# KI-NI-MA (kihinīma)

> priests (plural + mimation)

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

- Reading: kihinīma
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*kVhVn-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/2381/index.md>) 'act as a priest' 1, 'to have second sight, prophecy' 2, 'priest' 3
- Kind: Personnel
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: KI (ki) · NI (ni) · MA (ma)

## Compared forms

- Ugaritic: 𐎋𐎅𐎐 *khn* — khn 'priest', pl. khnm (GlOS 1, 302)

## Attestations

- [ZA 5a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/ZA5a/index.md>): KI-NI-MA 7 — priests (plural + mimation)

## Commentary

ZA 5a, under the heading *21F-*118 · VIN-SU: KI-NI-MA 7, then O-TA-NI-ZA-SE 6. kihinīma 'priests', the plural with mimation: Heb. kōhănîm, sg. kōhēn (HALOT 461), Ugarit khn 'priest' (GlOS 1, 302), the qātil participle, Ug. khn /kāhinu/, pl. khnm /kāhinūma/ (Huehnergard 2012, 59, 149). KI writes the i of Arb. kihānat 'divination' (Lane 3004). Ugarit lists priests the same way: khnm 3 GUR ZÌ.KAL.KAL 'priests: 3 kor of fine flour' (KTU 4.38:1; DULAT 428–29). The medial h goes unwritten, as in A-KO-A-NE, RA-ME raḥmē, JA-JA ḥayyā and Neo-Punic hknt 'the priestess' beside hkhnt (Tomback 1978, 139–40). Weak point: one attestation. See A-KO-A-NE.

## Same root

- [A-KO-A-NE](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/A-KO-A-NE/index.md>) (ha-kōhan)
- [KU-NI-TE](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/KU-NI-TE/index.md>) (kuhnēt)

## In the onomasticon

- [KI-NI-MA](<https://linear-a.ai/names/KI-NI-MA/index.md>): Title, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino; GlOS 1; HALOT; Huehnergard 2012; DULAT; Lane; Tomback 1978
- 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
- Huehnergard, John (2012), An Introduction to Ugaritic. Hendrickson
- Tomback: Tomback, Richard S. (1978), A Comparative Semitic Lexicon of the Phoenician and Punic Languages. Scholars Press (SBL Dissertation Series 32)
- 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
- Lane: Lane, Edward William (1863), An Arabic-English Lexicon. Williams and Norgate, London
- 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/KI-NI-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 add28e94.