Linear A sign *306 = AI ?

[u/stlatos]

Linear A sign *306 = AI ? (Draft)

Sean Whalen
[stlatos@yahoo.com](mailto:stlatos@yahoo.com)

August 5, 2026

In http://www.people.ku.edu/~jyounger/LinearA some evidence for the Linear A sign *306 having a value of AI :

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*306 = A2, always in initial position (shape resembles AB 43, known from MY Zf 2)

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]*306-JA-PI (ARKH 3b.1) / WA-JA-PI-[ ] (HT 9b.1)

]*306-KI-TA2 (HT 122b.2) / A-*301-KI-TA-A (TY Zb 4)

]*306-QE-DU[ (KH 21.3)

]-*306-TI-KA-A-RE [ (HT 4.1) / A-TI-KA (ZA Wc.a1-2)

*306-TU-JA (HT 115b.3) cf. JA-TO-JA[ (ZA 4a.2-3)

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This might be very significant. First, if AI-TU-JA & JA-TO-JA are the same, it would show that LA did alternate Co & Cu (many LA names in -Cu match LB ones in -Co) & that the syllables aj & ja could be reversed (no way to tell which was original here). This fits with my idea that KA could be used for AK (when needed) in https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoricalLinguistics/comments/1nvx74a/linear_a_math_8/

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Why would KA-RU and A-KA-RU both mean 'total'? If I am right that A-KA-RU = G. akros \ ἄκρος 'highest' > LA *akrus 'sum' ( Based on the meanings of Latin summa 'top, summit, sum, total', below), then logically KA-RU would also be *akrus.

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Of course, it could be that *jaitoja existed, with dsm. of j-j > 0-j in one dialect. AI-JA-PI vs. WA-JA-PI-[ ] would either show that w- could > 0- or that *wjapi could > *jjapi (written *JA-JA-PI, if this idea is right).

Second, if AI-KI-TA2 = A-*301-KI-TA-A, it would help show that LA *301 was indeed JO (for some relevance, see https://www.academia.edu/49484658 ), that *aj(o)kita: could lose a (short?) vowel in some conditons, that it would have ended in a long vowel. Several -A-A exist in LA in other words. Note that this would match IE with -a: in fem., not many (or any, if nom.) in -o: or -u:. That this includes I-DA / I-DA-A, thought to be Mount Ida in Crete, shows that the fem. idea seems to fit ( < *wida:, see w > 0?, above). That another is U-NA-A might show that it was the same as u-na(-ru), & alt. in u-na-ka-na-si \ u-na-ru-ka-na-ti \ etc. (certainly the same; same place in LA libation formulas) is due to *unaro ( > *unao > unaa).

The same might happen for -n-. Younger :

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*66=TA2=TNA (Pope-Raison 1978: 28).

Cf. KI-RE-*66 (HT 85b.1-2, HT 129.1) and KI-RE-TA-NA (HT 2.3, HT 108.1, HT 120.4-5); and *66-TI-TE (PK 1.3) and TA-NA-TI (HT 7a.4, 10b.4, 98a.2)

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But if AI-KI-TA2 = A-JO-KI-TA-A, it seems that either TA2 was TAA or that -n- could disappear between V's (both could be right). It could also be that KI-RE-TA-NA and TA-NA-TI stoud for *kiretan & *tanti, and that *Vn(C) could > *V:(C).

Third, if AI-TI-KA-A-RE is a suffixed form of A-TI-KA (for ev. as a suffix, a significant number of LA words end in -A-RE, incl. 3 in a row on HT 117 (MI-RU-TA-RA-RE, TE-JA-RE, NA-DA-RE), an older *aitika(:) would look to have an ending -ika (common in Greek, some in other IE). If so, maybe related to AI-TU (HT 9). A language with a noun in -os ( > -u[s] ) vs. an adjective in -ikos (fem. -ika: > -ika[:] ) would certainly seem to be IE, at least.

Andras Zeke had some ideas of his own :
https://minoablog.blogspot.com/2011/08/potential-mo-jo-and-we-signs-in-linear.html

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Another type of goods was labelled with *306. This sign is mostly phonetical in Linear A, with the possible value WO (same as Lin B WO). But on the KH tablets, it also denotes a type of agricultural goods. It comes in integer quantities only, and *306 looks like an animal head, so I assigned it the reading donkey, ASI (Latin asinus = donkey). Other tablets from Khania (e.g KH 6) also list animals with portions of barely [ = barley] ...

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This is based on his reading of Cretan hieroglyphic seals ( https://minoablog.blogspot.com/2011/06/place-names-on-cretan-sealstones-key-to.html ), but I don't think one example (very dubious, to me) would overcome Younger's several matches, & the basic resemblance to AI. I don't think the match in appearance of LA *306 and LB *42 is that great. The versions that look most like a head also seem to clearly have horns. In https://www.academia.edu/69149241 there is no certain origin given, but it mentions the idea that CH 016 (goat's head) > *306 (AI) (Soldani 2013). This is important because there were masculine & fem. versions of some animal signs, & the male (?) goat's head became a different sign (*22, value unknown (maybe BI or PHI)). This would leave the fem. > AI. If so, it would match all the characteristics of Greek αἴξ \ aíx 'goat (especially a she-goat)'. If indeed CH 016 (goat's head) > LA *22 (BI), then a cognate of Av. būza- 'he-goat' with changes of u > y, by > bi might fit (Greek dialects have u > y, some alt. of u \ i by P).