Standard keyboard template layout for the Mycenaean Linear B font by Curtis Clark

Standard keyboard template layout for the Mycenaean Linear B font by Curtis Clark:



NOTE: the keyboard template layout for Mycenaean Linear B as posted here is only 620 pixels wide, to conform to the narrow exigencies for images post on Word Press. The full format standard keyboard layout, which is 1200 pixels wide,  is the only one which is truly legible. You will need to request it from me here:

vallance22@zoho.com

You can download the Mycenaean Linear B font by Curtis Clark here:



The standard keyboard template layout for the Mycenaean Linear B font by Curtis Clark is beautifully laid out and very logical. The keyboard layout makes all of the following quite clear. But I repeat all of the key sequences here for your benefit.

For the vowels
A E I O U, type
q w e r t, 

and for the homophones:
tiya pte ai riyo siya, type:
Q W E R T

For the homophones:
ha nwa pu2 rai riya, type:
! @ # $ %

For the homophones:
dwe kwe, type:
+ =

For the homophones:
dwo two, type:
| \

I have made it even easier for you to use it by assigning mnemonics to several syllabogram series, as follows:

You will notice that to the immediate RIGHT of the DA DE DI DO DU series of syllabograms I have typed DA, then
to the immediate right of the TA TE TI TO TU series of syllabograms I have typed TA.
That makes it very easy to remember which series of keys you need to type for the DA series of syllabograms, and which for the TA, i.e.

A S D F G for DA
a  s  d  f  g for TA

DA + TA = DATA!

The same applies for the NA and SA series, for which the mnemonics are NASA. Thus, you type:

Z X C V B for NA +
z  x  c v  b  for SA +

Likewise, for 
MA ME MI MO MU
H J K L :
and for
PA PE PI PO PU 
h j k l ;

A few pointers:
[1] To type the syllabograms QA QE QI and QO, you type Y U I O
[2] To type the syllabograms ZE ZE ZO and the homophone DWO, you type P { } |
[3] To type the syllabograms WE WE WI WO, you type y u i o
[4] To type the syllabograms YA YE YO and the homophone TWO, you type p [ ] \

Even though it takes a little getting used to, it is all very logical.

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Can quantum computers assist us in the potentially swift decipherment of ancient languages, including Minoan Linear A?

Can quantum computers assist us in the potentially swift decipherment of ancient languages, including Minoan Linear A?





No-one knows as yet, but the potential practical application of the decryption or decipherment of ancient languages, including Minoan Linear A, may at last be in reach. Quantum computers can assist us with such decipherments much much swifter than standard digital supercomputers.





Here are just a few examples of the potential application of quantum computers to the decipherment of apparently related words in Minoan Linear A:

dide
didi
dija
dije
dusi
dusima
ida
idamete
japa
japadi
japaku
jari
jaria
jarinu
kireta2 (kiretai) *
kiretana *
kuro *
kuru
kuruku
maru (cf. Mycenaean mari/mare = “wool” ...  may actually be proto-Greek
maruku = made of wool? 
namikua
namikudua
paja
pajai (probably a diminutive, as I have already tentatively deciphered a few Minoan Linear A words terminating in “ai”, all of which are diminutives.  
qapaja
qapajanai
raki
rakii
rakisi
sati
sato
sii
siisi
taki
taku
takui
etc.

All of these examples, with the exception of  * kireta2 (kiretai), kiretana & kuro *, each of which I have (tentatively) deciphered, are drawn from Prof. John G. Younger’s Linear A Reverse Lexicon:



It is to be noted that I myself have been unable to decipher manually on my own any of the related terms above, with the exception of the 3 words I have just mentioned.  The decipherment of kuro = “total” is 100 % accurate. I would like to add in passing that I have managed to (at least tentatively) decipher 107 Minoan Linear A words, about 21 % of the entire known lexicon. But everyone anywhere in the world will have to wait until 2018 to see the results of my thorough-going and strictly scientific research until the publication of my article on the partial decipherment of Minoan Linear A in Vol. 12 (2016) of Archaeology and Science (Belgrade), actually to be released in early 2018. But if you would like to get at least a very limited idea of what my eventual decipherment is all about, you can in the meantime consult this preview on my academia.edu account here:

The 3 derived (D) tenses of active optative of athematic verbs in Mycenaean Linear B, as represented by the template verb, didomi

The 3 derived (D) tenses of active optative of athematic verbs in Mycenaean Linear B, as represented by the template verb, didomi:

Here is the chart of the 3 derived (D) tenses of active optative athematic verbs in Mycenaean Linear B, as represented by the template verb, didomi:



Note that in the second example sentence in Mycenaean Greek, since the verb didomi is in the future active optative, the Mycenaean Linear B infinitive nikase = to defeat, must also be in the future. This is just another one of those remarkable eminently logical subtleties of ancient Greek, including Mycenaean. 
 
As you can see for yourself, I have been unable to reconstruct a paradigm table for the perfect active optative of athematic verbs in Mycenaean Linear B, as represented by the template verb, didomi. Since I have been unable to find any instances of that tense in any ancient Greek dialect, I am driven to conclude that it could not have existed in Mycenaean Linear B either. This is in contrast with the paradigm table for the active optative tenses of thematic verbs in Mycenaean Linear B, of which there are 4, as attested to here:



Since in this previous post I outlined almost all of the uses of the active optative in ancient Greek, including Mycenaean Linear B, there is no point rehashing these uses here. Simply refer back to the post to glean as full a grasp the multiple uses of the active optative as you can, on the understanding of course that you are already familiar with least Attic grammar.  If you are not versed in ancient Greek grammar, even if you are in modern Greek (in which there is no optative mood), there is really not much point to mastering all of the uses of the active optative in ancient Greek, except in so far as a basic understanding at least may offer you at least some insight into the more subtle and arcane operations of ancient Greek, of which there are plenty, as you might have already imagined by this point.

The virtual invariability of the most archaic athematic MI verbs in ancient Greek from 1200 BCE (Linear B) – New Testament Koine Greek (ca. 100 AD)

The virtual invariability of the most archaic athematic MI verbs in ancient Greek from 1200 BCE (Linear B) – New Testament Koine Greek (ca. 100 AD):

The following table clearly illustrates that the most archaic of ancient Greek verbs, namely, athematic verbs in MI, underwent only barely perceptible changes over a span of 1,700 years.



This is because these verb forms were already fully developed even as early as in the Mycenaean Greek dialect, written in Linear B (ca. 1600-1200 BCE). This phenomenon falls under the purview of diachronic historical linguistics, whereby the term diachronic means “linguistic change or lack of it over an extended period of time”. The importance of the minimal changeability of archaic athematic MI verbs cannot be over stressed. Regardless of the period and of any particular dialect of ancient East Greek (early: Mycenaean and Arcado-Cypriot, middle: Homeric Epic, an amalgam of various dialects, Classical: Ionic & Attic) & late (Hellenistic & Koine Greek), very little change occurred.  In fact, only the second & third person singular underwent any change at all. In Mycenaean Greek alone, the second person singular was didosi & the third person singular was didoti. In all subsequent dialects, the form of the 2nd. person singular became that for the third, while the second person singular itself morphed into didos in all ancient East Greek dialects pursuant to Mycenaean. This was the one and only change the conjugation of the present tense of archaic athematic verbs such as didomi underwent diachronically from 1,600 BCE to 100 AD. The verb didomi effectively serves as the template for the conjugation of the present active of all athematic verbs in MI throughout this historical period.  This is just one notable aspect of progressive (D) derived Linear B grammar. There are many others, which of course we shall address in the gradual reconstruction of ancient Mycenaean Greek grammar over the next few months. 

Examples of the preliminary steps by our second full-time student, Thalassa Farkas (Canada) to set out on the exciting journey of learning Mycenaean Linear B

Examples of the preliminary steps by our second full-time student, Thalassa Farkas (Canada) to set out on the exciting journey of learning Mycenaean Linear B:

Here we see the first truly remarkable steps Thalassa Farkas of Canada has taken in just the first few days of her apprenticeship in learning Mycenaean Linear B:





I am particularly impressed by her keyboard template of the Mycenaean Linear B keyboard layout, which she has designed to fit right on top of the standard keyboard:





While I designed the Mycenaean Linear B keyboard layout back in 2013, it never dawned on me to cut a Linear B keyboard template to fit my own keyboard. What a clever little elf Thalassa is!

She is off to a great start. Let us all wish her the best in her exciting quest to master Linear B.  Although she doesn’t yet realized it, she will have to decipher hundreds of Linear B tablets to meet her eventual goal. And that will take at least two years. But we all know she will attain it.

PS to all our visitors, what does Thalassa, which is written as tarasa in Mycenaean Linear B, mean? Easy, if you know any Greek at all. 

Pylos tablet TA Un 718 L as an ideal template for deciphering Minoan Linear A

Pylos tablet TA Un 718 L as an ideal template for deciphering Minoan Linear A:



 

Of all the Linear B tablets I have ever had the pleasure of translating, Pylos tablet TA Un 718 L has to rank as of one the most ideal as a template guide for deciphering Minoan Linear A. One glance at this tablet in translation finds us  face to face with one of the most complete texts on any Linear B tablet of any provenance. Moreover, this amazingly detailed tablet deals with practically every possible kind of livestock and almost all the commodities we could ever hope to find on any single Linear B tablet. The tablet runs the gamut from offerings of sheep and bulls, to cheese, fleece, honeydew, honey wine, land, precious ointment, wheat and wine! Who could ask for anything more? This single tablet is so crammed with information that it can easily serve as a template guide for at least the partial decipherment of some of the content of Minoan Linear A tablets dealing with any, most or all of the aforementioned gifts to the gods and plenipotentiaries. And, as we shall see, this tablet will serve its purpose over and over in this regard.  Rest assured that, as the need arises, we shall “call it up” on demand.