Jump to content

Linear A

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Altenmann (talk | contribs) at 18:52, 25 May 2006 (→‎Glossary of terms from the above inscriptions: {{fact}}, see talk). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Linear A etched on tablets found in Akrotiri, Santorini.

Linear A is an undeciphered script used in ancient Crete. Its decipherment is one of the "holy grails" of ancient scripts.

A related script, Linear B, was deciphered in the 1950s by Michael Ventris as representing an ancient form of Greek.

Linear A etched on a vase, also found in Akrotiri.

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 1400 BC.

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, or merely gibberish being generated by an incorrect mapping of symbols to sounds. However, the simplest approach to decipherment may to be to simply 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]. Some religious formulae have been identified, some even bearing resemblance grammatically to the Etruscan language.

Since it is undeciphered, it is difficult to ascertain specific features of this language. A connection has already been noted between the sequence (Y)A-SA-SA-RA-ME, found in an oft-repeated formula inscribed on libation tables and a West Semitic fertility goddess known as Ashtoreth Yam (or "Lady of the Sea"). A possible marker for the genitive (or possessive) case may exist: -NA or -NE.

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, some words may indeed be of Semitic origin (such as KU-RO, suspected to mean "total", cf. Sem *[kll] "whole, all"), there is as of yet no real success made in connecting Minoan with Semitic languages.

The only word deciphered so far, with certainty, the summarizing term KU-RO, can illustrate the depths of problems arising with the decipherment attempts. This word, though undoubtedly means "whole", could be of both Indo-European (*kwol), or Semitic (*kll) origin. And the word churu in Etruscan has the same meaning.

Around the same time, M. Tsikritsis, a Greek computer scientist and a text analysis specialist used a statistical and machine comparison of Linear A and Linear B symbols to conclude that Linear A was an early aeolic dialect of Greek, and essentially a form of Linear B with a variety of archaisms. Critics of this theory state that Linear A shows no detectable signs of the prototypical features recognizable from the Indo-European language group to which Greek belongs, let alone features resembling Greek itself.

Usually, it is a more or less accepted viewpoint, to group the 'Minoan' language of the linear A inscriptions together with Eteocretan, (its likely descendant), and Eteocypriot, into the group of Aegean languages, but without any precise knowledge about the underlying languages, their relationships, or grammatical structure.

Sample texts transliterated using Linear B values

A stone ladle from Troullos may read:[citation needed]

a-ta-no-?-wa-ja o-su-ga-re ya-sa-sa-ra-me u-na-ka-[damaged] na-?-si
  • a-ta-no-?-wa-ja is possibly the name of a goddess. This is sometimes read alternatively, as a-ta-i-dju?-wa-ja.
  • o-su-ga-re may be related to the Greek *oios geras meaning 'holy gift' which would make sense if this ladle was either used in libation rituals or was a votive offering to a deity.
  • ja-sa-sa-ra-me as said above could be the name of the goddess Ashtoreth Yam. Another possibility for comparison from Hittite is hassussara (queen), with an added suffix -me, which would quite likely mean 'my' if it is indeed a Hittite word; this means that the word ya-sa-sa-ra-me might mean 'my queen'. It is not impossible, though it is a stretch, to suppose that this somehow morphed into the Greek goddess Hera. Another, though more tentative explanation would be, to compare it to the Hittite ashar (woman). Some have even suggested a comparison with Etruscan ais, meaning 'god'.
  • u-na-ka-na-si is sometimes read together, and might be a compound, since examples exist with u-na-re-ka-na-ti (plural?), and u-na-ru-ka-[damaged]-ja-si. it might be comparable, as some suggest, with the Etruscan unchva cenase(bearing libations).

Another inscription (on a tablet) may read:

qe-? [worker ideogram]. ?-ru-ja 3 me-ri-ja 4 ?-na-ko da-re te-ro2 1

The first word is most likely to be a name of a person or place. The second sign seems to depict a man with his hands bound behind his back. Then follows to words one reading ?-ru-ja with the numeral 3, the other reading me-li-ja and the numeral 4. The -ja ending also occurs in Linear B, meaning "women of", so me-li-ja 4 may mean "4 women of Meli". Meli once the i from the declension has been removed, if similar to Linear B, would read melu or melo, which may be the name of the Aegean island of Melos where Linear A tablets have been unearthed.

The 'Haghia Triada tablet 13' may read:

ka-u-de-ta [wine ideogram]. te. re-za 5½ te-ro2 56 te-ki 27½ ku-do-ni 18 da-si-dja 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'. The sign following this may be the syllable te and may be related to the Hittite ta meaning 'take' or da 'give' meaning that the sentence would read wine taken from or wine distributed to, it may also be related to the Greek te 'take'. These words are followed by a list of seven names each followed by a numeral. One name ku-do-ni, as mentioned below, may be the name of the Minoan town of Kydonia. The following word (likely another place-name) can be (highly tentatively) transliterated as da-si-dja ?= Lasithia? Another name, te-ki may, though less likely than the above, be the name of the settement of Tegea on Crete. The last word is ku-ro which, as again mentioned below, probably means 'total' or whole.

Glossary of terms from the above inscriptions

(note. the following transliterations and translations are not confirmed, only experimental)[citation needed]

  • A-TA-I-DJU-WA-JA
  • DA-SI-DJA: "Lasithia"?
  • O-SU-GA-RE: "sacred/holy offering?" (Greek osios geras?)
  • JA-SA-SA-RA-ME: "Y/Asasarame" (the name of a deity? Hittite hassussara (queen)?)
  • KA-U-DE-TA: "Kaudeta"? (a place/personal name?)
  • KU-DO-NI: "Kydonia"?
  • KU-RO: "total" (Semitic *kll?)
  • ME-RI-JA: "women of ME-RI"?(Mallia? Melos?)
  • TE: "taken/from/distributed to"? (Hittite ta/da, Greek te?)
  • TE-KI: "Tegea"?
  • U-NA-KA-NA-SI:

A short glossary of terms deciphered with more or less certainty

  • KU-RO : whole, total.
  • KI-RO : missing, debt.
  • PO-TO-KU-RO : grand total.
  • SE-TO-I-JA : place name, likely Archanes, as Owens has suggested. Occurs in Linear B as well.
  • PA-I-TO : place name, Phaistos. The same name is common on Linear B documents.
  • KU-DO-NI : if the reading is correct, a place name, Kydonia, the same as modern Chania
  • KU-NI-SU : appears to be a place name, perhaps Knossos, though it differs from Linear B KO-NO-SO.
  • TU-RU-SA : likely a place name, Tylissos.
  • RU+JA (the two signs joined together into one): pomegranate, same as Classic Greek rhoia.
  • MA+RU (joined together): wool, same as later Greek mallos. (Both loanwords in Greek from Cretan source?)
  • SA-SA-ME : sesame; the same commodity occurs in Linear B.
  • A-MA-JA and A-MA : divine name, Amaja, the Minoan goddess of healing (known from the London Medical Papyrus). Supposedly connected to the Greek Maia, mother of Apollon.
  • PA-DE : divine name of an unknown god, appearing on Linear B tablets as well.
  • RA2-TI : theoretized to represent Razija, the Minoan Great Goddess, whose connection to the Classical Greek Rhea, mother of gods, is obvious.

Sites yielding Linear A inscriptions

References

  • M. Tsikritsis, Linear A. A Contribution to the Understanding of an Aegean Script, Vikelaia Library of Herakleion, Crete, Greece. (in Greek)
  • Minoan Linear A Script. An Early Aeolic Greek Dialect? [4]
  • Ugarit-Forschungen Band 32, ISBN 3934628001
  • Some preliminary remarks on the decipherment of Linear A. By Jan G. P. Best, ISBN 9025606253
  • Roger D. Woodard, Greek Writing from Knossos to Homer. New York: Oxford University Press (1997). ISBN 0-19-510520-6 (review)

See also

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Linear_A&oldid=55113919"