Hittite tit(ta)nu-, titti-, and Lycian stta-

Abstract

Against the standard view, there are two synchronically distinct Hittite verbs titti- and tittanu-, one meaning ‘to erect, cause to stand, install (in an office)’ related to tiya- ‘to stand, step’ and another meaning ‘to place (in a horizontal position); impose’, related to dai- ‘to place, put’. The verb *tittaunderlying the first tittanu- is with Jasanoff 2010 a reshaped reflex of a PIE i-reduplicated stem *s(t)í-sth2 -, while the stem *titta- ‘to place’ and both stems titti- are pre-Hittite innovations. Contra Jasanoff, Lycian stta- ‘to stand, be erected’ is either a loanword from Greek or the cognate of HLuvian ta- ‘to stand’.