Linear A and BLinear A

Signs Shared with Linear B

Many Linear A signs look like Linear B signs, so scholars read them with the Linear B values by convention; this is a working guess about sounds.

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Look at Linear A and Linear B side by side and something jumps out: many signs have nearly the same shapes. That is no accident; Linear B was adapted from Linear A (A Family of Aegean Scripts). It also gives us a way to sound out Linear A, with a warning label attached. (Recall the special signs of Special Signs; some of them are shared too.)

Key idea

Many Linear A signs look like Linear B signs, so scholars read them with the Linear B values by convention. This is a working guess about sounds: likely for many signs, but not proved, and it does not tell us the language.
Shared signs. The AB numbers mark signs that the two scripts share; the values come from Linear B.
Linear AAB numberLinear BRead
𐘀AB01𐀅da (by convention)
𐘂AB03𐀞pa (by convention)
𐙂AB81𐀓ku (by convention)
𐘁AB02𐀫ro (by convention)
𐘸AB67𐀑ki (by convention)
𐘞AB31𐀭sa (by convention)
𐘴AB60𐀨ra (by convention)
𐙁AB80𐀔ma (by convention)
One sign in both scripts. The value is proved for Linear B and borrowed for Linear A.
Linear A signs placed in the Linear B grid. Every value here is conventional.

Why borrow the values at all?

Because there is some evidence that many carried over. Place names give the best: the Linear A word read pa-i-to with the borrowed values is the same as Linear B pa-i-to, Phaistos, and Hagia Triada, where it appears, is next to Phaistos. Other words, such as su-ki-ri-ta and se-to-i-ja, appear in both scripts as names of Cretan places. If the values were wrong, such matches would be unlikely.

Phaistos in both scripts.

Why it works

Why is this still only a convention? The place names show that some values carried over, but not all. The Mycenaeans may have changed some values to suit Greek, as they added and dropped signs. And knowing sounds is not knowing a language: we can say ku-ro aloud, more or less, without knowing what language it is. The convention lets scholars talk about words and compare them; it does not read them.

Common mistake

Treating Linear A sound values as known. They are borrowed from Linear B on the assumption that the sounds carried over with the shapes, which is likely for many signs but not proved. Check: always say "read by convention as ku-ro", and never use a Linear A reading as proof of a meaning.

Worked example: Read by convention

A Linear A word is written 𐙂𐘁. How is it read, and how sure is that?
  1. Both signs match Linear B ku and ro.
  2. By convention, Linear A takes the Linear B values.

Answer: Read by convention as ku-ro; the sounds are a working guess.

Worked example: What supports the convention?

Which fact best supports reading Linear A with Linear B values?
  1. Read with the borrowed values, Linear A words like pa-i-to match Cretan place names also found in Linear B.

Answer: Place names like pa-i-to come out the same in both scripts.

Practice

Pass with 3 right answers, the last 2 in a row. Each right answer earns 3 XP.

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Sources and further reading

@teddyrookbook GitHub