# A-SA-RA₂ (ʾasāra)

> locked house, work-house (of the sanctuary), heading its personnel classes; rivals ʾasīr- 'captives', aššum šarra 'concerning the queen'

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

- Reading: ʾasāra
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*ʾVsir-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/408/index.md>) 'bind, join' 1, 'hobble' 2
- Kind: Administrative
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: A (a) · SA (sa) · RA₂ (ra₂)

## Compared forms

- Eblaite: *ʔa₅-za-ru₁₂ ʔas(ā)r* — ʔa₅-za-ru₁₂ ʔas(ā)r 'locked house (for female weavers)' (GlOS 1, 46, after ARET 12 517)
- Alalakh: LÚ.MEŠ asirū, bonded household staff in the grain-delivery lists of Alalakh VII (Niedorf 2008, 80 n. 305, after Zeeb 2001, 235–41)
- Ugaritic: *åsr* — åsr 'prisoner, captive', pl. åsrm (KTU 4.382:6; 2.31:24; DULAT 111); RS Akk. LÚ a-sí-ru
- Akkadian: *asīru* — asīru 'prisoner of war, captive used as worker' (OB administrative and western texts, Mari to Boğazköy); bīt asīri 'prisoner compound', kurummat bīt asīri 'food rations for the prisoner compound' (CAD A/2 331–32)
- Hebrew: *ʾāsîr* — ʾāsîr 'prisoner'; bēt hāʾēsūr 'prison' (HALOT 73)
- Egyptian: group writing ʔa₂-ṯi₂-ra 'captive' (GlOS 1, 46, after Hoch, SWET 45f., no. 40)

## Attestations

- [HT 89](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT89/index.md>): A-SA-RA₂ \*307 \*305 23 — the work-house (heading)

## Commentary

HT89 A-SA-RA₂ · *307 (dubur 'sanctuary') heads five personnel classes, KU-RO 87, then rations of cyperus, figs and wine. Written as one group, with no divider or space between A and SA (GORILA I 141). A-SA-RA₂ writes ʾasāra with the vowels of Ebla ʔa₅-za-ru₁₂ ʔas(ā)r 'locked house' (GlOS 1, 46): the sanctuary's work-house, named over the classes it holds, as VIR+*307 names sanctuary personnel. Its staff are of the kind of the asirū of Alalakh VII, bonded household staff in grain-delivery lists (Niedorf 2008, 80 n. 305); cf. the Gibeonites made hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God (Josh 9:23, 27) and the captives given to the Levites (Num 31:47); compare MA-I-MI, TA-RA. Rivals: ʾasīr- 'captives' (Ug. åsr, Akk. asīru), which wants SI for /sī/; A + SA-RA₂ 'concerning the queen', A as abbreviated Akkadian aššum (EA 287:34; Huehnergard 2008: 285, 399), a cut the tablet does not mark. One witness.

## References

- Reading: HT89; GORILA I 141; GlOS 1; Niedorf 2008; DULAT 111; CAD A/2 331–32; Josh 9:23, 27; Num 31:47; Montecchi 2008, 321; Huehnergard 2008: 285, 399
- KTU: Dietrich, Manfried; Loretz, Oswald; Sanmartín, Joaquín (2013), Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani und anderen Orten / The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places (KTU³). Ugarit-Verlag, Münster (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 360/1); ISBN 978-3-86835-014-2
- EA: Moran, William L. (1992), The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press
- Huehnergard, John (2008), Ugaritic Vocabulary in Syllabic Transcription, revised edition. Harvard Semitic Studies 32, Eisenbrauns
- CAD A/2: Oriental Institute (A. Leo Oppenheim, ed.) (1968), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. A/2. 
- 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
- EbDA: Ebla Digital Archives (CNR), Ebla Digital Archives (EbDA): ARET, ARES and MEE text editions. Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
- 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
- Montecchi, Barbara (2008), Note d'analisi testuale delle tavolette in Lineare A di Haghia Triada. Annuario della Scuola Archeologica di Atene e delle Missioni Italiane in Oriente,86, Serie III, 8,Scuola Archeologica Italiana di Atene (volume dated 2008, printed 2010),313–326
- GORILA I: Godart, Louis; Olivier, Jean-Pierre (1976), Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A, volume 1: Tablettes éditées avant 1970 (GORILA I). École française d'Athènes (Études crétoises XXI, 1); Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris
- Niedorf, Christian (2008), Die mittelbabylonischen Rechtsurkunden aus Alalaḫ (Schicht IV). Ugarit-Verlag, Münster (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 352)
- 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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Cite as: di Mino, Tom. 2026. Linear A Lexicon. Plasma AI. https://linear-a.ai/. Data: kaphtor, commit add28e94.