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The Etymology of Hittite yukas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 April 2026

William M. Austin and
Henry Lee Smith Jr.
William M. Austin
Affiliation:
Princeton University
Henry Lee Smith Jr.
Affiliation:
Princeton University
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Extract

Sturtevant in HG 144, speaking of relatively transparent nouncompounds in Hittite, goes on to say ‘One may be almost equally sure that tayukas (ta-a-i-ú-ga-aš, da-a-i-ú-ga-aš, ta-a-ú-ga-aš) ‘two years old’ beside yukas (i-ú-ga-aš) ‘one year old’ is a compound whose prior member is akin to tan (ta-a-an, da-a-an) ‘iterum, second’; but our ignorance of the etymology of the second member makes its classification impossible'. This article is an attempt to explain the word yukas ‘yearling’.

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Language , Volume 13 , Issue 2-Part1: April-June , June 1937, pp. 104 - 106
Copyright
Copyright © 1937 Linguistic Society of America

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References

1 The abbreviations in this article are: AU = Ferdinand Sommer, Die Ahhijavā-Urkunden; HChr = E. H. Sturtevant, A Hittite Chrestomathy; HG = E. H. Sturtevant, A Comparative Grammar of the Hittite Language; IF = Indogermanische Forschungen; JAOS = Journal of the American Oriental Society; KBo = Keilschrifttexte aus Boghazköi; Lang. = Language; MS = A. Götze and H. Pedersen, Muršilis Sprachlähmung; SH = Friedrich Hrozný, Sprache der Hethiter; WP = A. Walde and J. Pokorny, Vergleichendes Wörterbuch der indogermanischen Sprachen.

2 yukas and tayukas are used for horses and cattle. For example in KBo 6.6.1.40–42 we read, ták-ku ša-a-ú-i-te-eš-za U-UL ANŠU. KUR. RA. MAH ták-ku i-ú-ga-aš Ú-UL ANŠU. KUR. RA. MAH ták-ku da-a-i-ú-ga-aš a-pa-aš ANŠU. KUR. RA. MAH ‘if it is less than a year old it is not a grown horse; if it is one year old it is not a grown horse; if it is two years old, then it is a grown horse’. Cf. also KBo 6.3.26 and HChr 221. yukassas ‘yearling’ has the -sas suffix, cf. HG 161 and KBo 6.26.3.16.

3 HG 116, 118.

4 Cf. Hahn, Some Hittite Words in ta-, Lang. 12.114, fn. 43.

5 Götze, IF 43.373, suggests the possibility of yukas being related with yugam, but drops the matter there.

6 We are indebted to Professor Bender for the interpretation of this as a morning scene, though the traditional interpretation of evening would not alter our case.

7 Sommer AU 164, Sturtevant, JAOS 54.400, and Götze, loc. cit.