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June 27, 2007
A (new to me) Online Linear A Resource
Linear A has been a language script subject that has occupied some small corner of my mind for as long as I can remember. I just discovered, via ABZU, John G. Younger's website. He has a lot of material on Linear A including normalized transliterations following Linear B, all or at least most of the texts, a good bibliography including some recent work (2003) and sign "grids" for Linear A and B and Cretan Hieroglyphics (two to choose from). He also has a good discussion of two major approaches to decipherment: the "acrophonic" principle and "using vocabulary to identify a language." He sees both as inadequate. He does provide an impressive list of vocabulary items some of which are fairly certain and others that are little more than guesses.
Because I had his book handy (you can see how out of date I am on Linear A), I made an effort to compare Gordon's, 29-30, suggested understanding of various words with Younger's vocabulary. In each case, Gordon saw a Semitic equivalent. Of the fifteen words proposed by Gordon, Younger lists only three, one of which he takes to be part of a longer word.
- KU-NI-SU: Gordon saw kwnt', "wheat"; Younger thinks it a place name, "Knossos??"
- KU-RO: Gordon saw kl, "all, total"; Younger agrees and suggests it might be Semitic or related to Greek 'kolon'
- A-KA-NU: Gordon saw 'gn "cup, bowl"; Younger sees this constellation as part of a verb "A-KA-NU-ZA-TI," "3rd pers. plu.?". No meaning is given.
Gordon saw the following words that Younger does not mention as words.
- U: u, "and"
- RE: l, "to, for"
- ZA: z, "this"
- YA-TA-N(o): ytn, "he gave"
- TA-NU-A-TI: ţn't, "I set up"
- KI-RE-YA-TU: qryt, "city"
- PI-TE: pth, "engraved monument"
- YA-NE: yn, "wine"; Younger does not list it but does reference an ideogram for wine.
- SU-PU: mp, "jar"
- QA-PA2: kp, "pan, vessel"
- KA-RA-PA2: krpn, "vase"
- SU-PA2-RA: ţpl, "pot"
This doesn't mean that Younger is unaware of Gordon's work. He cites him several times. It does mean two things. First, even those who see Minoan Linear A as a Semitic language have done a lot of work since Gordon published his "decipherment." Second, while not rejecting the idea out of hand, Younger does not see Minoan Linear A as a Semitic language. His best guess is that it is "one of the Indo-Hittite dialects, most probably Luvian."
So what language do I think uses the Linear A script? Minoan, of course! 
Professor Younger inaugurated his Linear A pages on November 26, 2000 (so I should have found them long before now) and has updated them a recently as last month. If you are at all interested in this subject, give Younger's site a look.
Reference:
Posted by Duane Smith at June 27, 2007 7:28 PM | Read more on Archaeology |
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