INITIAL sp AND st IN HITTITE E. H. STURTEVANT YALE UNIVERSITY One of Hrozný's Hittite etymologies which may fairly be called obvious is the connection of šipanti 'he pours a libation' with Gk. oñévdeɩ and Lat. spondeo'. Hrozný, to be sure, translated the word 'opfert', and thus lost the most convincing item in the case. The precise meaning of the word was established by Sommer and Ehelolf2, who, however, somewhat pedantically refused to recognize the IE etymology except by implication; they mentioned it only in a parenthesis, 'ohne damit der Verbindung mit Tévôew das Wort reden zu wollen'. Hrozný felt some difficulty with the vowel; he hesitated to trace Hittite a to original e, but he could not understand original o in a present tense which clearly did not belong to the same class as Latin spondeo. That difficulty has been removed by the demonstration that the Hittite hi-conjugation corresponds, in part, to the IE perfect.3 We have then a clear case of initial šip for IE sp. Hrozný saw that the inserted vowel was probably graphic only, since cuneiform characters cannot represent an initial consonant group. Hrozný probably based his opinion in part upon his understanding of išpantuzzi as a related verb of identical meaning (ib. 544, 226). We now know that this word is dative-locative of a noun meaning 'libation'; but Hrozný's argument about the initial consonant group is still valid. Hrozný was also right in connecting with these words the form išpatuzzelaš ‘one who pours a libation', which can now be recognized as a contracted form of išpantuzziyalas. We must, then, interpret ši-pa-an-ti as španti and iš-pa-an-tu-uz-zi as špantuzzi. 1 Die Sprache der Hethiter 41. 2 Boghazköi-Studien 10. 15 f. Sturtevant, LANGUAGE 3. 161–168, 215–25 (1927). 'See Ehelolf, Kleinasiatische Forschungen 1. 148 f. (1927). 5 See Tenner, Ein Hethitischer Annalentext des Königs Mursilis II 24. I cannot cite another instance of initial šip for sp, but there is a very probable example of sit for št. In a report on the property of certain temples we have several times (1. 35, 2. 13, etc.) the item, 1GIš KU ši-it-tar-(ra-)za UD.SAR-za ú-nu-wa-an-za. From the fact that UD. SAR means 'new moon' Hrozný conjectured the meaning 'star' for the abl. šittar (ra)za. Now that Sommer and Ehelolf" have established the meaning 'adorn' for the verb unu-, we can translate the entire phrase: '1 weapon adorned with star and crescent'. There can be little further doubt that 'star' is the correct meaning. If so šittar (abl. šittaraz) is akin to Skt. star-, Av. star-, Gk. ȧorýp, etc. More frequently initial šp and št are written with a prefixed i, as in the case of išpantuzzi. The recognition of this fact discloses several striking etymologies. The meaning of the verb išpai has just been established by Ehelolfs as 'he satisfies himself with food, is filled'. A typical example is KBo. 4. 6. 1. 9 (addressed to a god): UZUYA e-it nu-za iš-pa-a-i, 'eat the fat, and be filled'. This must be the same word as Skt. sphayate 'he grows fat', sphītas 'fat', Lith. spéti 'Erfolg haben', etc. The Hittite verb belongs to the third class of the hi-conjugation, and should be added to my list of such verbs with original ēi. The occurrences of the verb išparriya- have been collected and discussed by Friedrich1o. It is frequent in ritual texts, where the object is GISBANŠUR 'table', GIšlahharnuzzi 'sacrificial table'", or some kind of a cloth. The only meaning possible with all these objects is 'spread'. The inference is confirmed by the fact that the spreading of the table or of the cloth is frequently followed by putting bread upon it. The context is entirely different in KBo. 6. 34. 3. 27f.: nu ú-wa-an-du a-pi-el URU-a[n ZAB.MJEŠ URU Hatti (ti) QA.TAM.MA GIR-it iš-par-an-du 'let the soldiers of Hatti go (and) in the same way trample his city under foot'. Here too the proper meaning of the verb is 'spread'; but 'spread with the foot' will not go in English. A vocabulary treats of our word, 6 Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi 2. 1 7 BoSt. 10. 74f. 8 KF 1. 137-42 (1927). LANGUAGE 3. 219f. (1927). = Hrozný. BoSt. 3. 1-27. 10 Zeitschrift für Assysiologie, Neue Folge 3. 187–8 (1927). "I do not understand Friedrich's hesitancy about the meaning of this word. The object so designated is covered with a cloth, and bread is put on it. It stands in much the same surroundings as the ideographic GIBANŠUR, although the phonetic compliment of GISBANŠUR-um (acc., Keilschrift-Urkunden aus Boghazköi 12. 65. 13) forbids us to identify the two. but adds little to the inferences that we have drawn from the actual The passage is as follows (KBo. 1. 42. 5. 4–5): uses. The ideogram may mean either 'spread out' or 'tear down'12, and therefore harmonizes with the literal as well as with the figurative meaning of the Hittite word. Accadian MEŠDU13, however, means 'pressure', and so the author of the vocabulary must have had only the figurative meaning in mind. With Hittite išparriya- 'spread' I would connect Gk. σTelpw 'SOW σTopás 'scattered', Arm. pharat 'scattered, separated' MHG sprāt 'das Spritzen, Sprühen', etc. This root *sp(h)er- has often been identified with that of Lat. sperno 'thrust away with the foot', Skt. sphur'vibrate', etc.14; but surely Walde-Pokorny15 are right in separating them. The primary meaning of our root is 'spread' and that is preserved in Hittite. The present suffix of Gk. σTeipw reappears in the Hittite infinitive (cited above) and also in iš-par-ri-iz-zi (KUB 14. 1. 2. 91), if this stands for *išparrezzi, the contracted form of *išparriyazzi. In the third plural Hittite shows išparranzi and išparandu, which lack the io-suffix. Initial st is written ist in three words whose apparent IE cognates are commonly traced to the root *st(h)ā-. In ištanta- 'tarry, delay'16 I see Gothic standan from IE *stat- with nasal infix', 'stand'. It is not surprising to find the nasal infix in the Hittite infinitive (iš-ta-an-ta-u-ar); that is the case in other verbs also. Hittite ištapp-18 is frequent in ritual texts with the meaning 'cover'. A more vigorous and probably more primitive meaning occurs in the inaugural address of Hattuššiliš19. We have just been told that when Hattuššiliš defeated the 'helpers' of the enemy, the enemy fled. The text continues: URU.HAL.HI.A-ma ku-i-e-eš ŠÁ KÚR URUHa-at-ti iš tap-pa-an-te-eš e-še-ir nu-kán GUL-hi-eš-ki-ir, 'however what cities of Hatti had been held in subjection, took up arms'. Even more 12 See Barton, The Origin and Development of Cuneiform Writing 127. 13 See Bezold, Babylonisch-Assyrisches Glossar 183b. The Hittites often confused d and t in Accadian as well as in their own language. 14 References in Boisacq, Dictionnaire Etymologique de la Langue Grecque 894. 15 Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der Indogermanischen Sprachen 2. 668-72. 16 See Weidner, Studien z. Hethitischen Sprachwissenschaft 66; Tenner, HAT 20. 17 See most recently Walde-Pokorny, VWIS 2. 603. 18 Sommer and Ehelolf BoSt. 10. 56f; Götze Hatt. 80f. 19 KBo. 3. 6. 2. 24-5 Götze 18. 41-2. = definite is the meaning of ištapp- in another passage of the same document20: na-an-kán I.NA URUŠá-mu-ha ŠAH GIM-an hu-u-um-ma EGIRpa iš-tap-pa-ás, ‘and she shut him up in Šamuha like a pig in a sty'. Compare KBo. 6. 29. 2. 33-4 (Götze 50): a-pu-u-un-ma-kán ÞIŠTAR URUŠá-mu-ha GAŠAN. YA HA-un GIM-an hu-u-pa-la-za EGIR-pa iš-tapta, 'him, however, Ištar of Šamuha, my Lady, held back as one does a fish with a net'. The verb occurs in a mutilated passage of the Law Code, where it seems to mean 'store away (sheaves in the barn) '21. A similar meaning is probable in KBo. 5. 11. 4. 14: nu LUÚ.KAB GISDUP. HI.A an-da iš-ta-a-pí, 'the UKAB stows the tablets away within'. We can scarcely be wrong in connecting this word with the Skt. causative sthāpayati 'he arrests, restrains' and also 'he stores up, keeps'. It follows that the causative force was originally carried by the 'rootdeterminative' p, and that the Skt. 'causative suffix' aya was due to the analogy of other verbs. Traces of the earlier situation are preserved in the Skt. reduplicated aorist atišthipat 'he caused to stand', etc. Consequently sthāpayati should be added to the list of Skt. causatives with inherited p.22 The Hittite deponent verb išduwari (pret. išduwati) 'becomes known'23 is nearly equivalent to Gk. σTEυTaι in Il. 3. 83. When Alexander volunteered to engage in single combat with Menelaus, Hector rushed before his forces and checked their advance by grasping his long spear in the middle and pressing them back. He had not yet made any signal to the Greeks, when Agamemmon saw what he was doing, and shouted to his men: ἴσχεσθ', 'Αργεῖοι· μὴ βάλλετε, κούροι Αχαιῶν· στεῦται γάρ τι ἔπος ἐρέειν κορυθαίολος Εκτωρ, 'Cease, Argives; do not shoot, warriors of the Achaeans; for it seems that Hector of the flashing helm will speak'. Later Greek employs palveraι and the infinitive in this sense. In several passages σTevraɩ has been translated 'boast, claim (that he will)', and some scholars would connect it with Skt. stauti 'he praises'.24 It is difficult, however, to derive the meaning of σrevrat in Il. 3. 83 from this; probably we should everywhere interpret the word as we must do in the latter 20 KBo. 3. 6. 3. 66-7 = Götze 32. 25-6. 21 See Hrozný, Code Hittite 124. 8. 22 See Brugmann, Grundriss der Vergleichenden Grammatik der Idg. Sprachen 22. 3. 256. 23 See Friedrich ZA NF 3. 198 and fn. 2 (1927). * See references in Walde-Pokorny, VWIS 2. 620. passage, i.e., 'he looks as if he will' or the like. The close correspondence of the Hittite deponent išduwari with the Greek deponent OTEUTαι in the meaning 'palvera' establishes that as the primary meaning. More distant connection with Goth. stiurjan 'establish', Skt. sthūras 'thick', and the IE root *st(h) a 'stand' is probable, but without bearing upon our present etymology. The postposition ištarna 'between, among'25 has by-forms ištarni and ištarniya, which suggest that the word was originally a noun. I have shown26 that in katta(n), katti 'with, together, down' we have accusative and dative-locative of a noun meaning 'hand'. In ištarna, ištarni, ištarniya, then, we may reasonably look for the corresponding cases of a noun denoting another part of the body. The fact that the Sumerian and Accadian equivalents of our postposition (both often standing for it in Hittite texts) are ŠAG and LIBBI suggests that the noun we want meant 'heart'; but the Hittite word for 'heart'-or one of them-is known; its gen. is kardiaš and its dat.-loc. is kardi. Other parts of the body, however, give rise to the same figurative expressions as the heart. In Latin cor 'heart' and pectus 'breast' are interchangeable in their figurative uses. In Greek also σTéρvov 'breast' is often regarded as the seat of the emotions. I suggest, therefore, an etymological connection of Hittite ištarna with Greek σréprov 'breast'. The Gk. word, of course, is never a preposition, and ordinarily it is not weakened so far as to mean merely 'the interior'. That the latter development is quite possible, however, is shown by Nicander, Ther. 924: vπò OTÉPVOLOL Kaμivov, 'in the heart of the fire'. Hrozný (SH 962) was right in connecting ištarna with the root of Lat. sterno, but he overlooked the derivative of that root which really justifies the etymology. Hittite ištark-, ištarkiya-27 is commonly impersonal governing the accusative, e.g. ištarakzi-war-an 'he is ill'. There is also a causative with nasal infix. ištarnik- 'cause harm to'. These verbs may be connected with Gk. σтpayyaλŋ 'cord', σтpayyaλovv 'strangle', Lat. stringo 'draw together, tie up', OHG stricchan 'tie up', etc. The original meaning seems to have been 'tie, bind' or the like. The Hittite meaning 'it harms, goes ill, makes ill' may have come from this in any one of several ways. It is enough for our present purpose to point out a somewhat similar development in Latin, which may or may not be old. Livy (22.51.6) says that the morning after Cannae many thousands of dead 25 See Friedrich ZA NF 1. 140-4 (1924); Sommer and Ehelolf BoSt. 10. 42-3. 26 American Journal of Philology 48. 249-51 (1927). 27 See Götze, Hatt. 72. |