# KA-NA (qana / qanû)

> aromatic reed, sweet cane (commodity; spelling variant of QA-NE)

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

- Reading: qana / qanû
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*ḳanaw/y-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/3035/index.md>) 'reed'
- Kind: Commodity
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: KA (ka) · NA (na)

## Compared forms

- Ugaritic: 𐎖𐎐 *qn* — qn 'reed, cane' (DULAT); see QA-NE
- Eblaite: GIŠ.GI = ga-nu-um 'reed', q in the G-series (GlOS 1, 348)
- Hebrew: קָנֶה *qāneh* — qāneh קָנֶה 'reed, cane' — qəneh-bośem 'aromatic cane' Exod 30:23, anointing-oil ingredient
- Akkadian: *qanû* — qanû 'reed'
- Linear B: (σχοῖνος *cf. ko-no* — cf. ko-no (σχοῖνος 'aromatic rush') — semantic parallel in Mycenaean spice accounting

## Attestations

- [HT 23a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT23a/index.md>): KA-NA CYP ¹⁄₃ — aromatic reed, sweet cane (heading; NI-RA fills the slot on HT23b)
- [HT 123+124b](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT123~2B124b/index.md>): KA-NA \[…\] — sweet cane or reed(?)

## Commentary

HT 23a: KA-NA heads an aromatics ledger (CYP, oil subtypes, VIN and SA-SA-ME 'sesame'), the ground for Heb. qāneh 'reed' and qəneh-bośem 'sweet cane'. A spelling of QA-NE (KH 47), with KA for q (Gordon 1966, §§4, 76). On HT 123+124b the central lacuna follows it, and the tablet shows the word recurring in the accounts without fixing the product. Rival: lapis lazuli, a homograph (Ugaritic ỉqnủ, var. qnỉm, from Akk. uqnû).

## Same root

- [QA-NU-MA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/QA-NU-MA/index.md>) (qanūma)
- [QA-NE](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/QA-NE/index.md>) (qanē)

## References

- Reading: di Mino; GlOS 1
- Gordon, Cyrus H. (1966), Evidence for the Minoan Language. Ventnor Publishers,68
- 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
- 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

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/KA-NA/
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.