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Grammar

26 The Ablative.

As in Greek and Sanskrit, the ablative is the case that denotes separation or origin: it is often used to indicate motion away from a location. For example:

		DSIN-as-wa-kan		nepisaz		mausta
		moon-it-quotative-locatival		from heaven (abl.)		fell
		"The moon, it fell from heaven."

		karizz-a-kan		GIM-an		URU-az		sēhur		IM-an		ārri
		flood-and-locatival		as		from the city (abl.)		filth		mud		washes
		"As the flood washes filth (and) mud from the city..."

		arunaz		ehu
		from the sea (abl)		come
		"From the sea, come!"

26.1 Motion away

In the following passage from the "Proclamation of Anittas," the city names Nēsaz and Zālpuwaz in the ablative indicate motion away from a place and are opposed to the allatives Zālpuwa and Nēsa, which indicate motion towards a place:

		karū		MŪhnas		LUGAL		URUZālpuwa
		previously		Uhna		king		of Zalpa
		DSiusummin		URUNēsaz		URUZālpuwa		pēdas
		Siusummi		from Neza (abl.)		to Zalpa (all.)		had carried
		appezziyan-a		MAnittas		LUGAL.GAL		DSiusummin
		later-but		Anittas		Great King		Siusummi
		URUZālpuwaz		āppa		URUNēsa		pēdahhun
		from Zalpa (abl.)		back		to Nesa (all.)		I carried
		"Previously, Uhna, King of Zalpuwa, had carried Siusummi from Nesa to Zalpuwa. But later, (I), Anitta, the Great King, carried Siusummi back from Zalpuwa to Nesa."

26.2 Without verbs of motion

In sentences without verbs of motion, nouns in the ablative may often be translated by English prepositional phrases with "from":

		takku		amiyaraza		GIŠINBAM		kuiski		ārgi
		if		from an irrigation ditch (abl.)		fruit trees		someone		cuts off
		"If someone cuts fruit trees off from an irrigation ditch..."

		ammuk-ma-aza		ŠÀ-az		lahlahhiman		ŪL		tarhmi
		I-but-reflexive		from heart (abl.)		worry		not		overcome
		"But I cannot overcome the worry from (my) heart."

26.3 Consequence

The ablative may also have the sense "as the result of":

		takku		LÚ-an		nasma		MUNUS-an		sullanaz		kuiski		kuenzi
		if		man		or		woman		quarrel (abl.)		someone		kills
		"If someone kills a man or a woman as the result of a quarrel."

26.4 Akkadian IŠTU

The Akkadian preposition IŠTU often accompanies a noun in the ablative case. The following passage from the ritual of Tunnawi uses both Akkadograms with phonetic complements spelled -az to mark nouns as ablative and Akkadian IŠTU:

		zik-kan		mahhan		sakunis		GE6-az (abl.)		KI-az (abl.)
		you-locatival		just as		spring		dark-from		earth-from
		purut		EGIR		sarā sakuneskesi
		mud		back		keeps bubbling up
		nu		edani		antuhsi		ANA		EN.SISKUR
		and		for this		for person		for		patient
		IŠTU		UZUÚRHI.A-ŠU		idalu		papratar
		(from)		from limbs (abl)-his		evil		impurity
		QA-TAM-MA		mutāi
		just so		remove
		"Just as you, spring, keep gushing up mud from the dark world, just so, from the limbs of this person, the patient, remove evil impurity!"

26.5 Postpositions

The ablative is used with some postpositions, and again, the sense is one of separation or distance. For example, with katta, kattan "down" the sense is "down from":

		DUTU-us-kan		nepisaza		katta		sakuwayat
		The Sungod-locatival		from heaven (abl.)		down		looked
		"The Sungod looked down from heaven."

26.6 Spatial relations

Some adverbs indicating spatial relations are made from the ablative case forms of pronouns, for example apēz "from there" and kēz "from here" (from the ablatives of apā- "that" and kā- "this"). Others may be made from the ablatives of nouns or adjectives.

		kūnnaz-tit		iyatta
		on right (abl.)-your		walks
		"He walks on your right."

(from kūnna- 'right')

		iskisaz		EGIR-pa		iyattāri
		backwards (abl.)		back		he walks
		"He retreats backwards."

(from iskis- 'back')

		ANA		LÚSANGA-as		DU		GÙB-laza
		to		the priest		of the Stormgod		on the left (abl.)
		iyatta
		she walks
		"She walks to the left of the priest of the Stormgod."

(from GUB-la- 'left' -- Sumerogram, Hittite reading unkown)

26.7 With parkui-

The ablative may also be used with the adjective parkui- "pure," "free of impurities" in the sense "free of something" (usually something undesirable):

		nu-za		DINGIRMEŠ		idālawaz		uddanaz
		and-reflexive		gods		evil (abl.)		words (abl.)
		linkiyaz		hūrdiyaz		ēshanaz		isgaruwaz		hūmandazzi-ya
		oath (abl.)		curse (abl.)		murder (abl.)		tears (abl.)		from all (abl.)-and
		parkuwaēs		ēsten
		free		let you be
		"May you, O gods, be free of evil words, perjury, curse, murder, tears, and of all (similar things)."

27 nt-stem Adjectives and Nouns

The suffix -nt- is fairly common in Hittite. Forms made with this suffix include adjectives (e.g., hūman- 'all'), participles (e.g., asānt- participle of ēs-, as- 'be' or tarant- participle of tē-, tar- 'say'), including participles used nominally (e.g., appānza 'captive' from appant-, participle of ēpp-, app- 'seize', or iyant- 'sheep', originally the participle of i-, midd. iya- 'go'), and some nouns including, for example, gimmant- 'winter' or ispant- 'night'. Adjectives with the suffix -went-, (e.g., kisduwant- 'hungry' beside kāsza, kest- 'hunger') are also nt-stems, as is the ergative suffix (nominative singular -anza, nominative plural -antes).

By regular sound change, the stem-final -t is lost in the nominative-accusative singular neuter (e.g., hūman from *hūmant). In the nominative singular animate, the combination of the stem-final -t and the nominative ending -s is spelled -za.

The adjective hūmant- 'all' is widely attested, and its paradigm may be taken as representative of the inflection of -nt-stems:

		Singular				Plural
nom.anim.		hūman-za				hūmant-es
acc.anim.		hūmand-an				hūmand-us
nom.-acc.n.		hūman				hūmant-a
gen.		hūmant-as				hūmand-an, hūmand-as
dat./loc.		hūmant-i				hūmand-as
inst.		hūmant-et
abl.		hūmant-aza, hūmand-az				hūmanda-za

28 Derived Verbs

The verbal suffixes -nu-, -ēss-, and -ahh- play an important role in Hittite word formation, making verbs derived from verbal roots, from adjectives, and from nouns. The suffix -nu-, which can be added to verbal, nominal, or adjectival stems, is causative in value; in other words, it adds the sense "make someone do the action of a verb," or "make someone or something take on the qualities expressed by an adjective or noun." The suffix -ahh- is added to adjectives. Its sense is similar to that of -nu- in that it means "make someone or something take on the qualities expressed by the base adjective." The suffix -ēss-, which was originally primarily attached to adjectives, denotes entry into a state. Its sense is "become the quality expressed by the adjective."

28.1 Causatives in -nu-

Verbs with the suffix -nu- take mi-conjugation endings. Since an earlier sequence of *uw became um in Hittite, the first person plural present and preterit mi-conjugation endings -weni and -wen show up as -meni (or -mmeni) and -men after the suffix -nu-. It should be noted that the common spelling with uw in the third person plural present and imperative indicates that the final u of the suffix became w before the endings -anzi and -andu. The verb wahnu- 'make turn, swing' is related to wēh- 'turn', and parkunu- 'cleanse, purify' is from the adjective parkui- 'clean, pure'. The final i of the adjective is regularly dropped with the addition of the suffix:

Present
Singular
1		wah-nu-mi		parku-nu-mi
2		wah-nu-si		parku-nu-si
3		wah-nu-zzi		parku-nu-zzi
Plural
1		wah-nu-meni		parku-nu-mmeni
2		wah-nu-tteni		parku-nu-tteni
3		wah-nuw-anzi		parku-nuw-anzi
Preterit
Singular
1		wah-nu-nun		parku-nu-nun
2				*parku-nu-tten
3		wah-nu-t		parku-nu-t
Plural
1		wah-nu-men		parku-nu-men
2		*wah-nu-tten		*parku-nu-tten
3		wah-nu-er		parku-nu-er
Imperative
Singular
1
2		*wah-nu-t		parku-nu-t
3		*wah-nu-ttu		parku-nu-ddu
Plural
1
2		*wah-nu-tten		parku-nu-tten
3		*wah-nuw-andu		parku-nuw-andu

The verb in -nu- may have meanings quite close to those of the verb or adjective from which it is formed, or it may develop extended meanings not paralleled by its base. The adjective salli- means "big", and the derivative in -nu-, sallanu-, literally "make big," can mean "raise (children)." For example, this passage from the bronze tablet on which a treaty between the Hittite king Tudhaliya IV and Kurunta of Tarhuntassa is recorded uses the verb in this sense in both the infinitive and in the iterative:

		annisan-pat-an		MNIR.GÁL-is		LUGAL-us		ANA		ABU-YA
		before-emphatic-him		Muwattallis		the king		to		father-my
		MHattusili		sallanummanzi		piyan		harta		n-an		annisan-pat
		Hattusilis		to raise		given		had		and-him		already-indeed
		ABU-YA		sallanusket
		father-my		raised
		"Previously Muwattalli, the king, had given him to my father, Hattusilis, to raise, and indeed, my father had already raised him."

The basic meaning of the adjective parkui- is "pure," "free from" (impurities), (physically or ritually) "clean"; it can also mean "innocent" in a legal context. The derived verb parkunu- has the literal meaning "clean, purify," and it can mean "declare (someone) innocent", "clarify (a matter), "reform" (cf. English "clean up" in the meaning "reform"), for example:

		TÚGNÍG.LÁMMEŠ-kan		kēzza		arranzi
		festival-clothes-locatival		with this		they wash
		n-at		parkunuwanzi
		and-them		they clean
		"And they wash festive garments with this and clean them."

		nu		kūn		EN.SISKUR		apēz		sapiya
		and		this		patient		with it		scrub
		n-an		12		UZUÚR		parkunut
		and-him		twelve		body part(s)		purify
		"Scrub this patient with it and purify the twelve parts of (his) body."

The verb weh- means "turn," and it is often used in the middle in the sense "go about," mill around," as in the following:

		nu-ssi		peran		hūmantes		parkunwantes		wehanta
		and-him		before		all		purified		they go about
		"And all go about before him in a purified state."

The derivative wahnu-, however, means "make turn" and may have metaphorical meanings such as "alter."

		n-an-kan		ŪL-pat		wahnunun
		and-it-locatival		not-certainly		I turned
		"And certainly I did not alter it (a tablet)."

With the preverb sēr "above" wahnu- can mean "wave (something) over" (someone or something):

		ug-a-smas-san		ERÍNMEŠ-an		sēr		3		ŠU		wahnumi
		I-but-them-locatival		soldiers		over		three		times		I make turn
		"I wave the (clay statues of the) soldiers over them three times."

The mi-verb link- means "swear an oath," but the derivative linganu- means "make swear an oath," or "put under oath":

		n-as		linganunun		nu-tta
		and-them		I have put under oath		and-to you
		memian		sakuwasar		memandu
		word		truthfully		let them speak
		"I have put them under oath; let them tell you the truth."

28.2 Factitive verbs in -ahh-

Both mi-conjugation and hi-conjugation inflection is attested for verbs with the suffix -ahh-. Although the base from which maniyahh- 'distribute, entrust, administer, govern' has been formed has been lost, it is a well attested verb, and many of its inflected forms have been found:

Singular
Present
1.		maniy-ah-mi
2.		maniy-ah-ti
3.		maniy-ah-zi, maniy-ahh-i
Plural
1.		*maniy-ah-weni
2.		*maniy-ah-teni
3.		*maniy-ahh-anzi
Preterit
Singular
1.		maniy-ahh-un
2		maniy-ah-ta
3.		maniy-ahh-is, maniy-ah-ta
Plural
1.		*maniy-ahh-wen
2.		*maniy-ahh-ten
3.		maniy-ahh-ir
Imperative
Singular
2.		maniy-ah
3.		maniy-ah-du
Plural
2.		maniy-ah-ten
3.		*maniy-ahh-andu

The effect of the suffix is to produce a verb that means make someone or something have the quality expressed by the adjective from which the verb is derived. One finds, for example, happinahh- 'make rich, enrich' beside happina- 'rich', dasawahh- 'make blind, blind' from dasuwant- 'blind', or newahh- 'make new, re-copy' beside nēwa- 'new'. The following two sentences provide examples:

		mān		ŪL-ma		nu-smas-san		uwanzi
		if		not-but		then-to-you-locatival		they come
		apiya		pēdi		tasuwahhanzi
		there		in the place		they make blind
		"If you don't (obey the king's orders), then they will come to you and will blind (you) on the spot."

		n-at		luluwāi		happinahhi-ya-at
		and-it		sustain		make rich-and-it
		"Sustain it (the country of Hatti), and enrich it"

28.3 Mi-conjugation verbs in -ēss-

The central meaning of the mi-conjugation verbs in ēss- is to become the possessor of the quality that the base adjective expresses. It should be noted that the archaic pattern for forming such verbs is to drop the suffix that characterizes the adjective. So, for example, ekuness- 'become cold' comes from the a-stem adjective ekuna- 'cold', tepauēss- 'become small, become short' is ultimately from tēpu- 'small, short', militēss- 'become sweet' is from miliddu- 'sweet', salless- 'grow, become big' is from salli- 'big', dalukēss- 'become long' is from daluki- 'long', dankuēss- 'become dark' is from dankui- 'dark', and innarawess- 'become strong' is from innarawant- 'strong'. The suffix has the shape -ēs- before consonants (e.g., tēpawēsta 'it became short') and -ēss- before vowels (e.g., idālauwessanzi 'they became evil'). The following are examples of how verbs in -ēss- are used.

In this passage from the "Annals of Mursilis" the participle of tēpāwēss- is used with ēs- 'be'. The expression "the year had become short" means that fall had come and with it the end of the season during which the king waged war.

		nu-mu		MU.KAM-za		kuit		sēr tēpawēssanza ēsta
		and-to-me		year		because		had become short
		"And because the year had become short on me, ..."

		GIŠPEŠ		mahhan		miliddu		ANA		DIM
		fig		as		sweet		to		Stormgod
		URUKuliwisna		ZITUM		anda		QĀTAMMA		militisdu
		city of Kuliwisna		mood		into		likewise		sweeten
		"As the fig is sweet, let the mood of the Stormgod of Kuliwisna likewise become sweet."

28.4 Variable meaning

The following phrases, which use verb forms with different suffixes side-by-side, illustrate how the meanings of these suffixes differ.

This phrase has parkunu- 'make clean' beside harkēss- 'become white' as the result of being cleaned (from harki- 'white'):

		kās-wa		GIM-an		hās		GADHI.A		iskunanta		parkunuzzi
		look-quotative		just as		soap		linens		dirty		makes clean
		nu-war-at		harkēzi
		so-quotative-they		become white ...
		"Just as this soap cleans dirty linens (so that) they become white..."

This phrase is very similar to the one above, except that it uses harganu- 'make white' in place of harkēss- 'become white':

		n-at		GIM-an		kās		hassas		parkunut-at		harganut
		and-it		just as		this		soap		cleaned-it		made white
		"Just as this soap has cleaned it (and) made (it) white..."

In this sentence, which is about someone who has been accused of a crime and sentenced to trial by ordeal to determine guilt or innocence, parkuēss- 'be proven innocent' (lit. 'become pure') contrasts with parkunu- 'make clean' in a metaphorical sense:

		mān-as		parkuēszi		nu-za		ZI-ŠU		parkunuddu
		if-he		becomes pure		and-reflexive		mind-his		make clean
		"If he is proven innocent, let him consider himself exonerated. (lit. 'let him cleanse his own mind', with the reflexive particle -za)"

The sentence below discusses the defilement of items in a temple. It contrasts the participle of marsanu- 'desecrate' from marsa- 'false, defiled' with āppa suppiyahh- 'make pure again', with suppiyahh- 'make holy' from suppi- 'pure, holy':

		mānn-a		marsanuwan		kuitki		n-at		sekkanzi		mahhan		n-at
		if-and		desecrated		something		and-it		they know		as		and-it
		QĀTAMMA		EGIR-pa suppiyahhanzi
		just-as		again-make holy
		"And if something is desecrated, they will reconsecrate it in the way that they know."

29 The participle

The Hittite participle in -ant- is from an Indo-European active participle. It is inflected as an nt-stem. In most instances, any distinction in voice shown by the participle depends on whether the verb from which it is derived is transitive or intransitive. Normally, participles from transitive verbs, that is verbs that may take direct objects, are passive in sense (e.g., appānt- 'captured', nominal 'captive' from ēpp-, app- 'seize'; piyant- 'given' from pāi- 'give'; or sekkant- 'known' from sākk-, sekk- 'know'). Participles from intransitive verbs, that is, verbs that do not take direct objects, are active and intransitive by contrast (e.g., pānt- 'gone' from pāi- 'go' or maussant- 'fallen' from mū-, mauss- 'fall'). Two exceptions to this pattern are adānt-, participle of ēd- 'eat', which is found in the sense "eaten" and akuwānt-, participle of eku-, aku- 'drink', which occurs in the sense "drunk."

29.1 Verbal adjective

The participle may be used as a verbal adjective (compare, e.g., English "melted butter"):

		1		UDU		huwiswandan		appanzi
		one		sheep		living		they take
		"They take one live sheep."

		GIŠBANHI.A-a-ssan		kuyēs		huettiyanta		GIŠKAK.Ú.TAG.GAHI.A-ya
		bows-but-locatival		who		drawn		arrows-and
		harkanzi
		they hold
		"But those who hold drawn bows and arrows ..."

In some instances, participles that modify nouns seem to have lost, or at least loosened their connections to living verbs (compare, e.g., English "molten lava" with "molten," from an archaic participle of "melt"). For example, enant-, which means something like "tamed" or "trained" in the phrase MÁŠ.GAL enanza 'tamed he-goat', is probably the participle of an otherwise unattested verb inu-. Although the verb ārr- 'wash' is well attested, the participle arrant- seems to be used as an adjective in phrases like arranza halkis 'washed grain' or ŠE arran 'washed barley'. Similarly, an adjectival liliwant- 'swift, urgent' apparently comes from the participle of liliwahh- 'hasten, hurry':

		NIM.LÀL		liliwandan		piēt
		bee		swift		he sent
		"He sent the swift bee."

29.2 Transitive verbs

Participles of transitive verbs are used with forms of ēs- 'be' in a construction that may be translated by an English passive.

		hurtantes		eser
		cursed		they were
		"They were cursed."

(with hurtant-, participle of huwart- 'curse')

		nu		LÚMEŠ		URUHatti		kuit		LÚMEŠ		URUMizri
		and		people		of Hatti		because		people		of Egypt
		IŠTU		DIM		URUHatti		linganuwantes		eser
		by		Stormgod		of Hatti		placed under oath		they were
		"And the people of Hatti and the people of Egypt, because they had been placed under oath by the Stormgod of Hatti"

(with linganuwant-, participle of linganu- 'place under oath')

This construction also occurs in nominal sentences, in which a present form of "to be" is to be understood:

		KASKAL-us-mu		kuis		huettiyanza
		path-the-for-me		that		is drawn
		"The path that is drawn for me..."

(with huettiyant-, participle of huettiya- 'draw, drag')

29.3 Intransitive verbs

Participles of intransitive verbs are used with finite forms of ēs- 'be' in a construction that may be translated by an English active perfect. The sense remains intransitive:

		antuhsatar		pān		esta
		population		gone		was
		"The population had gone."

(with pānt- participle of pāi- 'go')

		kuis-wa-mu-kan kuis		parranda		uwanza
		who-quotative-to me-locatival-who		over		has come
		"Whoever has come over to me..."

(with uwant-, participle of uwa- 'come')

		nu-ssan		mān		halkiēs		arantes		n-as-kan		arha warastin
		and-locatival		when		grain		ripened		and-it-locatival		harvest up
		"When the grain has ripened (lit. 'is standing'), harvest it up."

(with arant-, participle of ar- 'stand')

29.4 Other uses of participles.

The participle is occasionally used in a semi-adverbial sense:

		DIM-as		lēlaniyanza		wezzi
		The Stormgod		furious		he came
		"Furious, the Stormgod came."

		n-as		arrandas		tūriyanzi
		and-them		washed		they harness
		"After they (horses) are washed, they harness them."
		"(The horses) having been washed, they harness them."

The participle asant- of ēs- 'be' can have the meaning "true" (literally "as it is"):

		asanza		LUGAL-us
		true		king
		"the true king"

Occasonally participles may be nominalized; that is, used in noun functions. For example, in this phrase, aniyant- the participle of aniya- 'do, make, perform' in the nominative-accusative neuter is used in the sense "work":

		UD.KAM-as		aniyan		kuis		essai
		day's		work		who		performs
		"Who performs a day's work ..."

Similarly, appānt- and kunānt-, the participles of ēpp- 'capture' and kuen- 'strike, kill' can be used as nouns meaning "a captive" or "the dead."

The participle of a transitive verb, when used with forms of hark- 'have, hold', can have the sense "be kept" in the condition specified by the participle.

		nu-mu		munnan		harta
		and-me		hidden		he had kept
		"He had kept me hidden."

30 Conditional and Comparative Clauses

Conditional clauses, normally to be translated in English by clauses with "if," may take a number of forms in Hittite. To express factual conditions, two conjunctions meaning "if," takku and mān, are used. Mān is also used in contrary to fact (unreal conditions), and, in the meaning "when" to introduce time clauses. It may also be used as a conjunction meaning "whether." Since the meanings "if" and "when" are close, context determines whether a clause with mān is to be translated as conditional or temporal. Comparative clauses, or clauses in which a thing or an action is likened to another, are fairly frequent in Hittite. Comparative clauses use the subordinating conjunctions mān, māhhan, and mahhanda, each of which can mean "as" or "just as".

30.1 Conditional Clauses

The conjunction takku is found only in early texts and in later copies of early texts. It is very common in the law code, which may be viewed as a series of statements about the consequences of actions.

		takku		LÚDAM.GÀR		kuiski		kwēnzi		1 ME		MANA
		if		merchant		someone		kills		one hundred		shekels
		KÙ.BABBAR		pāi
		silver		he gives
		"If someone kills a merchant, he gives (in compensation) one hundred shekels of silver."

		takku		LÚ.U19.LU-as		SÀG.DU-ZU		kuiski		hūnikzi
		if		person's		head-his		someone		injures
		karū		6		GÍN		KÙ.BABBAR		pisker
		previously		six		shekels		silver		they used to give
		"If someone injures a person's head, previously six shekels of silver were given."

The conjunction mān in the meaning "if" is found in texts from the earliest period onward. It may also be used in indirect questions. The first sentence below is from the "Proclamation of Telepenus":

		kinuna		mān		DUMU.LUGAL		kuiski		wastai		nu		SAG.DU-az-pat
		but now		if		prince		any		sins		then		with head-his own
		sarnikdu
		let him atone
		"But now, if any prince sins, then let him atone with his own head."

This sentence, from a ritual text, sets different conditions for treating men and women:

		nu		EN.SISKUR.SISKUR		mān		LÚ
		and		patient		if		man
		n-as-zan		ŠA		DIM		GIŠŠÚ.A		esari
		and-he-locatival		of		Teshup		chair		he sits
		mān-as		MUNUS-ma		n-as-zan		ŠA		DHebat
		if-she		woman-but		and-she-locatival		of		Hebat
		ANA		GIŠGÌR,GUB		esari
		on		footstool		sits
		"If the patient (treated in a ritual) is a man, he sits down on the chair of Teshup; but if the patient is a woman, she sits on the stool of Hebat."

Conditional clauses with mān are often used in the openings of rituals to indicate the ritual's purpose.

		mān		antuwahhas		alwanzahhanza		n-an		kissan		aniyami
		if		person		bewitched		and-him		thus		I treat
		"If a person has been bewitched, I treat him as follows."

Mān may be used in indirect questions in the sense "if" or "whether":

		mān-mu-kan		annaz-ma		kartaz		kī		gulsta
		if-to me-locatival		from mother-reflexive		from womb		this		inscribed
		ug-at-za		āppan		MUNUSENSI-ta		natta		kussanka
		I-it-reflexive		after		female dream interpreter		not		even
		punussan
		I asked
		"I never even inquired of a female dream interpreter if (or 'whether') this (illness) was ordained for me from my mother's womb."

The conjunction kuit, 'because' joins independent clauses, expressing a logical relationship between a main clause and a qualifying clause that provides the reasons for actions or occurrences. It is placed neither at the head of the sentence nor at the head of the qualifying clause. Instead, it normally follows full phrase of the clause. The effect of this placement may be to focus attention on the immediate reason for the actions taken in the result clause. For example, kuit often follows the subject of the sentence, the agent leading to the action.

		nu-mu		MU.KAM-za		kuit		sēr tēpauēssanza ēsta
		and-for-me		the year		because		had become short
		nu		nam-ma		KUR		URUAzzi		Ú-UL		daninunuun
		and		moreover		the land		of Azzi		not		garrisoned
		"And because the year had become short on me, I did not garrison the land of Azzi."

		LÚ.ME^S		URUNuhasiwa		kuit		kūruriyahhir
		people		Nuhasiya		because		have become hostile
		nu-war-as		arha harnik
		and-quotative-them		destroy utterly
		"Because the people of Huhasiya have commenced hostilities, destroy them utterly!"

		mahhan-ma		hameshanza		kisat
		when-but		spring		became
		nu		MUhha.LÚ-is		kuit		GIG-at
		and		Uhhaziti		because		had taken sick
		n-as-kan		aruni		ēsta
		and-he-locatival		in sea		was
		"But when it became spring, because Uhhaziti had taken sick, he was in the sea (i.e. 'on an island')."

In this sentence, kuit follows ŠŪRIPU 'cold', the reason for the king's retreat to the river Astarpa:

		ŠŪRIPU		kuit		karū		kisat
		cold		because		already		became
		namma		EGIR-pa		INA		ÍDAstarpa		uwanun
		moreover		back		to		river Astarpa		I went
		"Because it had already become cold, I went back to the river Astarpa."

30.2 Comparative Clauses

Comparative clauses are especially common in ritual texts in descriptions of ritual actions in which a thing is endowed with the baneful qualities that the ritual practitioner is removing from the patient. In these rituals, the practitioner likens the object to something harmful and performs ritual actions upon it or likens an action to removing harm from the patient. Alternatively, the practioner may use a comparison to a desirable state to wish something good for the patient. Comparative clauses are often complemented by clauses using the correlative adverb apenissan (or the Akkadogram QĀTAMMA) meaning "(just) so" or "likewise."

Mān, which has a number of functions, including use as a postposition meaning "like," may be used as a conjunction meaning "just as" in comparative clauses. It is found within the clause and not initially:

		kās		LÚ.U19.LU-as		mān		karū		n-as		EGIR-pa		apenissan
		this		person		just as		before		and-he		again		just so
		ēstu
		be (let him be)
		"Just as this person was before, may he be just so again."

		DUTU-us		DIM-as		mān		uktūres
		Sungod		Stormgod		just as		eternal
		LUGAL-us		MUNUS.LUGAL-ass-a		QĀTAMMA		uktūres
		king		queen-and		likewise		eternal
		asantu
		let them be
		"Just as the Sungod (and) the Stormgod are eternal, so, likewise let the king and queen be eternal."

Māhhan is more commonly used as a subordinating conjunction meaning "like," "as," or "just as." The following sentence, which is much like the sentence with mān above, suggests that it could be essentially a synonym of mān in this sense:

		kī		NA4pēru		māhhan		uktūri
		this		boulder		just as		eternal
		BĒLU		Ù		DAM-ŠU		DUMUMEŠ-ŠU		QĀTAMMA
		lord		and		wife-his		children-his		likewise
		uktūres		asantu
		eternal		let them be
		"Just as this boulder is eternal, let the lord (i.e. the king), his wife, and his children be eternal."

		mahhan-wa-tta		āssu		nu-wa		QĀTAMMA		iya
		as-quotative-to-you		good		and-quotative		likewise		do
		"Do as seems good to you."

The comparative clause may be complemented by a clause that lacks a correlative adverb:

		nu		sankus		alil		mahhan		nu-za		parkiyat
		and		sankus		plant		just as		and-reflexive		grew
		tuell-a		ŠA		DU		ZI-KA		parktaru
		your-and		of		Stormgod		soul-your		let it grow
		"Just as the sankus flower grew, may your soul, O Stormgod, grow."

The subordinating conjuncttion māhhanda (also written mānhhanda and mān handa) seems to be exclusively used in comparative clauses. It is presumably a compound of mān and the adverb handa 'facing' in origin. The evidence is unclear, but it may be an archaism confined to early texts and copies of these texts. The following is from a text written by an Old Kingdom prince, perhaps Mursilis I, to his noblemen:

		mān-smas		ABI		parnas-ma		tarna
		when-you		father		to houses-but		lets go
		nu-smas		mānhhanda		hatreskezzi
		and-to-you		just as		he writes
		natta-smas		LÚ.ME^SDUGUD-as		tuppi		hazzian		harzi
		not-for-you		dignitaries		tablet		written		has
		"When (my) father lets you go to (your) houses, just as he customarily writes to you, has he not inscribed a tablet for you dignitaries?"

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