Second of 6 Linear A fragments from Phaistos in New Minoan = matere = to Mother (Earth)?

Second of 6 Linear A fragments from Phaistos in New Minoan = matere = to Mother (Earth)?



This second of 6 Linear A fragments from Phaistos appears to bear the inscription 2. = matere, which would be Mycenaean Greek dative for  “to mother”, with right-truncated text possibly following being waiaia or gaiaia = genitive singular = “of Earth”, i.e. “to Mother Earth”. The inscription tagged 1. consists of what appears to be an unidentifiable right-truncated syllabogram on the left, followed by the 2 ideograms identified.  It would thus appear that this fragment is at least partially inscribed in New Minoan, with the word “to mother” being derived from Mycenaean. There is a greater likelihood than might have otherwise been the case that this fragment is in New Minoan, since its provenance is Phaistos, where a large number of Linear B tablets, many of them quite detailed and lengthy, have been unearthed. So in view of this, it would appear that this fragment (of a larger tablet) was probably inscribed in the Linear A syllabary immediately prior to its abandonment and replacement by the new official syllabary, Linear B. Hence its date of composition would probably have been ca. 1450 BCE, and no earlier. 

Advertisement

2 more Pylos cc series Linear B neither you (almost certainly) nor I have ever seen before

2 more Pylos cc series Linear B neither you (almost certainly) nor I have ever seen before:

First, Pylos cc 1283, which is a fragment:



and then, Pylos cc 1285: