Linear A

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Linear A
Type: Undeciphered (likely Syllabic and Ideographic)
Languages: 'Minoan' (unknown)
Time period: Possibly from MM IB to LM IIIA
ISO 15924 code: Lina
Note: This page may contain IPA phonetic symbols in Unicode. See IPA chart for English for an English-​based pronunciation key.
Linear A incised on tablets found in Akrotiri, Santorini.
Linear A incised on tablets found in Akrotiri, Santorini.
Linear A incised on a vase, also found in Akrotiri.
Linear A incised on a vase, also found in Akrotiri.

Linear A is one of two linear scripts used in ancient Crete (a third script is Cretan Hieroglyphic). They were discovered and named by Arthur Evans. Linear B was deciphered in 1952 by Michael Ventris and was used to write Mycenaean Greek. Linear A is far from being totally deciphered but it is partially understood and it may be read through Linear B values.

Though the two scripts share many of the same symbols, using the syllables associated with Linear B in Linear A writings produces words that are unrelated to any known language. This language has been dubbed Minoan or Eteocretan, and corresponds to a period in Cretan history prior to a series of invasions by Mycenean Greeks around 1450 BC.

Contents

[edit] Theories of decipherment

As the Minoan language is lost to the modern day, it is hard to be certain whether or not a given decipherment is the correct decipherment. However, the simplest approach to decipherment may be to presume that the values of Linear A match more or less the values given to the fully translated Linear B script, used for Mycenean Greek. A site maintained by John Younger has a comprehensive list of known texts written in Linear A at [1].

In 1997, Gareth Alun Owens published a collection of essays entitled Kritika Daidalika, in which he suggested that Linear A might represent an archaic relative of Luwian. Owens based this assertion on the perceived Indo-European but non-Greek roots of a small number of words he was able to read by using the known Linear B or Cypriot sound values of certain Linear A signs. He does not claim a systematic decipherment of Linear A, and remarks in the book that he intended his Luwian hypothesis to provoke discussion, not to settle the issue.

In 2001, the journal Ugarit-Forschungen, Band 32 [2] [3] published the article "The First Inscription in Punic—Vowel Differences in Linear A and B" by Jan Best, claiming to demonstrate how and why Linear A notates an archaic form of Phoenician. This was a continuation of attempts by Cyrus Gordon in finding connections between Minoan and West Semitic languages. His methodology drew widespread criticism. While one or two terms may apparently be of Semitic origin (such as KU-RO, see below), there is yet not enough evidence to secure a connection between the language of Linear A and Semitic tongues.

One of the very few understood words so far, the summarizing term KU-RO (aforementioned), though most likely meaning 'total' (vel. sim.), could be of both Indo-European *kwol- (o-grade form of *kwel- [4]), or Semitic (*kl 'whole') origin. This is representative of the current state of understanding of the language of Linear A: the known elements are too scarce to build up a safe hypothesis on the genetic affiliation of the Minoan language.

[edit] Nature of the texts

A stone ladle from Troullos (TL Za 1) is a likely exemplar of a votive text:

a-ta-i-*301-wa-ja o-su-qa-re ja-sa-sa-ra-me u-na-ka-na-si i-pi-na-ma si-ru-te


While the Haghia Triada tablet 13 (HT 13) is an example of an accounting text:

ka-u-de-ta [wine ideogram]. te. re-za 5½ te-ro2 56 te-ki 27½ ku-dzu-ni 18 da-si-*118 19 ?-su-?-si 5 ku-ro 130½

  • ka-u-de-ta like above is probably a name. This is followed by an ideogram almost identical to one in Linear B meaning 'wine'. These are followed by a list of seven names each followed by a numeral.

(Cf Younger [5])


[edit] Short glossary of terms deciphered with some certainty

  • (J)A-DI-KI-TE-TE- / JA-DI-KI-TU = words related to Mount Dikte ?
  • DA-MA-TE : Already Proto-Greek *Dāmāter (cf. Linear B da-ma-te at Pylos = Cl. Dēmēter (Demeter)? This inscription is from Kythera.
  • KU-RO : whole, total (vel. sim.) (< PIE *kwol- or Semitic *kul?).
  • KI-RO : missing, debt (?).
  • MA+RU (ligature of the two signs): wool, same as later Greek mallos. Possibly a Minoan loanword in Greek. Possibly related to Sumerian bar-lu best quality wool blend.
  • PA-DE : a theonym, appearing on Linear B tablets as well (as pa-de / pa-ze).
  • PA-I-TO : place name, Phaistos. The same name is common on Linear B documents.
  • PO-TO-KU-RO : grand(?) total(vel. sim.).
  • RU+JA (the two signs joined together into a ligature): pomegranate, same as Classic Greek rhoia (?).
  • SE-TO-I-JA : place name, which occurs in Linear B as well.
  • SU-KI-RI-TA : *Sukrita, a place name which occurs in Linear B as well; the town survives today as Sybrita.
  • SU-KI-RI-TE-I-JA : probably "Sukritaian" (with an adjectival suffixed derived from PIE *-iyo-?)

(Cf Younger [6])

Apart from these, there are a considerable number of onomastic elements occurring both in Linear A and Linear B - namely in the Mycenaean texts from Knossos.

[edit] Sites yielding Linear A inscriptions

[edit] References

  • Some preliminary remarks on the decipherment of Linear A. By Jan G. P. Best, ISBN 90-256-0625-3
  • Roger D. Woodard, Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer. New York: Oxford University Press (1997). ISBN 0-19-510520-6 (review)
  • Younger, John G., Linear A Texts, available online at: [7]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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