The Decipherment of Minoan Linear A, Volume I, Part IV

THE DECIPHERMENT OF MINOAN LINEAR A -  VOLUME I - PART IV

    It is significant that at least three toponyms can be recognized in the Messara-valley that have a Hurrian origin. The oldest is Linear A pa-i-to (HT 97a.3; HT 120.6). It is a genuine Hurrian toponym meaning 'He/She (a God/the King) has built (the palace)' and it is equivalent to Old Hurrian ba-'--to/um in the Ti-atal inscription, analysed and normalised as pa=at=o=m, and translated as 'He (Ti-atal) has built (a temple)', cf. Th. Richter (BGH, 285-286), s.v. pa-, pa- II [passim] 'to build', pa('/h)-, cf. G. Wilhelm, 1988b, 55. The following phases of phonetic development are likely: ba-'--to/um = pa('/h)=at=o=m > pa=j=at=o=m > pa=j=(a)t=o=m > pa=j=t=o=m (wr. pa-i-to in Linear A). Transitional glide -j- (-i- in Linear A pa-i-to) distinguished -a- of the root pa- from the -a- of root-extension -at- and eventually the -a- of -at- disappeared as a result of syncope. For Linear B pa-i-to (KN Da 1163+1400, al.) the Old Hurrian ending in =o=m had to be changed into a Hellenized form in -o (-os): (Phaistos).

    The ancient name of the palace of Hagia Triada, ka-pa (frequent in Linear A, but only at Hagia Triada), was the first Hurrian toponym detected in Linear A and interpreted as alba, Hurrian name of Aleppo (alab in Semitic) with the Linear A ethnic ka-pa-qe (HT 6a.4-5) = syllabic cuneiform albae = alphabetic cuneiform lb 'Man of alba', 'Man of Aleppo' (Hurrian ethnic suffix -e). Toponym ka-pa and ethnic ka-pa-jo (with Greek ethnic suffix -yo) were already known from the Linear B tablets from Knossos.

    Linear A ku-mi (HT 110a.1) may well be the Minoan-Hurrian toponym Ku...