# E (ḥemʾat) > butter, ghee (ḥemʾat), a quantified commodity A Linear A word in the Linear A Lexicon. The reading is a proposal and carries its tier. - Reading: ḥemʾat - Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare. - Root: [\*ḫimʔ-at-]() 'cream, curd, butter' - Kind: Commodity - Language: Semitic - Signs: E (e) ## Compared forms - Hebrew: ḥemʾā (חֶמְאָה) Gen 18:8, Deut 32:14, Judg 5:25, Isa 7:15 - Ugaritic: ḥmʾt (KTU 1.4 III) - Akkadian: ḫimētu (palace ration lists, Ur III–NB) - Eblaite: *ḫi-ma-ad ḥimʾat* — ḫi-ma-ad ḥimʾat 'butter, curd', a commodity in the administrative texts (ARET 13; GlOS 1, 272) ## Attestations - [HT 12](): E 30 — fat, butter, ghee - [HT 23a](): E 17 — commodity, unread - [HT 23b](): E 7 — commodity - [HT 34](): E GRA 200 - [HT 35](): E 5 - [HT 91](): E 5 — unidentified quantified commodity; perhaps dairy fat - [KN 1a](): JA-KU-TI E 240 - [KN 1b](): JA-DU-RA-TI E 105 — butter, ghee, clarified dairy fat ## Commentary E stands before a numeral in eight of nine occurrences, at HT and KN: HT 12 E 30, HT 23a E 17, HT 23b E 7, HT 35 E 5, HT 91 E 5 and E 3, KN 1a E 240, KN 1b E 105. ḥemʾat 'butter, ghee', E its first vowel: Heb. ḥemʾâ 'sour milk, cream' (HALOT 325), Ug. ḫmảt 'butter, curd' (DULAT 390), Akk. ḫimētu 'ghee' (CAD Ḫ 189). Weak point: no phonetic complement confirms it. ZA 4a has ]E[, broken on both sides. ## References - Reading: di Mino; HALOT; DULAT; CAD Ḫ - 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 - 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 - 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 - 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 --- Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/E/ 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.