# \*314-TA-MA (ḥatam(a))

> seal, signet; rivals 'he sealed' (3ms perfective), buṭma 'pistachio'

A Linear A word in the Linear A Lexicon. The reading is a proposal and carries its tier.

- Reading: ḥatam(a)
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*ḫatm-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/378/index.md>) 'ring' 1, 'seal (on a ring)' 2
- Kind: Administrative
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: \*314 · TA (ta) · MA (ma)

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: *ḥôtām* — ḥôtām 'seal, signet', Judah's ḥōtāmkā, Gen 38:18 (HALOT 300); ḥātam 'to seal' (HALOT 364)
- Phoenician: 𐤇𐤕𐤌 *ḥtm* — ḥtm 'signet-ring, seal'; hḥtm 'the seal-keeper' (Krahmalkov 200)
- Arabic: ḫatm, ḫātam 'seal, signet ring' (HALOT 300)
- Egyptian: *ḫtm* — ḫtm 'seal, signet ring; to close, seal', the source of the Semitic word (HALOT 300)

## Attestations

- [PH Wc 38](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/PHWc38/index.md>): \*314-TA-MA

## Commentary

PH Wc 38, a Phaistos roundel (MM II), the sole word on it; TA is dotted (GORILA II 94). With *314 = ḤA, √ḥ-t-m 'to seal, stamp': Heb. ḥōtām (חותם) 'seal, signet ring' (HALOT 300), Arb. ḫatama 'he sealed' (Lane 702); Akk. ḫatāmu means only 'to muzzle, block' (CAD Ḫ 152). Either the noun 'seal', naming the sealing device, or the 3ms perfective 'he sealed', a performative inscription. Egyptian ḫtm 'seal, contract' extends the family. Rivals: Egyptian ḥtm 'provide, supply', which suits a roundel as receipt but lacks the pharyngeal ḥ of *314; with *314 = bu, a PU₂ variant, bṭm 'pistachio' (DULAT 249), Arb. buṭm 'fruit of the terebinth' (Lane 219), Ebla bù-da-ma-tim 'pistachio' (GlOS 1, 131), a roundel commodity, cf. *188 BUṬNU. Weak point: *314 = ḤA is a proposed value, and DU-*314-RE (KO Za 1) writes *314 for PU₂ in dubur, the value that gives the rival buṭm.

## References

- Reading: di Mino
- Krahmalkov: Krahmalkov, Charles R. (2000), A Phoenician-Punic Dictionary. Peeters (Leuven)
- HALOT: Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob; Richardson, M. E. J. (trans. and ed.) (1994), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, vols. I–IV. E. J. Brill, Leiden · New York · Köln
- DULAT: del Olmo Lete, Gregorio; Sanmartín, Joaquín (2015), A Dictionary of the Ugaritic Language in the Alphabetic Tradition. Brill, Leiden/Boston (Handbook of Oriental Studies 1/112); Third Revised Edition, tr. and ed. Wilfred G.E. Watson; 2 parts
- Lane: Lane, Edward William (1863), An Arabic-English Lexicon. Williams and Norgate, London
- CAD Ḫ: Oriental Institute (A. Leo Oppenheim, ed.) (1956), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 6, Ḫ. The Oriental Institute, Chicago; J. J. Augustin, Glückstadt
- GORILA II: Godart, Louis; Olivier, Jean-Pierre (1979), Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A, volume 2: Nodules, scellés et rondelles édités avant 1970 (GORILA II). École française d'Athènes (Études crétoises XXI, 2); Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris
- GlOS 1: Sanmartín, Joaquín (2019), A Glossary of Old Syrian, Volume 1: ʔ – ḳ. Languages of the Ancient Near East 8/1,Eisenbrauns (Pennsylvania State University Press), University Park

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/*314-TA-MA/
Licence: CC BY 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Cite as: di Mino, Tom. 2026. Linear A Lexicon. Plasma AI. https://linear-a.ai/. Data: kaphtor, commit add28e94.