summer haiku in Minoan Linear A, ancient Greek, English and French:Originally written in 2017, and reposted here...
Tag Archive: wine
haiku d’automne – quaffing wine = dégustons le vin quaffing wine in our wine cellar – pouring outsidedégustons le vin dans la cave à vin – averses dehors Richard Vallance
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another Linear B tablet from Knossos illustrating the syllabogram JU, KN 21 J i 14:
This tablet from Knossos deals with barley stalks in conjunction with the syllabogram JU, which clearly is also a crop, but which kind we do not know. Wine is also mentioned on this tablet. So we may very well be dealing with barley wine, which of course is what the Mycenaeans and ancient Greeks called beer. So now we have a hint as to what JU might mean, i.e. hops or a draught, but my bet is on the former.
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Academia.edu THESIS The Minoan and Mycenaean Agricultural Trade and Trade Routes in the Mycenaean Empire by Rita Roberts: Click on this logo to download her thesis:We are proud to announce that Rita Roberts has fulfilled the requirements of her second year of university, and has passed with a mark of 85 %. We have awarded her 90 % for thesis, The Minoan and Mycenaean Agricultural Trade and Trade Routes in the Mycenaean Empire, which is a finely researched document I highly recommend to any and all. It deals in great detail with every conceivable aspect of Minoan and Mycenaean agricultural trade via their trade routes in the Mycenaean Empire, ca. 1600-1450 BCE. We congratulate Rita on her splendid achievement, and we look forward to her fuflling the exacting requirements of her third and final year of university which commences on July 1 2018, Canada Day. Once she has completed her third year, she will have earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Minoan and Mycenaean studies.
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Minoan Linear A seal, ZOTE, possibly a belt or girdle (of gold?)
This Linear A Minoan seal is incised with the syllabograms ZO + TE, which form the word ZOTE, apparently equivalent to ancient Greek zwsth/r = belt or girdle. If this is the meaning we can take from the seal, it is likely the belt was gold, as per the fresco of the cup bearers in the South Portico, Knossos.
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Linear A tablet KH 5 (Khania) ca. 1450 BCE – adorned with ivy:
This tablet, which significantly dates from 1450 BCE, right at the time of the transition from the Linear A to the Linear B syllabary, appears to have 3 Mycenaean-derived words inscribed on it. Because it was probably one of the very last tablets inscribed in Linear A, it could just as well have been inscribed in Linear B. The first two syllables of ADAKISIKA, i.e. ADA, are Old Minoan (OM), falling within the substrate of the original Minoan language. Both ADA and ADU appear to deal with large(r) quantities in the Minoan language. And the first and second words, ADAKISIKA + WISASANE = adorned with plenty of ivy in equal measure, make for a perfectly acceptable phrase. WINASAO very much appears to be a variant of Linear A WINU, which means wine. It may be cast in an archaic Minoan ablative absolute, which would perhaps explain its orthography.
Since the rest of this tablet is in Old Minoan (OM), the language of the original Minoan language substrate, it is indecipherable.
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Rita Roberts’ translation of Knossos tablet KN 160a J j 11, dealing with wine, corrected:
Rita Roberts’ translation of Knossos tablet KN 160a J j 11, dealing with wine, corrected, is trickier than the previous one she has translated to fulfill the requirements for her second year of university, KN 906 Da 02, dealing with livestock. Because this tablet is damaged, truncated left and right, it can be more difficult to establish meaning for certain terms. But not necessarily so. Rita struggled gainfully with this tablet. And this is understandable. What determines everything in the decipherment of any tablet, Linear A or B, is CONTEXT. If we cannot determine what any given word(s) mean in the actual context of the tablet, we sometimes fail to grasp the meanings of these words. But in the end, everything falls into place, and a relatively convincing translation can be gleaned from it, as we see in the illustration above.
The only character which occasions real difficulty is the supersyllabogram PE, which usually stands for “seed(s)”. But if this the meaning to be extracted, it does not really make all that much sense, since grape seeds do not contribute much to wine, only the grapes do. The only explanation I can muster here is this: the grape seeds had to be extracted, i.e. removed, from the grapes to produce the wine. That makes sense. Finally, we find the ideogram for “olive oil” on this tablet, but how olive oil mixes with wine is a mystery to me, unless the olive oil is being served with bread along with the wine. But there is no mention of bread on this tablet. So some issues remain unresolved.
Richard
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Linear A tablet HT 88 (Haghia Triada) dealing with figs with Mycenaean superstrate vocabulary:
The partial decipherment of this Linear A tablet HT 88 (Haghia Triada) has until now eluded me. However, upon close examination of several words on the tablet, namely, ADU, KIKINA, KIRO, KATI, DATARE and KURO, I discovered that all of them are susceptible to interpretation as Mycenaean superstrate words. Their translations are given on the tablet as illustrated above. As for the words KUPA3NU, PAJARE and SAMARO, these all appear to be Old Minoan (OM), i.e. belonging to the Minoan substrate language, i.e. the original Minoan language. Unfortunately, since no one has yet successfully deciphered the Minoan language (= Old Minoan/OM) per se, I cannot decipher these words. But they obviously are crop-related words having something specific to do with sweet liquor, wine, figs and dates.
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Now on academia.edu, Translation of Linear A tablet HT 13 into proto-Greek:
You can now find my article on the Translation of Linear A tablet HT 13 into proto-Greek on my academia.edu account above (Click on the graphics to jump directly to it):
You are welcome to participate in the open session on this DRAFT article by clicking on View Comments beneath the title here:
I hope that those of you who are regular visitors to our site will participate in the open comments forum at least once.
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Linear A tablet HT 13 (Haghia Triada) successfully translated almost in in its entirety: wine stalks in (parallel) rows, crushing grapes:
This is the first ever almost complete decipherment of Linear A tablet HT (Haghia Triada). The only word I was unable to translate is kuzuni, of which there are 17. It may mean something like barrels, although the Minoans probably did not store wine in barrels, but rather in sealed pithoi. Except for the word kuzuni, this tablet is inscribed entirely in proto-Greek. And it is even possible that kuzuni is proto-Greek, because as in Mycenaean Greek, in which some words, especially all of the words for types of cloth, fell out of use after the fall of Mycenae ca. 1200 BCE, it is possible or even probable that kuzuni is a proto-Greek word which disappeared from proto-Greek before Mycenaean Greek caught on.
The decipherment above is so air-tight that it is almost certainly correct in every detail. We must realize that proto-Greek words such as kaudeta cannot have looked too much like their much later Mycenaean, archaic and classical Greek counterparts, but there is always a resemblance which is quite convincing when you place everything in context. By just taking one look at all of the proto-Greek words I have deciphered on this tablet, you realize that the sense “fits” in all instances. The decipherment of this tablet makes so much sense it almost certainly is correct.
When Alexandre Solc I come around to publishing our article, Evidence for proto-Greek in Linear A, in the next issue of Archaeology and Science (Belgrade) in January 2019, you can rest assured that this tablet will be a prime candidate for the Linear A Oscars!
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The supersyllabogram ME meza NM1 me/za (fem. sing.) probably means greater, bigger Cf. Linear B mezo me/zwn me/zoj
It appears on Tylissos tablet TY 3 oo, dealing with olive oil and on Zakros tablet ZA 15 wi, dealing with wine. It would seem to imply that the vessels in which these commodities are stored are larger than usual.
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The supersyllabogram WI in Linear A winu, winadu, winumatari
The supersyllabogram WI in Linear A means any of the following,winadu #i1nadu = vineyard Cf. Linear B winado -or- winu NM1 #i/nu = wine Cf. Linear B wono #oi/noj -or- winumatari NM1 #i/numa/tari = wine dedicated to Mother Earth (agglutinative). The most likely interpretation is winu = wine, but the other two are not out of the question. This supersyllabogram appears on only one tablet, Khania KH 5 wi.
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the supersyllabogram SU in Linear A, a small cup with handles & the largest pithos size:
The supersyllabogram SU in Linear A has two meanings, context dependent. The first is:
1. SU = supa3 (supai)/supa3ra (supaira) OM = a small cup with handles Cf. Linear B dipa mewiyo. The word depa/depu PGS de/paj de/pu (acc.?) = cup occurs in Linear A. Cf. Linear B dipa di/paj & Homeric de/pa
and the second is:
2. SU = supi/supu/supu2 OM = largest size pithos;
but not MOSE * NM1 supu/h sipu/h sipu/a i0pu/a = meal tub. MOSE * = decryption by Prof. Yuriy Mosenkis. This interpretation flies in the face of context on any Linear A tablet or fragment. It is all fine and well to conjecture a proto-Greek or Mycenaean-derived Greek word, but if you check your decipherment against extant tablets, then you may find it invalidated. This must always be done. Otherwise, you will end up with a meaning which is simply out of the question.
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the supersyllabogram KA = with with a jar or vessel for water or wine:
kadi MOSE NM1 kadi/ (instr. sing.) <- ka/doj = with a jar or vessel for water or wine
This supersyllabogram appears on Haghia Triada tablets HT HT 28 wi HT 88 ma & HT 100 ma, in conjunction with the ideogram for wine on the first one and for man on the second and third. It would appear that the second and third tablets refer to a man or person using a jar or vessel for water or wine.
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POST 1,702: The supersyllabogram DI in Linear A, dipa3a (dipaia) + dipaja = from a cup
The supersyllabogram DI in Linear A, dipa3a (dipaia) almost certainly refers to “a cup”. It is debatable whether or not this form is Linear A nominative singular; however, the form dipaja = from a cup, is likely to be genitive singular.
DI = dipa3a (dipaia) PGS di/paia <- di/paj de/paj = from a cup or DI = dipaja PGS di/paia <- di/paj de/paj = from a cup (alternate?)
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The supersyllabogram AKA in Linear A = either wine skin or an embossed cup:
BOLD: n. e.g. 1. A = a supersyllabogram for which the definition is either certain or highly probable.
Italics: n. e.g. 7. KI = a supersyllabogram for which the definition is possible.
Standard font: n. e.g. 2 = a supersyllabogram for which the definition is unlikely or questionable.
It is almost certain that the supersyllabogram A in Linear A means either a wine skin or an embossed cup.
1. A aka = aska = a0ska = wine skin -or- apero PGS a1mpeloj = a vine Cf. Linear B apero -or- aresana NM1 a1leisana <- a1leison = an embossed cup (arch. acc.) = de/paj (Homeric) Cf. Linear B dipa/arisu NM1 a1leisu <- a1leison = embossed cup
Note that it appears on HT 2 (Haghia Triada) dealing with olive oil, which is sometimes served from a vessel and on the other 3 tablets, same provenance, all of which deal with vessels, hence the reading, embossed cup:
HT 2 oo HT 39 ve KH 83 ve MA 10 ve
oo = olive oil
ve = vessels
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Wikipedia: History of beer + the Minoan words for beer = zute and kiretaiwinu finally deciphered:From Wikipedia: History of beer
As almost any cereal containing certain sugars can undergo spontaneous fermentation due to wild yeasts in the air, it is possible that beer-like beverages were independently developed throughout the world soon after a tribe or culture had domesticated cereal. Chemical tests of ancient pottery jars reveal that beer was produced as far back as about 7,000 years ago in what is today Iran. This discovery reveals one of the earliest known uses of fermentation and is the earliest evidence of brewing to date. In Mesopotamia, the oldest evidence of beer is believed to be a 6,000-year-old Sumerian tablet depicting people drinking a beverage through reed straws from a communal bowl.
A 3900-year-old Sumerian poem honouring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread. In Mesopotamia (ancient Iraq), early evidence of beer is a 3900-year-old Sumerian poem honoring Ninkasi, the patron goddess of brewing, which contains the oldest surviving beer recipe, describing the production of beer from barley via bread. Approximately 5000 years ago, workers in the city of Uruk were paid by their employers in beer. Ninkasi, you are the one who pours out the filtered beer of the collector vat It is [like] the onrush of Tigris and Euphrates. Beer was part of the daily diet of Egyptian pharaohs over 5,000 years ago. Then, it was made from baked barley bread, and was also used in religious practices. During the building of the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, each worker got a daily ration of four to five liters of beer, which served as both nutrition and refreshment that was crucial to the pyramids' construction.
The Greek writer Sophocles (450 BCE) discussed the concept of moderation when it came to consuming beer in Greek culture, and believed that the best diet for Greeks consisted of bread, meats, various types of vegetables, and beer or zythos as they called it. The ancient Greeks also made barley wine (Greek: – krithinos oinos, “barley wine” mentioned by Greek historian Polybius in his work The Histories, where he states that Phaeacians kept barley wine in silver and golden kraters. NOTES: The Old Minoan (OM) equivalent of zythos is zute, while the New Minoan (NM) equivalent of krithinos oinos is kiretaiwinu.
TE = tereza OM = “standard liquid unit of measurement” confirms beyond a shadow of a doubt that tereza, was used to measure fig juice, Old Minoan (OM) supersyllabogram = NI, corresponding to the OM word nira2 (nirai) -or- nita2 (nitai) OM = figs + ideogram = NI (in both Linear A & B), as well as for wine = New Minoan winu NM1 #i/nu = wine Cf. Linear B wono #oi/noj, as well as for beer, for which the Minoan words are deciphered for the first time below. Minoan beer was fermented either from barley (kiretai) or from emmer wheat (kunisu).
TE = tereza on Minoan Linear A tablets
HT 6 fi HT 13 wi HT 17 wi HT 19 wi HT 21 gr HT 40 gr HT 44 gr HT 51 fi HT 62 wi HT 67 fi HT 70 fi HT 96 fi HT 133 gr TH 6 te TH Zb 11 wi
fi 5 (fig juice)
wi 5 (wine)
gr 5 (beer, from barley)
The ancient Greek word for beer was ζῦθος (zythos), which appears as zute in Old Minoan (OM) and also κρίθινος οἶνος – krithinos oinos = barley wine. This means that the Minoan word combination for beer was very likely kireta2 (kiretai) NM1 kri/qai = barley + winu NM1 #i/nu = wine Cf. Linear B wono #oi/noj, hence kiretaiwinu = kri/qai#i/nu
Minoan beer was also produced from emmer wheat, kunisu OM = emmer wheat (derivation: Semitic kunnisu)
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Tablet, Malia Palace MA/P Hi 02 in so-called Cretan hieroglyphs, dealing with crops and vessels (pottery):
Tablet, Malia Palace MA/P Hi 02 in so-called Cretan hieroglyphs, which are not hieroglyphs at all, but rather ideograms and logograms, is highly intriguing. Actually, this tablet is partially decipherable. The front side definitely deals with the produce of olive trees, i.e. olive oil and also with wheat crops. If anyone is in any doubt over the meaning of the logogram 5. TE, which looks exactly like the Linear A and Linear B syllabogram TE, this doubt can easily be swept away by mere comparison with the logogram/ideogram for “wheat” in several ancient scripts, some of which are hieroglyphic, such as Egyptian, others which are cuneiform and yet others which bear no relation to either hieroglyphs or cuneiform, or for that matter, with one another, as for instance, the Harrapan and Easter Island exograms.
In fact, the recurrence of an almost identical ideogram/logogram across so many ancient scripts is astonishing. It is for this reason that I am in no doubt over the interpretation of 5. TE as signifying what in the Cretan script.
Next up, we have 3a. & 3b., which I interpret, and probably correctly, as signifying “ewe” and “ram” respectively. In fact, the resemblance of 3b. to a ram’s head is uncanny. What is passingly strange is this: the ram’s head figures so prominently on the second side of the tablet, being much larger than any other ideogram/logogram on the tablet. Why is this so? There simply has to be a reason. But for the time being, I am stumped. Since 3a. & 3b. Relate to sheep, it stands to reason that 6. is another type of livestock. My money is on “pig”. 7. and 9. are both vessels, 7. probably being either a wine or water flask and 9. being a spice container, as it is strikingly similar to the Linear B ideogram for the same. 8. looks like some kind of grain crop, and so I take it to be so.
As for the rest of the ideograms/logograms, they are still indecipherable.
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Linear A tablet HT 38 (Haghia Triada) with 2 supersyllabograms, dealing with wine:
This intriguing tablet apparently deals with containers for wine, ranging from a type of vase (daropa) to a wine-skin (aka) to cloth, which appears to have been treated to be water-proof. Since the ideogram for “pig” appears immediately to the left of aka, we can surmise that the wine-skin is made of pig’s hide. The notion that cloth containers could have been water-proofed is somewhat in doubt, but the overall decipherment of HT 38 appears sound enough.
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Linear A haiku: a prayer for the hearth shared with an immortal ... wine vowed to Mother Earth:
