palam

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Attestation:	VA·6 (pelkui:pruiam:teu:karite:iṣ́os:kaṛite:palaṃ) (1)
Language:	Lepontic
Word Type:	noun
Grammatical Categories:	acc. sg. fem.
Stem Class:	ā
Morphemic Analysis:	pal-ām
Phonemic Analysis:	/palām/ (?)
Meaning:	'grave' (?)

Commentary

Identified as an accusative by Pisani 1953: 272. The form in VA·6 is the only attestation of the noun pala in the accusative. In this inscription, the word is usually assumed to designate the gravestone in contrast to pruiam 'grave' (e.g. Motta 2000: 196; Meid 1999: 14; Morandi 2017: 367), but see pala for details about the interpretation and etymology of the lexeme. Eska & Mercado 2005: 168 (also Eska 2019: 55, n. 12) declare themselves agnostic with regard to the form's etymology, but provisionally transcribe the form with anlauting /b/ on the assumption that it alliterates with pruiam (putative /brūi̯ām/) in a metrical text (passim, also Eska & Mercado 2011).

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Eska & Mercado 2005	Joseph Francis Eska, Angelo O. Mercado, "Observations on verbal art in ancient Vergiate", Historische Sprachforschung 118 (2005), 160-184.
Eska & Mercado 2011	Joseph F. Eska, Angelo O. Mercado, "More on the metrical structure in the inscription of Vergiate", Historische Sprachforschung 124 (2011), 227–238.
Eska 2019	Joseph F. Eska, "Vergiateter", in: Adam Alvah Catt, Ronald I. Kim, Brent Vine (eds), QAZZU warrai. Anatolian and Indo-European Studies in Honor of Kazuhiko Yoshida, Ann Arbor / New York: Beech Stave Press 2019, 50–58.