2020