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For the possible connection of this name with the Akkadian ethnonym ḫapirū (Hitt. ÉRINMEŠ ḫapiriyaš) see Hoffner H.A. 2009a, 182. On the possible northern Anatolian origin of the two writers see previously Hoffner H.A. 1997c, 8-9. If dān is an adverb of counting/quantity ( t/dān ‘a second time’), the king is asking to continue the search for certain birds after previous orders. However, Alp S. 1991b, 209 and Hoffner H.A. 1997c, 9 proposed that the form might be interpreted as a PTCP.N of da-, used in combination with the verbal compound anda epp-, a usage somewhat similar to the perifrastic forms with PTCP.N and ḫark- (“nimm die Vögel gefangen”; “take birds captive”). The partial overlap in the meaning and usage of epp- and ḫark- might explain such formation: see HW2 Ḫ, 297 IV for parallel usages of anda ḫark- and anda epp-. Although such a periphrastic form is not attested elsewhere, this interpretation cannot be excluded. Hoffner H.A. 2009a, 182. Cf. Hoffner H.A. 1997c, 6, “gladly/willingly” (discussed in detail pp. 10-11), CHD Š, 278 “willingly”. In this context a neutral meaning “they did well” may be also considered, i.e. "they did a good (job) collecting birds".
Lit. "you did not say". The double emendation to obv. 17 proposed in the most recent edition by Hoffner ( Hoffner H.A. 2009a, 183; also quoted in Hoffner H.A. – Melchert H.C. 2008a, 212 n. 133), contra his first edition ( Hoffner H.A. 1997, 7) can be excluded after photo collation. The recently available photographs confirm that the signs partially traced in Alp’s autography are correct (⸢ Ú-UL⸣, although he did not try a reading in his first edition, Alp S. 1991b, 208: x-x-x -te-e-eš). The two signs can be compared to the parallel sequence in obv. 13. Thus, Hoffner was most likely correct in his first edition, with the reading tēš as the expected 2SG.PST of tē- ( Hoffner H.A. 1997c, 13-14), also accepted in Kloekhorst A. 2008a, 857; Kloekhorst A. 2014a, 40. For a discussion of this passage, see Introductio.
The expected form would be ACC.PL.C kūš, since ‘bird’ is common gender. As discussed in Hoffner H.A. 2010c, 129; Hoffner H.A. – Melchert H.C. 2008a, 144, in the Tapikka letters one finds such examples of the demonstratives kē, as well as apē (nominatives), used also for accusative. The meaning of šekkuni- is uncertain. Alp S. 1991b, 333 equated it with šakuni- ‘spring’. Potentially, the form might even be taken as a verb ( šekkuni as defective spelling for šekkuweni “we will know/recognize”; discussed in Hoffner H.A. 1997c, 14-15), but it seems more likely this is indeed a specific location or terrain, whether or not a spring ( CHD Š, 363-364). Hoffner H.A. 2009a, 183 also suggested meadow(?).
The sentence likely refers to a son of the king (i.e. “the prince”), as suggested in Hoffner H.A. 1997c, 16. |
