Note d’analisi testuale delle tavolette in lineare A di Haghia Triada

The textual analysis of Linear A tablets presented in this paper is the result of preliminary philological research done in the unpublished dissertation “Administration and accounting systems at Ayia Triada in LM IB” (in Italian). This paper is an examination of syllabic groups and isolated signs which appear most frequently in Linear A tablets from Ayia Triada. It seems wise to not rely on the many suggested decipherments and linguistic interpretations which attribute meanings on the basis of assonance or on unfounded etymology. Rather the interpretation of the written records should be based on the analysis of textual organisation and on reciprocal relationships among signs. Analysis done so far reveals, for example, that the lists of words which are followed by numbers 1, summed up at the end of the list, are not necessarily made up of personal names (see the case of AB 81-56-55/KU-*56-NU). It also states that the only characteristic that distinguishes the syllabic group AB 31-76/SA-RA2 from many other phonetic groups, which are probably senders or recipients (personal and local names), is the high frequency (the word is attested in 18 tablets) and thus we exclude the hypothesis that this could be a “transactional term”. Given the available traces, we propose to integrate six units at the beginning of HT 100.2, so the sum of the numbers from lines 1-3 should be 99, while the total indicated at line 3 is 97, which can be explained if the 2 associated units, on line 2, at AB 67/KI were a deficit, since the sign would be abbreviation of AB 67-02/KI-RO, and for this reason would not be included in the sum. We propose also a revision of the inscription KE Zb 3, "*67/KI". The layout is accurate and the sign is traced in a much more naturalistic way than the syllabic sign AB 67. Its shape is rather so similar to the cup, on which it is engraved, to suggest that it indicates the cup, but since an ideographic use of AB 67 would not be otherwise attested, I suggest that, in this particular case, the sign has a purely decorative function. If so it would be not a real inscription.