# JA-DI-KI-TU (yā Diqqitu)

> O Diqqitu! (vocative invocation of the proposed goat-goddess Diqqitu)

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

- Reading: yā Diqqitu
- Confidence: Probable. Fits the word’s contexts and has a close external comparison, without an independent control.
- Root: [\*diḳ(ḳ)-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/1654/index.md>) 'be small' 1, 'be thin, fine' 2
- Kind: Divine
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: JA (ja) · DI (di) · KI (ki) · TU (tu)
- Rank: #31 of the top 100

## Compared forms

- Ugaritic: 𐎄𐎖𐎚 *dqt* — dqt 'female head of small cattle for sacrifice', a ewe or she-goat (Gordon UT §19.695, cited by Astour 1966, 283 n. 74); DN dqt, KTU 1.102:8 (Astour 1966, 283–84; DULAT 276)
- Hebrew: שְׂעִירָה *cf. śəʿîrāh* — cf. śəʿîrāh (שְׂעִירָה) 'she-goat' and śəʿîrîm (שְׂעִירִים) 'goat-demons' (Lev 17:7, 2 Chr 11:15)

## 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 — O Diqqitu!

## Commentary

IO Za 2, position 2 of the libation formula. JA- is the vocative ya-, and DI-KI-TU spells diktu with the -TU vowel written, against Greek Δίκτη. The goddess named here is the addressee of the verb at position 1, A-TA-I-*301-WA-JA ʾatainawaya 'I make myself a dwelling', the worshipper settling before her; each peak sanctuary invokes its mountain, Diktu at Iouktas and Palaikastro, Ida at Kophinas and Syme. Astour's etymology: Ug. dqt 'female head of small cattle for sacrifice' (Gordon UT §19.695), *daqqatu, *diqqatu, a divine name in a Ugaritic god-list (Astour, 'New Evidence for the Semitic Derivation of the Greek Name of the Mountain Dikte', 1966). Hesiod calls the mountain Αἰγαίῳ ἐν ὄρει, 'Goat's Mountain' (Theog. 481–482 West), a Graeco-Semitic doublet, and Amenhotep III's list spells it Di-qa- with the determinative 'high' (Astour, 'Aegean Place Names', 1966). Clay goats are the commonest votive at peak sanctuaries, and Amalthea, the goat who nursed Zeus in the Dictaean Cave, is the goddess brought down to a wet-nurse. Palaikastro, of Proto-Phoenician dialect, writes the nisbe -TE-TE: A-DI-KI-TE-TE, and the vocative JA-DI-KI-TE-TE in JA-DI-KI-TE-TE-DU-PU₂-RE 'O Diqqitīt of the sanctuary' (PK Za 15) and JA-DI-KI-TE-TE-*307-PU₂-RE, with the *307 DUBUR logogram (PK Za 8). See A-DI-KI-TE-TE.

## Same root

- [A-DI-KI-TE-TE](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/A-DI-KI-TE-TE/index.md>) (ʾa-Diqqitīt)
- [DA-KI-TI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/DA-KI-TI/index.md>) (daqqati)

## In the onomasticon

- [JA-DI-KI-TU](<https://linear-a.ai/names/JA-DI-KI-TU/index.md>): God or goddess, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino; Astour 1966 (New Divine Names, Aegean Place Names)
- 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
- Astour, Michael C. (1966), Some New Divine Names from Ugarit. Journal of the American Oriental Society,86(3),277–284
- 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/JA-DI-KI-TU/
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.
