# I-DA (ʾIda)

> Ida, 'the Hand' (sacred mountain—toponym/theonym)

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

- Reading: ʾIda
- Confidence: Probable. Fits the word’s contexts and has a close external comparison, without an independent control.
- Root: [\*yad- ~ \*ʾid-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/2046/index.md>) 'hand'
- Kind: Toponym
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: I (i) · DA (da)
- Rank: #55 of the top 100

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: יָד *yad* — yad (יָד) 'hand, arm' (HALOT 386)
- Ugaritic: 𐎊𐎄 *yd* — yd 'hand'
- Akkadian: *idum* — idum 'arm, side; strength' (Old Assyrian idu)
- Phoenician: 𐤉𐤃 *yd* — yd 'hand, arm'

## Attestations

- [NE Za 1](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/NEZa1/index.md>): I-DA
- [PK Za 17](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/PKZa17/index.md>): \]I-DA \[?\]\[
- [PK Za 18](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/PKZa18/index.md>): \]-TE I-DA JA-JA-\[…\] — Ida, 'the Hand' (sacred mountain—toponym/theonym)
- [ZA 21b](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/ZA21b/index.md>): I-DA
- [ZA 24a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/ZA24a/index.md>): I-DA GRA
- [PH 6](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/PH6/index.md>): I-DA-PA₃-I-SA-RI

## Commentary

A complete sign group on ritual stone vessels at three sites, Nerokurou, Palaikastro and Zakros; on PK Za 18 it alone is bounded by dividers, between the broken groups ]-TE and JA-JA-[. The distribution and the dedicatory genre fit a sacred-mountain name, Mt Ida and the Idaean cave. PH 6 (MM IIB, Phaistos), the earliest witness, has it inside the phrase I-DA-PA₃-I-SA-RI ʾIdā bi-ʾišarī; Phaistos lies under the mountain. Ida 'the Hand': Linear A writes the *ʾid- variant, with the initial i of Eblaite i-da 'hand' (GlOS 2, 371), Akk. idu, Soqotri ʔed, Tigre ʔǝde. The Idaean Daktyls, 'fingers', are the Greek doublet, 'fingers of the hand' (Pollux, Onom. 2.156), and Chantraine calls Ἴδη pre-Hellenic (DELG s.v. Ἴδη; di Mino, Ya Diktu); JE-DI yedī 'the Idaean' (HT 8a, HT 36, HT 122b, HT 140) is the gentilic. Rival: ἴδη 'wood, forest' (DELG s.v. ἴδη), attested only after the toponym. The w- is Cretan only: Βίδα (IC IV 80.2), Zeus Ϝιδάτας (IC II v 35), Koine Ἰδάτης (Staatsverträge III 552), Linear B wi-da-jo (KN V 60); epic Ida has none (Il. 8.170 ἀπ' Ἰδαίων). The w- is a Greek reshaping after ϝιδ- 'see': Helbig equates Βιδάτας with Παντόπτης 'all-seeing' (Bürchner, RE Suppl. I 250–51), while Linear A, which has WI (WI-DI-NA, HT 28b), writes Ida only as I-DA-. Weak point: the toponym class rests on behaviour.

## Same root

- [I-DA-A](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/I-DA-A/index.md>) (ʾIda)
- [JE-DI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/JE-DI/index.md>) (yedī)
- [I-DA-MI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/I-DA-MI/index.md>) (ʾIda=mi)
- [I-DA-PA₃-I-SA-RI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/I-DA-PA~E2~82~83-I-SA-RI/index.md>) (ʾIdā bi-ʾišarī)
- [\*333-DI-NA-SU-KA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/*333-DI-NA-SU-KA/index.md>) (bīdi Našūka)
- [\*333-DI-SU-KA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/*333-DI-SU-KA/index.md>) (bīdi Sūka)
- [I-DU-NE-SI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/I-DU-NE-SI/index.md>) (Yidu-naḥši)
- [I-DU-TI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/I-DU-TI/index.md>) (Yidu-ti)
- [JA-DI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/JA-DI/index.md>) (Yadi)

## In the onomasticon

- [I-DA](<https://linear-a.ai/names/I-DA/index.md>): Place, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino; GlOS 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
- 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
- Ya Diktu: di Mino, Tom (2026), Ya Diktu: Grammar of the Minoan Peak Sanctuary Libation Formula. Minoan Mystery, online,46 pp.

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