ḫūrāi- / ḫūwarāi-

The word is attested in rituals from NS and appears once with a gloss marker in a NS ḫurri-bird oracle.

[A.B.]

3pl. pres. ind. act.	ḫu-u-⸢wa⸣-ra-an-zi	KUB 6.24 obv. 6	(CTH 582, NS)
3pl. pret. ind. act.	ḫu-u-ra-i-⸢er⸣	KUB 29.1 rev. iii 40	(CTH 414, NS)
part. nom. sg.c.	ḫu-u-ra-an-za	KUB 39.61 rev. iii 9	(CTH 470, LNS)
		KUB 39.61 rev. iii 10	(CTH 470, LNS)

The attestations follow HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:750, HEG A–K:299f., HED H:397f. (cf. Ünal 2007a:235f., Ünal 2016a:205, Rosenkranz 1950a:192, Güterbock 1956a:131; not in Laroche 1959a or CLL). The transliterations have been checked against the photos of the Mainzer Fotoarchiv.

HED H:397 and Ünal 2007a:235 add the Luwian participle ḫuramma/i-(?), cf. under the respective lemma.

[A.B.]

Four different meanings are discussed for this word: ‘to adorn, decorate’, ‘to pierce, perforate’, ‘to encircle’, and ‘to sprinkle, to spray’. The first one, ‘to adorn, decorate’, is cautiously considered by Laroche 1957a:14 (translating: “ils l’ont orné”) with regard to the following context of KUB 29.1 (transliteration based on the photo of the Mainzer Fotoarchiv, and the hand copy as well as the transliterations and translations of Laroche 1957a:14, Hoffner 1966a:389, Eichner 1973a:88 n. 17, Görke 2015c, HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:750 and HED H:397 have been taken into account):

⁽³⁹⁾dingir^MEŠ-wa gunni da-a-er nu-wa-ra-an [^NA4ku-u]n-na-ni-it ⁽⁴⁰⁾ḫu-u-ra-i-er na-an an.bar-it ša-an-[ḫe]-er

^(39–40)“The gods have placed the hearth. They ḫūrai-ed it with [co]pper (or copper carbonate/malachite).” They polished it with iron.

The second context KUB 6.24 shows the attestation of this word with a gloss marker (transliteration based on the photo of the Mainzer Fotoarchiv, also the hand copy as well as the transliterations and translations of Hoffner 1966a:389, Polvani 1988a:50, HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:750 and HED H:397 have been taken into account):

^(6’)[... ]x-ma-za-pát ^NA4ku-wa-an-na-na-za ḫu-u-⸢wa⸣-ra-an-zi ^(7’)[... an^?].bar kù.babbar iš-tu kù.gi-ia nam-ma-ma ki.min ^(8’)[...]sig₅-ru nu.sig₅

^(6’)[...] ḫūwarai-ed with copper (or copper carbonate/malachite) ^(7’)[... ir]on^?, silver and with/from gold, again ditto ^(8’)[...] shall be favorable – unfavorable.

In both contexts, the verb ḫūrāi- / ḫūwarāi- appears with NA4ku(wa)nnan- ‘copper’ or ‘copper carbonate (malachite)’, which is used in metallurgy for decorative purposes. Hence, a general meaning ‘to decorate’ (cf. Polvani 1988a: ‘adornare’, HEG A–K:299f. ‘schmücken’ ?, Götterbilder mit perligen Steinen; HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:750 “etwa ‘schmücken, verziehren’?”, Tischler 2016a:106 ‘orner, décorer’) is possible, but the specific process remains unknown (cf. e.g. Eichner 1973a:88 n. 17 ‘besetzen, verzieren’). HED H:397 (assuming metallurgical techniques) translates the form in the first context as ‘spray’ and the second one as ‘sprinkle’ (i.e. decorate in a scattered fashion) with bluestone. The first context could also point to a metallurgical technique in which copper could have been inlayed (by hammering it in) and subsequently polished with an iron tool.

Hoffner 1966a:389 translates the form in KUB 6.24 as “they have encircled with gems” (with a question mark and noting that it is only a guess), probably with regard to the following context KUB 39.61, in which he considers a meaning ‘encircle’ (in a hostile sense), taking into account the suggestion by Güterbock (in Hoffner 1966a:389), who assumed a meaning ‘pierce, perforate’ (with question mark), cf. Ünal 2007a:235f. and Ünal 2016a:205. The context of KUB 39.61 shows the following (transliteration based on the photo of the Mainzer Fotoarchiv, and the hand copy as well as the transliterations and translations of Hoffner 1966a:389, Mouton 2007a:153,155, HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:750 and HED H:397 have been taken into account):

^(9’)ḫu-u-ra-an-za e-eš em[e ...] ^(10’)ḫu-u-ra-an-za e-eš-du [...]

^(9’)You may be ḫūrai-ed, (the) tong[ue ...] ^(10’)it shall be ḫūrai-ed [...].

According to Güterbock in Hoffner 1966a:389, “(...) the subject may be an evil which is being exorcised (...) the practitioner would be more likely to wish it ‘pierced’ than ‘adorned’”. But as pointed out by Hoffner 1966a:389, the context is too fragmentary for an exact determination of the meaning here. Mouton 2007a:155 translates ‘paré(e)’, cf. similarly HED H:397 ‘sprayed’ probably referring to the surface of the tongue, which could be ‘covered’ with something or show a pattern, fissures or a texture that might appear as part of a certain illness or have a symbolic meaning. Hence, although a meaning ‘decorate’ may not be a perfect fit for this context, a meaning similar to the metallurgical contexts is still possible.

Furthermore, Hoffner 1966a:389 points out that three proposed meanings (‘decorate’, ‘cover’, ‘encircle’) would fit for an assumed noun *ḫura- (only attested in the compound ištamaḫura- ‘earring’, cf. Hoffner 1966a:388) meaning either ‘hole, perforation’(?), ‘ornament’(?), or ‘circlet’(?), (cf. Kronasser 1966a:477 ‘Schmuckstück’ and Eichner 1973a:88 n. 17), which he considers to be the base of the verb under discussion, cf. Ünal 2007a:235f., Ünal 2016a:205, HEG A–K:299f., HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:750 and Eichner 1973a:88 n. 17. This is possible with a Hittite suffix, cf. under Origin for the morphological details.

The meaning ‘to sprinkle’ (cf. Tischler 2008a:65 ‘bewässern, benetzen, besprengen’) has also been considered for the verb ḫūrāi- / ḫūwarāi- based on an assumed connection to the similar verb *hurnai- (e.g. HED H:397f. considers a “perhaps Luwoid?” parallel formation to this verb), but this verb is instead to be read as ḫarnai-, cf. HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:315f.

CLL:75 suggests that CLuw. ḫur-, for which Melchert (with question marks) assumes a meaning ‘to give liquid (water or milk)’, could be “the source for the Hitt. stem ḫu(wa)rāi- ‘spray, water’”. But the assumed meaning for the base verb cannot be confirmed, cf. under the lemma CLuw. ḫur-.

At least two of the three contexts in which ḫūrāi- / ḫūwarāi- is attested allow a tentative meaning ‘to decorate’ in a metallurgical sense, while KUB 39.61 might contain a more general meaning of this verb outside the field of metallurgy, but it is not possible to further determine it due to the fragmentary context. A variety of possible meanings could be considered for the verb, e.g. ‘to cover, to inlay, to pattern, to sprinkle’ but since it remains unclear, the more general meaning ‘to decorate’ (or sim., a metallurgical technique) is maintained.

[A.B.]

It is mostly assumed that ḫūrai- / ḫūwarai- is a Hittite word. It does not appear as a lemma in the Luwian dictionaries and is not listed as a Luwianisms by Melchert 2005a and van den Hout 2007a. The word is attested with a gloss marker once, which could point to a Luwian origin, although it does not necessarily prove it (cf. Schwartz 1938a:75, 78 and Melchert 2005a:445).

HED H:397f. considers a “perhaps (Luwoid?) parallel formation to a verb hurnai-, hurniya-, hurnuwai- ‘spray, sprinkle’”, but as noted under Meaning, this word is to be read ḫarnai- cf. HW 2nd ed. Ḫ:315f.

CLL:75 suggests that the Luwian verb CLuw. ḫur-could be “the source for the Hitt. stem ḫu(wa)rāi-”. Despite the unclear semantics of both words (cf. under Meaning), also a morphological connection is problematic, since the Luwian suffixes -ā(i)- or -ī/ai- only derive denominal verbs (cf. Melchert 2003b:199), which makes a Luwian origin less probable. In theory, ḫūrai- / ḫūwarai- could instead be an earlier formation based on a stem *ḫur- and with the iterative suffix *-eye/o- (cf. Melchert 2003b:199).

With regard to a Hittite origin, several authors (cf. under Meaning) consider a denominative to a noun *ḫura- attested in the Hitt. compound ištamaḫura-, which is morphologically possible with the suffix -āi- that forms denominatives in Hittite (cf. Hoffner & Melchert 2008a:176f.).

To conclude, based on its attestation only in Hittite texts and its Hittite morphology, ḫūrai- / ḫūwarai- is most probably of Hittite origin.

[A.B.]