You now know the grid and the special signs (Special Signs). Together they read nearly everything on the tablets. But a small set of signs still has no agreed value. Recall from Numbering the Signs how they are written: by number, with an asterisk.
🔑 Key idea
About fifteen rare signs, such as *18, *47 and *63, have no agreed value. A few have proposed values, such as *56 (perhaps pa3), *79 (perhaps zu) and *82 (perhaps swa), and *65 is read ju only with doubt. The common signs are read with confidence.
Signs without agreed values in this site's font.
Sign
Number
Proposed value
𐁐
*18
—
𐁑
*19
—
𐁒
*22
—
𐁓
*34
—
𐁔
*47
—
𐁕
*49
—
𐁖
*56
perhaps pa3
𐁗
*63
—
𐁘
*64
perhaps swi
𐁙
*79
perhaps zu
𐁚
*82
perhaps swa
𐁛
*83
—
𐁜
*86
—
𐁝
*89
—
𐀎
*65
read ju, but doubtful
The signs with no agreed value. Proposed values are marked "perhaps".
Why some signs stay unread
A sign is read with confidence when it appears in many words that make sense with its value. Rare signs give little to test. If a sign occurs in only a handful of names, any value would fit, so no value can be proved. Scholars propose values from the contexts and spellings, and some proposals are widely liked, but this course marks them "perhaps".
💡 Why it works
Why are rare signs harder than common ones? Reading is a test of fit across many cases. The value ko is checked in hundreds of words, from ko-no-so to ko-wo. A sign that appears only in two personal names has nothing to check against; it is like a crossword clue with no crossing words.
⚠️ Common mistake
Taking the unread signs as proof that Linear B is not really deciphered. They are rare, together only a tiny share of the signs on the tablets. The common signs, which make up nearly all the writing, give good Greek, again and again. Check: count how often unread signs appear in any tablet you read here; usually not at all.
Many of the unread signs turn up mostly in personal names and other words with no later Greek form to compare. New finds can change that: a sign seen in a fresh context, beside a logogram or in a known word, is how proposals for its value get tested.
✏️ Worked example: Writing an unread sign
A word begins with sign *18, followed by to. How is it transliterated?
An unread sign is written by its number with an asterisk.
Join signs with hyphens.
Answer:*18-to
✏️ Worked example: Sure or not?
A book writes the sign *79 as zu. How sure is that value?
*79 is one of the signs without an agreed value.
zu is a proposal, so it is "perhaps zu".
Answer: Only proposed: perhaps zu.
Practice
Pass with 3 right answers, the last 2 in a row. Each right answer earns 2 XP.
The Unicode Standard: Linear B Syllabary, Linear B Ideograms, Aegean Numbers and Linear A blocks (sign names and numbers), as shown in Wikipedia, "Linear B"