Linear AResearch by Enrica PatriaSearch

A research project

Read it before
you translate it.

by Enrica Patria

This site presents Linear A documents layer by layer. What is on the object is kept apart from what a reading adds, and every proposal by Enrica Patria is marked as hers, with the sources it rests on.

Explore the catalogue Discover the method

The subject
Linear A, through the documents gathered on this site: each object, side and sign with its record and its source.
The method
Classify every sign — image, word or sound — before attempting a translation.
The rule
What is on the clay and what is proposed are always shown apart.

On this site

What is Linear A?

The background — the history of the script, its relation to Linear B, the state of its decipherment — is not given here until it can be cited.

Linear A is the script written on the objects recorded here. Their records state:

Types of object
tablet
Findspots
Haghia Triada, Crete
Periods
Late Minoan IB

From the object records of the 2 objects on this site.

The central principle

Read before translating.

Layers, not pages. Every reading starts from the clay; each layer adds interpretation, and none replaces the one before it.

  1. Original

    The object and its edition: facsimile and photograph.

  2. Signs

    Signs identified by number, in groups and entries.

  3. Transcription

    Conventional sound values, largely by correspondence with Linear B.

  4. Segmentation

    Units as divided by Enrica Patria.

  5. Interpretation

    Values and functions proposed by Enrica Patria.

  6. Translation

    Proposed meanings — only now, and as a proposal.

Object and reading

The object sits in the vitrine. The reading happens on the page.

Vitrine · the object · HT117a · entry I.1

Glyphs and sign numbers only. No values, no words, no meaning.

The object — on the clay The reading — added by scholars

Plaster · the reading

Conventional transcription
ma-ka-ri-te · ki-ro · u-mi-na-si
Enrica Patria · segmentationDisputed
MA | ka-ri-te · ki-ro · u-mi-na-si
Enrica Patria · reading
máter + khárites · khḗroi · úmnēsis
Proposed meaning
“Mother” + “thanksgivings” · “indebted (debtors)” · “hymn of praise / song of praise”

Only now does meaning enter — as a proposal.

See this entry on HT117a, and why it is read this way

Start with a tablet

HT117a

Read it layer by layer in the Experience, or every line and layer at once in the Scholar View.

Object
clay tablet · HT117, side A
Findspot
Haghia Triada, Crete
Period
Late Minoan IB
Transcription
Complete · 61 signs entered
Scribe
HT Scribe 9

Open HT117a Scholar View

The catalogue

Explore the catalogue

The data collected on this site: every object, with how much of each side is entered, and the signs of the Linear A sign list.

Browse the catalogue

Objects
2
Signs catalogued
378

How the research is organised

Where things are

  • Catalogue

    Objects, their sides and what each records, and the signs of Linear A, with links to every tablet and sign.

  • Signs & entities

    Every sign, sign-group, name, divinity and concept has its own page — reached from any tablet or from the inspector.

  • Sources

    Every statement carries its source; open data issues are shown, never filled in silently.

  • Method

    The site’s editorial rules, and Enrica Patria’s method in her own words.

  • The hypothesis

    Enrica Patria’s linguistic hypothesis, in her words and with her pages.

  • Papers

    Her papers, each with a permanent page: abstract, how to cite it and, where the rights allow it, the PDF.

The researcher

Enrica Patria

The readings marked with Proposed on this site are Enrica Patria’s proposals, set beside the conventional reading and never in its place.

Status
Research proposal, open to discussion. Not the scholarly consensus.

Publications cited on HT117a

  • Divinità minoiche— Enrica Patria
  • Linear A between sound and meaning: Uncertain signs, logograms, and hybrid words— Enrica Patria Pugliese
  • Reading Linear A before translating it— Enrica Patria

What her publications document about her, and what is not documented yet

Research transparency

A proposal never wears the clothes of a fact.

Every statement is marked by shape, typeface and colour together, so the distinction survives greyscale, colour-blindness, print and screen readers. Solid shapes are things you can check on the clay or in an edition. Diamonds are signed by Enrica Patria. Triangles warn.

  • Observed

    What is on the clay, or recorded by the edition: signs and sign numbers.

  • Conventional

    The conventional transcription: shared sound values, largely by correspondence with Linear B.

  • Enrica Patria proposes

    A proposal by Enrica Patria: segmentation, reading or function. Always signed.

  • Proposed translation

    A proposed meaning — only ever as a proposal.

  • Disputed / uncertain

    A warning: the reading is contested, or not settled.

  • Conventional / other reading

    The standard view, set beside a proposal and never mixed with it.

  • Sources

    Each claim names the publication, page and passage it rests on.

  • Data gaps

    What the site does not have yet is shown as an open issue — a gap, never a negative fact.