# DU-RU-WI (ḏu-luwwī)

> the Levite (ethnonymic designation)

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

- Reading: ḏu-luwwī
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*ḏī-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/K0877/index.md>) 'he who, that which' (masculine demonstrative/relative) + [\*lVwVy-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/398/index.md>) 'twist, bend' 1, 'turn' 2, 'accompany, join' 3
- Kind: Personal name
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: DU (du) · RU (ru) · WI (wi)

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: *lēwî* — lēwî 'Levi; Levite' (HALOT 523)
- Ugaritic: *d determinative-relative* — d determinative-relative 'the one(s) of, he who' (DULAT 252)
- Arabic: *ḏū* — ḏū 'possessor of, he of' (Lane 984)
- Amorite: LWJ 'surround, accompany': lājum, lījum (Gelb AS 21, 24)

## Attestations

- [HT 25a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT25a/index.md>): DU-RU-WI — the Levite (ethnonymic designation)

## Commentary

HT 25a .4, at the end of the line after ZU-JU-PU₂ 1, with no numeral. WI is complete at the preserved right edge; .5 opens I-KI-RA 1 after the lost lower-left margin, where DU-RU-WI's 1 can stand, as DI-NA-U's 1 opens .3 (GORILA I 44–45); the break leaves unconfirmed whether a divider followed it. DU writes ḏu 'the one of', and RU-WI luwwī 'joined', with the u of the D-stem of l-w-y 'to accompany': Ebla lu-wu, lu-a (GlOS 2, 19); cf. Gen 29:34 yillāweh 'will be joined'. U-RE-WI on the same tablet writes the e of Hebrew lēwî; the names lāwiy, lawuy (GlOS 2, 19) would need RA-WI. Rival: DU-RU-WI-I-KI-RA as one name. Niesiołowski-Spanò derives the Levites from Mycenaean ra-wo, λαοί (2020, 444–452).

## Same root

- [DU](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/DU/index.md>) (du)
- [DA-QE-RA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/DA-QE-RA/index.md>) (ḏā-Qīra)
- [U-RE-WI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/U-RE-WI/index.md>) (ʾūr-lēwī)
- [DU-MA-I-NA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/DU-MA-I-NA/index.md>) (ḏū-maʿīna)
- [DU-NE-MI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/DU-NE-MI/index.md>) (ḏū-naʿmi)
- [DU-ZU-WA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/DU-ZU-WA/index.md>) (ḏū-ṯuwāʕ)
- [KA-\*305](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/KA-*305/index.md>) (ka-ḏā)
- [SE-WA-AU-DE](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/SE-WA-AU-DE/index.md>) (šawaʿ-dē)

## In the onomasticon

- [DU-RU-WI](<https://linear-a.ai/names/DU-RU-WI/index.md>): Gentilic, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino; GlOS 2; Niesiołowski-Spanò 2020
- Niesiołowski-Spanò, Łukasz (2020), The Levites, ra-wo, λᾶός / λαοί – A new proposal for lexical and historical relationship. Biblica,101(3),444–452
- AS 21: Gelb, Ignace J. (1980), Computer-aided Analysis of Amorite. Assyriological Studies 21,The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
- 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
- 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
- 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/DU-RU-WI/
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.