# KI-NU (Kīnu)

> personal name, 'the True One' (kīnu 'true, reliable')

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

- Reading: Kīnu
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*kwn-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/S35/index.md>) 'to be firm, to be established, to exist'
- Kind: Personal name
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: KI (ki) · NU (nu)

## Compared forms

- Eblaite: *gi-num kīnum* — gi-num kīnum 'reliable', a name (Pagan 1998, row 2059); names gi-na, gi-núm (GlOS 1, 332)
- Amorite: *kīnum* — kīnum 'firm' (Gelb 1980, glossary); names ki-nu-um-a-da-al, la-ki-nu (GlOS 1, 332)
- Akkadian: *kīnu* — kīnu 'true, reliable, just' (CAD K 391–394); kânu 'to be firm, true'; PN element in Nabû-kīn-apli, Marduk-kīn-šumi
- Hebrew: כּוּן *kūn* — kūn (כּוּן) 'to be established, firm'; nākōn (נָכוֹן) 'right, true'
- Ugaritic: 𐎋𐎆𐎐 *kwn* — kwn 'to be, exist'

## Attestations

- [ARKH 3a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/ARKH3a/index.md>): KI-NU GRA 13 — personal name ('the Just/True One')

## Commentary

ARKH 3a: KI-NU heads a commodity allocation section. Kīnu 'the True One', kīn- in Eblaite, Amorite and Akkadian alike, both a name element and the quality adjective 'true, standard': the heading admits 'Kīnu: grain 13' and 'standard grade: grain 13', as KA-NE qanē on the same tablet has two senses. A second attestation, with a quantity in a list or heading an OLE section, would decide between them. Standalone KI is an administrative sign of open value. One attestation. See OLE+KI.

## Same root

- [OLE+KI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/OLE~2BKI/index.md>) (kīnu)

## In the onomasticon

- [KI-NU](<https://linear-a.ai/names/KI-NU/index.md>): Personal name, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino; Pagan 1998; Gelb 1980; GlOS 1
- AS 21: Gelb, Ignace J. (1980), Computer-aided Analysis of Amorite. Assyriological Studies 21,The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
- CAD K: Oriental Institute (A. Leo Oppenheim and Erica Reiner, eds.) (1971), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 8, K. The Oriental Institute, Chicago; J. J. Augustin, Glückstadt
- Pagan, Joseph M. (1998), Ebla Electronic Corpus: Onomastic Data Base. Undena Publications (1998 disk); HTML edition by G. Buccellati, IIMAS / Cybernetica Mesopotamica (2012)
- 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-NU/
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.