The Linear A inscription PRZa 1 – Grammatical and semantic analysis of a libation inscription

The Linear A Inscription PRZa 1 — Grammatical and Semantic Analysis of a Cretan Libation Inscription (v2.5) PRZa1 is a short Linear A inscription engraved on a limestone libation vessel from the peak sanctuary of Petsophas near Palaikastro in eastern Crete (LM IB, ca. 1550–1450 BCE). The inscription is distributed across three sides of the vessel and consists of the sequences TA-NA-SU-TE-KE | SE-TO-I-JA | A-SA-SA-RA-ŽA. This paper presents a fundamental revision of the inscription’s interpretation. Earlier analyses treated the text as a continuous grammatical statement with explicit verbal morphology and syntactic structure. The revised analysis proposed here instead argues that PRZa1 preserves a sequence of condensed ritual-semantic units associated with sacred lamentation and libation practice. TA-NA is interpreted as a sacral element meaning “holy, sacred, consecrated”, closely comparable to Luwian tāna-. SU-TE-KE is analysed as a ritual noun meaning “lamentation” or “sacred weeping”, with its closest comparison in Old Lithuanian steigti² (“to lament, wail, weep”). SE-TO-I-JA is identified with Sitia and treated as a non-Indo-European toponym preserved in both the Linear A and Linear B traditions. A-SA-SA-RA-ŽA is interpreted as “tears” in the accusative plural and connected with the Indo-European word family represented by PIE *dakru-, Greek δάκρυ, Sanskrit aśru, Old Lithuanian ašarà, and Latvian asara. Particular attention is given to the orthography of A-SA-SA-RA, whose spelling suggests that the Linear A script lacked dedicated signs for satem-type sibilants already present in the spoken language. This observation supports the hypothesis that the language reflected in the inscription preserves an Indo-European superstrate interacting with a non-Indo-European substrate. The paper further compares PRZa1 with the libation inscription IOZa2 and argues for the existence of a recurring sacred vocabulary connected with lamentation, tears, libation, and ritual mourning within parts of the Linear A corpus. PRZa1 is therefore significant not primarily for syntax, but for ritual terminology, phonological adaptation, and the reconstruction of sacred vocabulary in the Cretan language of Bronze Age Crete. Author: Michael Schümann (2026)DOI Concept: 10.5281/zenodo.17273614Version: v2.5 (English edition)License: CC BY 4.0