Hittite Etymological Dictionary, vol. 8: Words Beginning with PA.

• Author: Burgin, James
• Position: Book review

Hittite Etymological Dictionary, vol. 8: Words Beginning with PA. By JAAN PUHVEL. Trends in Linguistics, Documentation, vol. 29. Berlin: WALTER DE GRUYTER/MOUTON, 2011. Pp. iv + 221. E140.14.

The Hittitologist today confronts almost an embarrassment of riches in the domain of lexicography. General dictionaries include Friedrich and Kammenhuber's Hethitisches Wrirterbuch (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1975--; abb. here HW) and the Chicago .Hittite Dictionary (Chicago: The Oriental Institute, 1980--; abb. CHD). both still works in progress, and Friedrich's original "kurzgefasstes" Hethitisches Worterbuch (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1957-1966) and Johann Tischler's Hethitisches Handworter-buch (Innsbruck: Institut fur Sprachwissenschaft der Universitat Innsbruck. 2001), the only two complete general dictionaries of the language.

Specialized dictionaries focusing on etymologies include Tischler's Hethitisches erymologisches Glossar (Innsbruck, 1977--; abb. KEG). Alwin Kloekhorst's Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon (Leiden: Brill, 2008; abb. EDHIL), and the work presently under discussion, Puhvel's Hittite Etymological Dictionary (Berlin: de Gruyter, 1984--; abb. HED). Each of these books is an excellent scholarly tool, and any good scholar will consult them en banc in the course of his or her lexical research project. But given such a profusion of lexicography, there is bound to be overlap and redundancy across the several dictionaries. For a work to stand out in such a crowd it must offer a unique contribution, or serve a neglected audience; its strengths and weaknesses will determine its place and role in the scholastic machinery of modern Hittitology. This review will attempt to situate Puhvel's work in terms of its utility and its position vis-a-vis its contemporaries.

A close examination of a sample entry is perhaps the best start. I have selected the verb pah(ha)s- 'to protect' due to its extensive attestations in the Hittite corpus and its being a word well examined in the secondary literature. Puhvel gives the following as its translation: 'protect. guard. defend, watch, keep, secure, safeguard, save, steady. uphold, heed, observe, obey, be loyal to, take to heart, preserve, cover, be careful with, prevent, resist (PAP; Akk. nasaru)'. While pah(ha)s- does indeed mean all of these things, a more nuanced approach towards defining its semantic range is possible. Compare for example the corresponding entry in the Chicago Hittite Dictionary. Here one finds the definition of pah(ha)s-broken down into several categories according to object: e.g. (paraphrasing the CHD entry, s.v. pahs-), 'to protect (people); to keep (valuable things) safe; to restrain (dangerous things); to observe (laws. customs); to keep (a secret); (in middle voice with dative) 'to seek protection with'; (with reflexive) to watch out(?)'. These definitions sketch the semantic contours of pah(ha)s- in a way that aids understanding and helps minimize mistranslation, especially among inexperienced users. While Puhvel's etymological dictionary does not have the same descriptivist goals as the CHD, it would be desirable to see it take some cues on presentation from its competitors.

With the next section of the entry Puhvel's dictionary reaches its greatest strength. I counted hundreds of examples of usage listed over pp. 4-16, organized by conjugation for the verb pah(ha) s-(and by declension for nouns), all with citations, and most...