I found some additional information in the book "The Carian Language" written by Ignacio-Javier Adiego Lajara, namely:
- Page 3 of the book states that Mausolus and his family are native Carians. This is yet another thing that makes it more likely that the name Mausolos is merely the hellenized form of an authentic Carian name.
- Page 330 states that Maussollos (mentioned there as Μαυσσωλλος) is a compound name, so the name is derived from two elements rather than one. Unfortunately, due to the way in which that page is set up, the page is vague about what elements the name is actually derived from. I think if I understand it right, Maussollos is mentioned there because of its suffix (which is
-ollos), because the group of names it is mentioned together with, all share that suffix. It seems that that suffix is actually the second element in the name, because these names are categorised under uśoλ/ωśoλ (which seems like it's an element). On page 343 in the book, this seems to be confirmed, as that page explains a little bit about an Anatolian suffix
-alla- or
alli-. This Anatolian suffix is apparently rendered to -oλ in Carian, which subsequently is rendered to -ωλλ in Greek (when hellenized). This is obvious in Μαυσσωλλος (Maussollos), as you can see. Page 344 also directly says that this Anatolian suffix can be traced back "in the family of uśoλ names", which is what Maussollos was listed under on the aforementioned page 330. The author then goes on to say that the meaning and origin of this Anatolian suffix is by no means clear, so evidently there is still much to be researched and debated regarding that issue.
Also, a little more about this suffix is explained on the Wikipedia article for the Carian language (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carian_language). There, it is stated that the suffix uśoλ gains an -s when it becomes an genitive ending, thus becoming uśoλ-s. Knowing this, perhaps Mausolos is the hellenized form of the genitive of the original name, as the genitive would have ended in -s.
The suffix uśoλ is also featured on the Palaeolexicon website that I mentioned in my previous post, though there it is stated to be a name:
http://www.palaeolexicon.com/default.aspx?static=12&wid=347781
It is also stated to be a name on page 198 of the book "De l'économie antique à l'Asie Mineure", which contains a paper called "Two Carian Inscriptions from Karabournaki/Thessaloniki, Greece" written by Ignacio J. Adiego, Michalis Tiverios, Eleni Manakidou and Despoina Tsiafakis. That thesis starts on page 195 of the book, which can be read on-line at:
http://www.academia.edu/2263452/Two_Carian_Inscriptions_from_Karabournaki_Thessaloniki_Greece_in_K._Konuk_ed._Stephanephoros._De_leconomie_antique_a_lAsie_Mineure._Hommages_a_Raymond_Descat_2012
Finally, there is also page 141 of "(Selected) Topics in Anatolian Historical Grammar" written by Dr. H. Craig Melchert of Harvard University. Well, actually it is page 7 of its chapter "Naming Practices in 2nd and 1st Millennium Western Anatolia". There, Melchert states that uśoλ means "blessed" in Carian, and he also specifically states that "Μαυσσωλλος likely means 'much blessed'". So, Maussollos may mean "much blessed". The source he used for that was a book written by Ignacio-Javier Adiego Lajara (a different one than the one I have used so far).
The PDF file of Melchert's paper is located here:
http://ifl.phil-fak.uni-koeln.de/fileadmin/linguistik/hvs/pdfs/Melchert/Blockseminar_Melchert_WS1213.pdf
Its relevant chapter is also separately available here:
http://www.linguistics.ucla.edu/people/Melchert/Naming Practices in Second and First Millennium Western Anatolia adjusted.pdf
"How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on... when in your heart you begin to understand... there is no going back? There are some things that time cannot mend... some hurts that go too deep... that have taken hold." ~ Frodo Baggins