# \*333-SA-MU (biśāmu)

> Balsam, perfume—aromatic personal name (cf. Basemath) on a metal ornament

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

- Reading: biśāmu
- Confidence: Speculative. A proposed reading on a word too rare to test. Most occur only once.
- Root: [\*bśm](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/S84/index.md>) 'balsam-oil'
- Kind: Personal name
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: \*333 · SA (sa) · MU (mu)

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: *bōśem* — bōśem 'perfume, spice' (HALOT 163); Bāśĕmat (Gen 26:34)
- Arabic: *bašām* — bašām 'balsam tree' (Lane 209)

## Attestations

- [MO Zf 1](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/MOZf1/index.md>): \*333-SA-MU

## Commentary

MO Zf 1, a metal ornament from Mokhlos, the word alone. With *333 = bi, *333-SA-MU writes biśāmu 'balsam', before the Canaanite shift of ā (Heb. bōśem 'balsam tree; perfume', HALOT 163); a name of the aromatic class, cf. Basemath (Gen 26:34). Weak point: *333 = bi rests on its three words. Rival: a label for the object, or a non-Semitic name. One attestation.

## In the onomasticon

- [\*333-SA-MU](<https://linear-a.ai/names/*333-SA-MU/index.md>): Personal name, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino; HALOT; Lane
- 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
- Lane: Lane, Edward William (1863), An Arabic-English Lexicon. Williams and Norgate, London

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/*333-SA-MU/
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 50525edd.