VOLUME I - PART IV

It is significant that at least three toponyms can be recognized in the Messara-valley that have a Hurrian origin. The oldest is Linear A pa-i-to (HT 97a.3; HT 120.6). It is a genuine Hurrian toponym meaning ‘He/She (a God/the King) has built (the palace)’ and it is equivalent to Old Hurrian ba-'à-áš-to/um in the Tiš-atal inscription, analysed and normalised as pa=ašt=o=m, and translated as ‘He (Tiš-atal) has built (a temple)’, cf. Th. Richter (BGH, 285-286), s.v. pa-, paḫ- II [passim] ‘to build’, pa(’/h)-, cf. G. Wilhelm, 1988b, 55. The following phases of phonetic development are likely: ba-'à-áš-to/um = pa(’/h)=ašt=o=m > pa=j=ašt=o=m > pa=j=(a)št=o=m > pa=j=št=o=m (wr. pa-i-to in Linear A). Transitional glide -j- (-i- in Linear A pa-i-to) distinguished -a- of the root pa- from the -a- of root-extension -ašt- and eventually the -a- of -ašt- disappeared as a result of syncope. For Linear B pa-i-to (KN Da 1163+1400, al.) the Old Hurrian ending in =o=m had to be changed into a Hellenized form in -oς (-os): Φαιστός (Phaistos).

The ancient name of the palace of Hagia Triada, ka-pa (frequent in Linear A, but only  at Hagia Triada), was the first Hurrian toponym detected in Linear A and interpreted as Ḫalba, Hurrian name of Aleppo (Ḫalab in Semitic) with the Linear A ethnic ka-pa-qe (HT 6a.4-5) = syllabic cuneiform Ḫalbaḫe = alphabetic cuneiform Ḫlbġ ‘Man of Ḫalba’, ‘Man of Aleppo’ (Hurrian ethnic suffix -ḫe). Toponym ka-pa and ethnic ka-pa-jo (with Greek ethnic suffix -yoς) were already known from the Linear B tablets from Knossos.

Linear A ku-mi (HT 110a.1) may well be the Minoan-Hurrian toponym Kummi, present Kommos, the Minoan harbour of Phaistos and Hagia Triada on the south coast of Crete, recently excavated by the Canadian G. Cadogan and his team. It can be recognized as the second sequence of the entry si-du-69 , ku-mi that is followed by HORD+E 20 ku-pa 1 [ ] (HT 110a.2) and ku-ro 100 [ (HT 110a.3). The Cretan toponym Kummi is probably derived from the name of the city of Kumma/e/i or Kummiya in Anatolia. Both names may well be derived from the Hurrian root kum- ‘to build / erect / pile up’. If this identification is correct, it is after ka-pa = Ḫalba (present Hagia Triada) the second Cretan site named after a famous predominantly Hurrian city in the Near East, centre of the cults of Tešub and his father Kumarbi/wi, whose name is according to the author derived from *Kum(m)a-erwi (contraction of a+e), ‘Lord of Kumma’, cf. Kumarbi-ni ‘The Lord of Kumma’; erwi is the Nuzian variant of ewri / ebri ‘Lord’ (as a result of metathesis).

Identification of Linear A ku-|ma-ḫi (HT 20.1-2) as Hurrian ethnic ‘Man of Kumma’, derived from the toponym, is confirmed by occurrence of Linear A sa-re-ḫi (HT 20.4) ‘Man of Saro’ on the same tablet, derived from the Linear A toponym sa-ro (HT 9a.1; HT 17.2) that may well be Zaros north of Phaistos and Hagia Triada. Sa-re-ḫi (HT 20.4) ‘Man of Saro’ is probably equivalent to Linear A sa-ro-qe (HT 62+73.3) = sa-ro-ḫe, also Hurrian ethnic of toponym sa-ro, with the Hurrian ethnic suffix -ḫe, conventionally spelled as sa-ro-qe as if there is no distinction between Linear A and B.

ISBN: 9789083275437

Author: Peter G. van Soesbergen

Publisher: Peter G. van Soesbergen

Pub date: 17 Sep 2022

Edition: Third completely revised and extended edition

Language: English

Number of pages: 514

Weight: 1220g

Height: 297 mm

Width: 210 mm