# I-DA-MA-TE (ʾidmat)

> the Tower, a sacred title (DA-MA-TE with prothetic I-)

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

- Reading: ʾidmat
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*dim-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/656/index.md>) 'tower' 1, 'borough' 2
- Kind: Ritual
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: I (i) · DA (da) · MA (ma) · TE (te)
- Rank: #94 of the top 100

## Compared forms

- : Cf. Ugaritic dmt "tower", in "the tower of the mother of(?) the god[s(?)" (KTU 2.31:46), and dmtqdš "Tower" (DULAT 272); Akkadian dimtu "tower; fortified area, settlement; district" (CAD D 144–147; Huehnergard 1997). The unprefixed DA-MA-TE is independently attested at KY Za 2. Cf. Linear B da-ma-te, PY En 609.1, read δάμαρτες 'household estates' or Δαμάτηρ (DMic I 151), and Greek Δαμάτηρ (Dor., Arc., Boeot.), Δωμάτηρ (Aeol.), Δημήτηρ (Hom.) 'Demeter' (DELG 272–273).

## Attestations

- [AR Zf 1](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/ARZf1/index.md>): I-DA-MA-TE — the Tower, a sacred title (DA-MA-TE with prothetic I-)
- [AR Zf 2](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/ARZf2/index.md>): I-DA-MA-TE\[ — the Tower, a sacred title (DA-MA-TE with prothetic I-)

## Commentary

AR Zf 1 and AR Zf 2, separate one-word inscriptions on votive double axes from Arkhalkhori, AR Zf 2 broken after TE (I-DA-MA-TE[). I-DA-MA-TE alternates with DA-MA-TE on KY Za 2, prothetic I- before the same base, Ug. dmt 'tower' (DULAT 272), as Heb. ʾezrōaʿ (Jer 32:21, Job 31:22) beside zərōaʿ 'arm' and BArm. ʾedrāʿ beside dərāʿ (HALOT 28), Ug. udmʿt beside dmʿt 'tears' (Tropper 2000, §33.423a), and Ebla iš-ba-um /ʾiṣbaʿum/ 'finger' (Lipiński 1997, §27.17). A sacred title: Ug. dmt stands in 'the tower of the mother of(?) the god[s(?)' (KTU 2.31:46). Cf. Magdalene, read as the epithet 'the Tower' since Jerome, Ep. 127 (turritae) (Taylor 2014; Schrader and Taylor 2021). Rival: a personal name, as for DA-MA-TE. Weak point: single words, with no sentence around them. Two attestations. See DA-MA-TE.

## Same root

- [DA-MA-TE](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/DA-MA-TE/index.md>) (damat)

## References

- Reading: di Mino; DULAT; HALOT; Tropper 2000; Lipiński 1997
- 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
- Lipiński, Edward (1997), Semitic Languages: Outline of a Comparative Grammar. Peeters (Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 80)
- DMic I: Aura Jorro, Francisco, Diccionario Micénico, vol. I (CSIC 1985). 
- Tropper, Josef (2000), Ugaritische Grammatik. Alter Orient und Altes Testament 273,Ugarit-Verlag
- Huehnergard, John (1997), A Grammar of Akkadian. Scholars Press (Harvard Semitic Studies 45)
- Taylor, Joan E. (2014), Missing Magdala and the Name of Mary 'Magdalene'. Palestine Exploration Quarterly 146.3, pp. 205-223
- Schrader, Elizabeth, and Joan E. Taylor (2021), The Meaning of 'Magdalene': A Review of Literary Evidence. Journal of Biblical Literature 140.4, pp. 751-773
- CAD D: Oriental Institute (A. Leo Oppenheim, ed.) (1959), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. D. 
- 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

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/I-DA-MA-TE/
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.