# I-PI-NA-MA (ʾippina=ma)

> in the presence of

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

- Reading: ʾippina=ma
- Confidence: Probable. Fits the word’s contexts and has a close external comparison, without an independent control.
- Root: [\*pan-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/144/index.md>) 'face'
- Kind: Ritual
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: I (i) · PI (pi) · NA (na) · MA (ma)
- Rank: #49 of the top 100

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: פָּנִים *pānīm* — pānīm (פָּנִים) 'face, presence' (Gen 32:31, Exod 33:14–15, Lev 1:3–4, Ps 19:15, Mal 1:8); lipnê (לִפְנֵי) 'before the face of' = standard cult-approach formula; √p-n-y 'to turn, face'
- Ugaritic: 𐎔𐎐𐎎 *pnm* — pnm 'face, presence' (DULAT 664); pn ilm 'face of the gods' in ritual texts
- Akkadian: *pānu* — pānu 'face, front, presence' (CAD P 92); ina pāni 'before, in the presence of'
- Arabic: فناء *fanā'* — fanā' (فناء) 'courtyard, forecourt'; related to approaching a presence
- Amarna Canaanite: pa-ni-mu /panīmū < paniy=humu/ 'before them' (Moran: 'before him'), 'face' as a preposition (GlOS 2, 130)
- Eblaite: *panwū* — ba-na-ù /panwū/ 'face', ba-nu 'front' (GlOS 2, 130)

## Attestations

- [IO Za 2](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/IOZa2/index.md>): A-TA-I-\*301-WA-JA JA-DI-KI-TU JA-SA-SA-RA-\[ME\] \[U-NA-KA-NA\]-SI I-PI-NA-MA — in the presence of
- [IO Za 15](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/IOZa15/index.md>): I-PI-NA-MA SI-RU-TE — face, presence (of)
- [KO Za 1](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KOZa1/index.md>): I-PI-NA-MA SI-RU-TE — in the presence of
- [TL Za 1](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/TLZa1/index.md>): \[…\]NA-MA SI-RU\[…\] — in the presence of
- [VRY Za 1](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/VRYZa1/index.md>): I-PI-NA-MA — in the presence of
- [AP Za 2](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/APZa2/index.md>): \]NA-SI I-PI-NA-MA\[ \]-KU-PA₃-NA-TU-NA-TE-\[ — presence/face […]
- [PK Za 8](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/PKZa8/index.md>): I-PI\[ — in the pres[ence of …]

## Commentary

Complete at three peak sanctuaries: IO Za 2 and IO Za 15 (Iouktas), KO Za 1 (Kophinas), VRY Za 1 (Vrysinas). Damaged at Troullos (TL Za 1 […]NA-MA) and Apodoulou (AP Za 2 I-PI-NA-MA[, to a broken edge), and I-PI[ at the break of PK Za 8. ʾippina=ma 'in the presence of': pnm, Heb. pānîm 'face, presence' (HALOT 938), Ug. pnm 'face, countenance' (DULAT 664). Biblical cult pairs approach before the divine presence with acceptance (Lev 1:3–4; Ps 19:15; Mal 1:8), as I-PI-NA-MA stands beside the √r-ṣ-y verb of the fuller formula. PI writes pin- against Heb. pānîm and Akk. pānu, a different vowel in one root: Hebrew shifted *a > *i more than once (Suchard 2016, 189), Punic writes Tinnit's epithet pn bʿl as Θινιθ-Φανεβαλ and Θεννειθ-Φενηβαλ (Krahmalkov 2000, 398, 495), and SED reconstructs *yad- 'hand', of the same noun pattern as *pan-, 'with a variant *id- … probably for PS too' (SED I, CXXX). Rival: Davis's functional gloss 'a favor, a blessing' (Davis 2026, 55). See PI-*310-A.

## Same root

- [I-PI-NA-MI-NA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/I-PI-NA-MI-NA/index.md>) (ʾippina=mi=na)
- [PI-\*310-A](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/PI-*310-A/index.md>) (pīnā)

## References

- Reading: di Mino; GlOS 2
- Krahmalkov: Krahmalkov, Charles R. (2000), A Phoenician-Punic Dictionary. Peeters (Leuven)
- 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
- SED I: Militarev, Alexander; Kogan, Leonid (2000), Semitic Etymological Dictionary, Vol. I: Anatomy of Man and Animals. Ugarit-Verlag, Münster (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 278/1)
- 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
- Davis, Brent (2026), Recent Linguistics-Based Advances in the Study of Linear A. In E. Salgarella & V. Petrakis (eds.), The Wor(l)ds of Linear A, AURA Supplement 15, pp. 43–60
- CAD P: Oriental Institute (Martha T. Roth, ed.) (2005), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 12, P. The Oriental Institute, Chicago
- 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
- Suchard, Benjamin D. (2016), The development of the Biblical Hebrew vowels. PhD dissertation, Universiteit Leiden; http://hdl.handle.net/1887/43120

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/I-PI-NA-MA/
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.