The New Values of Luwian Signs L 319 and L 172 (original) (raw)

The Luwian hieroglyphic signs L 319 and L 172 are traditonally read as and . The combinatory and etymological analysis of the lexemes where these signs frequently occur leads us to suggest their new transliteration values <la/i> and <lá/í> for the Iron Age. Our conclusion is compatible with the implicit suggestion of J. David Hawkins that the antecedents of these signs had the readings and in the Bronze Age. This reading opened the possibility for interpreting the country in Early Iron Age northern Syria, previously read as Wadasatina, as *Falastina- and thus corroborated the comparison between this Syrian toponym and the Biblical ethnonym Philistines.