# A-TA-NA-JE (ʾatanāya)

> My Giver / My Athena—1cs possessive on divine epithet (√y-t-n 'to give' + -ya 'my')

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

- Reading: ʾatanāya
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*ytn ~ \*ntn](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/2608/index.md>) 'give'
- Kind: Divine
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: A (a) · TA (ta) · NA (na) · JE (je)

## Compared forms

- Linear B: a-ta-na-po-ti-ni-ja, KN V 52.1, beside e-na-wa-ri-jo, pa-ja-wo-ne, po-se-da[-o-ne] (DMic I, s.v.)—Athena Potnia
- Greek: Ἀθάνα (Doric), Ἀθήνη (Ionic/Attic)—pre-Greek, no IE etymology (Beekes 2010)
- Ugaritic: 𐎊𐎚𐎐 *ytn* — ytn 'give'; names ytn Yatanu, mlkytn Milki-Yatanu (Kinlaw 1967, 135, 81), bʿltn (GlOS 2, 78); 1cs possessive -y: ʾaby 'my father,' ʾumy 'my mother' (Huehnergard 2012)
- Alalakh: *na-di-na nādin* — na-di-na nādin 'giver', a name (GlOS 2, 78)

## Attestations

- [THE Zb 6](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/THEZb6/index.md>): A-TA-NA-JE — My Giver / My Athena — 1cs possessive -ya on feminine participle of √y-t-n 'to give'

## Commentary

THE Zb 6, a clay vessel from Thera, its one word: A-TA-NA ʾAtanat 'She-who-gives', the etymon of Athena (see A-TA-NA-TE), + -ya 'my', the 1cs suffix of PU₂-RE-JA burē(t)yā 'my Creatress'. The stem stands at two sites: A-TA-NA-TE (ZA 10a; ZA 9 A-TA-NA-[TE], GORILA III 166–167) and A-TA-NA-JE (Thera). At Knossos Athena heads KN V 52.1 among the gods, a-ta-na-po-ti-ni-ja beside Enyalios, Paiawon and Poseidon. At Ugarit the god is the one who gives, Milki-Yatanu 'Milku has given' (mlkytn, son of a priest of Baal; Kinlaw 1967, 81), and the verb stands alone as a name, Yatanu (ytn); Alalakh has nādin 'giver' as a name. √y-t-n is the Ugaritic and Phoenician form. One attestation.

## Same root

- [JE-TA-NA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/JE-TA-NA/index.md>) (Yatana)
- [A-TA-NA-TE](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/A-TA-NA-TE/index.md>) (ʾAtanat)
- [NA-TU-\*301-NE](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/NA-TU-*301-NE/index.md>) (natūnān)
- [MA-TI-TI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/MA-TI-TI/index.md>) (mattitt(u))
- [A-DU-NI-TA-NA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/A-DU-NI-TA-NA/index.md>) (ʾAddu-nittāna)
- [I-TI-NI-SA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/I-TI-NI-SA/index.md>) (ʾItniša)

## In the onomasticon

- [A-TA-NA-JE](<https://linear-a.ai/names/A-TA-NA-JE/index.md>): God or goddess, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino; DMic I; Kinlaw 1967; GlOS 2
- Huehnergard, John (2012), An Introduction to Ugaritic. Hendrickson
- Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10/1–2,Brill
- DMic I: Aura Jorro, Francisco, Diccionario Micénico, vol. I (CSIC 1985). 
- Kinlaw, Dennis F. (1967), A Study of the Personal Names in the Akkadian Texts from Ugarit. Brandeis University, Department of Mediterranean Studies (Ph.D. dissertation)
- GORILA III: Godart, Louis; Olivier, Jean-Pierre (1976), Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A, volume 3: Tablettes, nodules et rondelles édités en 1975 et 1976 (GORILA III). École française d'Athènes (Études crétoises XXI, 3); Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris
- GlOS 2: Sanmartín, Joaquín (2024), A Glossary of Old Syrian, Volume 2: l – z. Languages of the Ancient Near East 8/2,Eisenbrauns (Pennsylvania State University Press), University Park

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/A-TA-NA-JE/
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.