Linear A: Updates

inaugural date: 30 December 2007; last update: 30 April 2023

Recent changes:

30 April 2023folloqinf GORILA (vols. 4 & 5) I cite sign *315 as *315/RO; see Homepage, §9 (/LinearA/§9, "*315").
26 October 2022I propose that HT is SA-RA2 in the commentary to HT 94.
2 September to 26 October 2022correcting typographical and formatting errors; adding Montecchi 2010's classes/ series, and sets
1 September 2022Adding information about texts discovered since GORILA, as published in Del Freo & Zurbach 2011
6 August 2022Addition of INA Zb 1
16 June - 3 July 2022minor corrections
15 June 2022Corrections to the comments to HT 93.
24 March 2021Prompted by a request from Nancy Thompson, I looked again at KN Wb 33. It now seems likely that the two Linear inscriptions should be read as one: a)-b retrograde): QA-KI-SE-NU[, which also appears on CR(?) Zf 1, and whose pairs of syllabograms also appear on other documents.
18 March 2021Following Del Freo & Zurbach 2011, I have made some corrections to various texts, especially KN Wa 40 or KN Wy 49 = now KN 40.
1 November 2020A more detailed discussion of the findspots of the HT tablets at the top of HTtexts.html, and an inclusion of the findspot at the citation of each HT text.
2 January 2020To HT Wc 3004 and 3005, a new interpretation by G. Nagy (2019, revising 1963, 1965) and comments by JGY.
8 September 2019Minor corrections to HT 33.1 (final [); HT 34.5 & .6 (MI+JA+RU, SA+MU+KU); HT 38.3 (superfluous second TELA+KU removed); HT 42+59.1-2 (doubtful ]7); HT 108 (note to line 1 removed); HT 123+124b.3 (punctuation mark after *188 DU removed); KH 6.7 (303+D 1); KH 94 (QA+[ ]+PU); and clarification to PH 7b (VINc). Addition to the bibliography: Hallager, Vlasakis, & Markoulakis 1991. Thanks to Andrew Krawiec for drawing my attention to these and to difficulties in HT 93. These last have led JGY to reinterpret the text: see note to HT 93 and rewritten sections of the homepage re KA and VIR+KA). Also minor rewrite of the discussion of *301, Homepage section 10a, Transaction Signs.
21 April 2019Robert Hogan's "Linear A Explorer" added to the Homepage. IO Za 10 corrected to IO Zb 10 (thanks to Brent Davis)
9 February 2019links to JGY photos added to MY Zf 2, PH 7, 8, 9, 12, 13; THE tablets 4-6, Zb 1, Zb 2; and VRY Za 1
1 February 2019in /LinAIdeograms/, the first ideogram for VIN, image corrected to *131a (thanks to Toby Douglass).
3 January 2019 All QA2 changed to QA. I am grateful to Andrew Krawiec for the following typographical errorss in HT 23, HT 30, HT 32, HT 34, HT 37, HT 40, HT 42+59, HT 45, HT 60, HT 62, HT 88, HT 97, HT 98, HT 111, and HT 119; and ARKH 1 and PH 3. The logogram #327 AES (bronze) should appear on HT 97 and HT 119. Mr Krawiec also points out that HT 30.4 & .5 list 1 BOS not 4, a more appropriate number is this tablet lists commodities for a small feast. And he calls heightened attention to the presence of logogram *327 AES? (bronze) on HT 97 and 119.
19 December 2017 Brent Davis observed that HT 85b lists 11 NAMES while HT 85a lists a total of 66 VIR, which should be distributed in 11 sets of 6 VIR each. JGY then attempted an analysis of HT 85 as listing allocations of workers from regions (side a) under the supervision of the people (side b).
4 December 2017 Provenence of KN Wa 40 corrected from South House to South-West House (thanks to Colin Macdonald!)
1 March 2017All (?) of the volumes of Études Crétoises are now online , including GORILA and CHIC (thanks to Theo Nash)
26 December 2016at the top of ABgrids.html and in the body of the lexicon, adding more possible correspondences between Linear A and Linear B words (thanks to Thomas Ogre and Gretchen Leonhardt). In the lexicon, correct NI-TI-NU (KN Zc 6) to NI-JA-NU (thanks to Thomas Ogre)
10 December 2016Correcting the typos on the Linear A homepage, section 13, from I-PI-NA-MI-NE to I-PI-NA-MI-NA (thanks to Thomas Ogre).
6 November 2016Correcting the lexicon: RO+RO does not appear on KH Wa 1001g: DA+RO appears instead {*501}; and deleting the citation of *501 on PYR Wc 4 (that logogram has not been assigned a number).
26 October 2016several items: 1) homepage, Melena's proposal that *34 represents /hai/ in Linear B; 2) homepage, s.v. *31 SA, reference to the appearance of SA-SA-ME on HT 23a.4-5 (thanks to Thomas Ogre);
1 May 2016correction to SY Zb 7: addition of NI
9 December 2015Lexicon: addition of the LinB parallel su-ku-re in KN As 40+5093, and, in the Bibliography, correction of a typographical error in Owens 1996b
26 October 2015correction to HT 122a.1 (combining ]RA-RI • U-DE-ZA into a single header)
5 October 2015Gournia tablet 2 and Wc 3 added
8 June 20151. the Linear A site is now "under construction"; 2. corrected HT Wc 3009 & 3010 and MO Zf 1 to read initial "*333-" instead of "ZU-".
16 March 20151. Rewrote "ABgrids.html" to include Melena's proposed full grid for Linear B (Melena 2014, 88-89 fig. 17.13). 2. announced on the Home Page that this entire Linear A site will be completely restructured by 1 June 2015.
22 January 2015HT 117.a5: switched order of TE-JA-RE and NA-DA-RE (thanks to Gretchen Leonhardt)
30 December 2014additions to the bibliography
30 November 2014on the homepage (s.v. "KA"), an expanded discussion of VIR+KA, abbreviated as KA, on HT 11 and other tablets and on nodules HT Wa 1322-1470 (thanks to the observation by Julio Fontan-Tejeiro that the noduels may correspond to HT 11b (Feb 2014)
26 November 2014corrected HM 28a.2-3 *612 to *622 and HM 33.3 *522 to *552 (thanks to Ben Newbound)
24 October 2014corrected all GRA+PA (*577 or *547) to GRA+PA (*574); *303+K (*637) on KH 7b.3 to *303+K (*627); and corrected GORILA page reference to KH 42 (thanks to Ben Newbound)
14 October 2014on the homepage, added a short paragraph about opisthographic tablets
14 October 2014corrected category Zc from "inked" to "painted" (GORILA IV p. 117) and changed PO Zg to PO Zc (and on the homepage), adding that it is the latest Linear A inscription, the 2nd latest being KN Zb 40.
2 October 2014corrected GORILA reference for TY 3 (thanks to Ben Newbound)
30 August 2014reference added to where KN 2 and KN 28 were found
2 June 2014Robert Eaglestone submits a reversed file of these updates - many thanks!
14 February 2014adding a section on "Word Separation" on the homepage, section 16.
15-18 January 2014adding information on logograms and ligatures (homepage)
29 December 2013adding a second reading of HT 140 that recognizes two logogram columns; in the homepage, a more extensive entry for KA (in Vocabulary).
30 November 2013adding a section "Layout" in the homepage in order to present the evidence of a Minoan practice of splitting components of an expression across document lines ("hyphenization").
21 October 2013correcting CMS errors in the HT sealings (not all the atributions to CMS II 6 no. 11 were correct)
12 October 2013replacing instances of *333 with ZU.
28 September 2013additional notes to HT 28 and 88; HT 94a.3-5 fleshed out.
8 September 2013minor correction to KN Zb 5 (no handles)
16 August 2013ZO Za 1 added (plus addition of Muhly 1981 to the bibliography)
30 May 2013minor mistakes corrected in the Lexicon -- thanks to observations by Dieter Rumpel
8 May 2013minor mistakes corrected in the Lexicon; Reverse Lexicon added
23 March 2013new information KH Wc roundels; TRO Zg 1 & 2 added
16 March 2013rearranged texts within each site so that all texts of a certain class are together (e.g., all Za's are together, then followed by Zb's, etc.), rather than have the texts arranged by number (i.e., when they were inventoried)
2 February 2013added additional pairings of exact or similar words in Linear A & B (cf. the homepage, #3, and the lexikon
20 December 2012added bibliographical reference on PYR Wc 4
18 November 2012corrected reading interpretion of the logogram on PYR Wc 4
4 August 2012corrected reading for ARKH Zc 8; ARKH Zb 10 deleted (once included, based on a preliminary report; the text is actually ARKH Zc 8).
26 May 2012suggested reading for unknown sign in PYR Wc 4.
21 May 2012added note about the stone "inscriptions" at Knossos, presumed KN Ze 44 & 45 (misctexts.html, s.v. "Knossos")
29 April 2012correction in lexicon.html to the inscription on PO Zg 1, added *325 at end of -A-SA-SA-RA-*325; and added citations to Hallager's reclassifying PH Wc 42, 45, and <47> to Wg 45, Wy 42, and Zb <47>
14 April 2012added the comparison of Linear B ku-pa-nu-we-to (KN As 1517.8)to KU-PU3-NA-TU (name on HT 47a.1-2 and 119.3; cf. KU-PA3-NU), thanks to Gretchen Leonhardt
24 March 2012corrections made to the listing of various stone libation tables, following Davis 2011.
13 February 2012correction for VRY Za 1: museum & inventory no.
10 January 2012in ABgrids.html, the addition of a mPn series for: 56?? (mPA3), 22?? (mPI2), 29?? (mPU2) (Duhoux 1984, Janda 1986, Melena 1987)
10 January 2012PE Zb 7, photo of pithos inscription after complete restoration, thanks to Kim Raymoure
24 November 2011revision of the introduction's chronology
19 November 2011CR(?) Zf 1 & Kn Zf 31: reverse decoration noted
14 May 2011addition of a discussion of weights in Intro section 15. Metrology, and addition of 2 items in biblio.html: Evans 1906 & Parise 1967. Slight correction and note added to KN Zb <27>.
20 March 2011correction to SAM We 4
14 January 2011correction to IO Za 2 in religioustexts.html -- thanks to Evelina Teneva
28 December 2010rewritten note on the homepage concerning *34 and a new note for *325
19 December 2010change all references from CYP to *303, a grain
29 November 2010correction to HT 26a.1 and b.1: 406VAS+KE, not 407VAS+A
25 November 2010new inscriptions added: PE Zg 6, PE Zb 7, PE Zb 8; and slightly improved (?) readings for KH 97-99
13 November 2010continued corrections to PH(?) 31 and improved readings, using suggestions made by Julio Fontán-Tejeiro.
9 November 2010discussion of the "continuity" principle on the homepage, and its application to PH(?) 31a.3 and b.4 (discussion of signgroup SUS+SI+RE as possibly SI+AU+RE), with subsequent correction to the reading of HT 27b
24 October 2010suggestions that *34 = MNA, *66 (TA2) = TNA; and subsequent links in the lexicon
9 October 2010correction to HT 21 -- it listed side.line a.1 etc., implying a side b -- nothing is written on the reverse of HT 21.
25 August 2010correction to HT 34 (no SA-VINa), HT 23 & 24 (SI+ME), 26b.3 & 127b.5,6 KI+MU (not KU+MU)
13 August 2010slight correction to KE Zb 5 (ligature *595 is slightly more complicated).
12 August 2010notes added to KO Za 1 and SY Za 2, pointing out the resemblance between signs RE & OLIV on the two documents, respectively (thanks to Brent Davis), and correcting some doubtful signs in these two inscriptions in the lexicon
25 July 2010added PK Zb? RE B, which supports the value of B = 1/3, and added Hood 1964 to biblio.html
5 July 2010small corrections to LaMarleAartun.html
2 July 2010adding MY Zf 2, the first appearnance of AB 43, AI; suggesting A *306 is the peculiarly Linear A version of 43, AI
30 June 2010adding a critique of Kjell Aartun's decipherment of Linear A to the page on La Marle
21 June 2010added bibliography and notes to the Petras section
1 May 2010added notes to ZA Zg 35, and MI+JA-RU in the lexicon
28 April 2010corrected readings of HT 8, 23, 36, 49, and alternative readings for PK Zb 19. HT 34.7 may support the identification of fraction F as 1/8 (see note). The ligatured logogram *529 SE+SI (*41+*09) may just as equally be SI+SE (GORILA identifies the components of complex signs by putting first the sign that appears most frequently in complex signs, in this case SE); if SI-SE, then cf. A-SI-SE-NA, SI-SE-TA.
17 April 2010corrected reading of KH Wa 1001, 1002. Corrected text in the discussion of the Libation Formula on the homepage (I-PI-NA-MI-NA has nothing to do with being a verb). Discussion on rations in HT 88 and 89.
11 April 2010slight corrections to HT 9, 15, 24, 44, 104, 115, 124; and ZA 6. And corresponding corrections to the lexicon.
1 April 2010correct MA 10c, d
18 March 2010correct HT 115a.1-2 and lexicon.html: RI-TA-MA-NU-WI, not RI-SU-MA- (a.6: in erasure)
16 March 2010correct lexicon.html: RA-KA (omit KE Zb 5)
15 March 2010new comments for HT 28, 32, 34, 85, 90, 94, 100, 101, 114, 117, 119, 125, and 128; some of these comments note how people are counted in sets of 6 individuals, how some numbers cluster around the unit 10, and how small numbers may imply disbursements while large, round number may imply assessments or contributions.
6 March 2010correct HT 126b
20 February 2010rewrite of the commentary to HT 123+125.
8 February 2010rewrite of the entry on KA-PA on the homepage; addition of Palmer (Ruth) 2004 in the Bibliography
26 December 2009addition of maps and plans where Linear A has been found in Crete, Greece, and at HT
19 December 2009addition of texts in Raison-Pope 1994 but not in GORILA
16 December 2009a re-write of the homepage, information from Schoep 2002 included
10 December 2009a re-write of the homepage, before adding more information from Schoep 2002; overhaul of the section on fractions (with commentary to HT 123 & KH 7); minor additions to individual documents
5 December 2009adding more information from Schoep 2002 on individual documents (esp. HT 123+124) in HTtexts.html (esp. the introduction) and misctexts.html
21 November 2009adding Schoep 2002, format types
17 November 2009adding possible parallels in Linear B to words in the lexicon, based on Schoep 2002, 155 table 3.22
16 October 2009suggested alternative reading for HT 36a.2
27 September 2009correction in HT 24a.2, 3, 4: *561 (MA+RU ME)
20 August 2009new interpretation of HT 8 and of logogram PA and PA3) by Brent Davis (with slight modificatin by JGY); consequent new notes to HT 34.6 and 103.2; minor corrections to HT 9, HT 26b.4, ZA 12
15 August 2009 critique of the "decipherment" of Linear A by Hubert La Marle
17 July 2009Monti 2008 added to bibliography; note to HT 31.3 added.
7 June 2009Thanks to Anna Michailidou: new information about the weight of SI Zg 1
4 June 2009Thanks to Brent Davis: new information about the weights of HT Zg 163, KN Zg <21>, MO Zf 1, and SI Zg 1
15 May 2009I read *315 ONLY on KH 82.3; all former readings of SA-*315 (HT 9a.1, 17.2, 19.2, 42.2) are to be correct to SA-RO; sign *315 on HT 49a.4 cannot be verified.
3 May 2009minor corrections here and there; better reading suggested for ARKH 2.3-4; further notes on, and probably better readings of, HT Zd 155-157.
27-29 Apr 2009attention paid to lay-out and shape of tablets, information added to almost all tablet documents; improved readings for HT 97b, ARKH 2, MI 2, ZA 27
25 Apr 2009some major changes and some attention paid to lay-out on HT 8, 9, 11, 12, 24, 25, 28, 41, 43, 44, 45, 49, 50, 56, 85, 94, 97, 99, 101, 106, 108, 116 (a new lay-out), 117, 118, 126, 127, 130, 131, 140, 154B
25 Apr 2009minor changes to HT 91-93, 98, 100, 109, 111, 120, We/Wc 3020; ARKH 1, 2; KE 1; KH 1-5, 7-10, 12-15, 17, 21, 26, 31, 35, 38, 47, 51, 58, 60, 64, 66, 76, 82, 92, 97; and a new reading for KH 83.2 (thanks to Julio Fontán-Tejeiro).
5 Apr 2009minor changes to HT 13, 21, 22, 30, 35, 45, 60, 86 (thanks to Julio Fontán-Tejeiro).
14 Mar 2009major: addition of the fraction D (1/5) to the known or surmisable fractions; see comments to HT 115, KH 85, ZA 8; minor corrections to HT 104, HT 108, KH 11, KH 16, KH 34, KH Wc 2067, KH Wc 2068, KH Wc 2104, and KH Wc 2105 (thanks to D. Rumple).
6 Mar 2009uploaded a PDF of the Syme inscriptions, added Syme vocabulary to the Lexicon
2 Mar 2009corrections to PH 9, 13-15, 17 (thanks to the prodding of D. Rumpel)
17 Feb 2009corrections to SY Za 1-3 and the additions of the new texts SY Za 4-6, Zb 7, Za 8-12
17 Jan 2009minor corrections to HT 67a.3; HT 96a.1-2, a.5; and PK Za 15
7 Jan 2009notes to HT 88.2, KN Za 19, ZA 21a.7: )-MI-NA might represent the 2nd occurrence of a word writing out an ideogram, in this case *118
25 Dec 2008minor cleanups, especially of fractions (in the introduction, and here and there); text added to the weights SI Zg 1 and HT Zg 163.
24 Dec 2008added the Lexicon; added DU-PU2-RE ("master/lord") to Vocabulary (Introduction);) more information in Grammar & Libation Formula sections of the Introduction; corrected readings to KN Zc 6 & 7, PK Za 11; Valério 2007 added to Bibliography
15 Sep 2008 corrected fractions in PE 2; added comments to MA 10, re: b.1: *405VAS+Ω = Hiero *304 fraction = 1/2
7 Sep 2008new Hiero fonts for MAC OS X, courtesy of Jean-Pierre Olivier, are now downloadable from the Linear A homepage
26 July 2008PK Zb 25? is now PK Zb ?; added the real PK Zb 25; added Bennett 1999 to biblio.html; added new section on fractions
1 June 2008improved reading for PK Zb 21 by Brent Davis
11 April 2008cleaned HT Wa series
22 March 2008adding new inscriptions from Khania (KH 97-99, KH Wc 2123, KH Zb 1) from Andreadi-Vlasaki & Hallager 2007
15 March 2008adding scribal attributions from GORILA V: 83-104, Militello 1989
14 January 2008updating the bibliography to 2007
30 December 2007creating this file (it was taking up too much room in the homepage)
29 December 2007reworking the commentary to HT 31
12-13 December 2007more information on Ideograms/Logograms
25 November 2007note comparing KA-DI on ZA 4 and 15
24 November 2007recording a comparison (s.v. HT 94) between HT 94 and HT Wc 3017
19 November 2007minor corrections; spelling out logograms *531, *539, *546, *558-*563
18 September 2007Photo and additional information added to SI Zg 1.
26 August 2007minor corrections to the AB grids (many thanks: Ugur Murat Leloglu)
13 August 2007many small corrections (many thanks: Peggy Duly)
21 May 2007rearrange HT Zd 155-157 according to information submitted by P. Militelli in Nov 2006 [sorry!]; revise slightly the Chronology section, this file
18 May 2007clean up Introduction; ZA 15a.7, restored; A *363 = SO (thanks to M. Valério; also see Hiero #039 and parallel document LinA HT 9); A *314 = PU3 (BU, according to Owens 1999 & Facchetti 1999)
3 April 2007notes on the vase-ideograms of HT 31, 39; MA 10; PH 8; reorganization of Kythera with more information; possible identification of *123 as similar to Linear B AROM (HT 9, 15, 39, 96; KH 53; ZA 20)
21 March 2007new files on Cretan Hieroglyphic; slight change in accessing the AB grids (see below); addition of Hiero grid (see below); slight changes to HT 128 and ZA 6; long section on "A-DU" (compare A-DE in Hieroglyphic)
18 January 2007click-on images added to PL Zf1 and PO Zg 1
10 September 2006added Linear A Ideograms: a folder giving the common, identified ideograms and their signs, and copies of GORILA's sign charts and palaeographic sign charts
15 August 2006corrected KO Za 1.b-c (RE is not to be doubted)
3 August 2006words appearing in both Linear A and B
11 May 2006at the prompting of Miguel Valério: a new reading for PK Za 8
16 March 2006to "Verbs" a new entry, A-KA-NU-ZA-TI
27 Nov 2005addition of the Linear A & B grids
24 August 2005SKO Zc 1 added
27 July 2005TY 3b.1: is KI-RI-SI the verbal (singular) of KI-RO?
22 July 2005long explanation of why DD is not a fraction but the "Double Mina"; D should therefore be the single mina, not a fraction, and KU is its phonetic abbreviation
21 July 2005slight changes to Kea and Melos; Milet to Miletos; complete rewrite of Thera
24 June 2004PK 1.6: PU2-MI to NI-MI
7 Jan 2004note to KN 22b; PK ZB


Comments, corrections, questions: John Younger (jyounger@ku.edu)

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