# KI-RE-TA-NA (Kretan)

> Cretan (gentilic: 'of Crete')

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

- Reading: Kretan
- Confidence: Confirmed. The function is fixed inside the corpus (position, arithmetic, commodity signs). The etymology may still be a proposal.
- Root: [\*karVt-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/2766/index.md>) 'to cut, cut off; make a covenant'
- Kind: Toponym
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: KI (ki) · RE (re) · TA (ta) · NA (na)
- Rank: #6 of the top 100

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: כְּרֵתִים *kərētîm* — kərētîm (כְּרֵתִים) 'Kerethites': gôy kərētîm 'nation of Kerethites', beside kənaʿan ʾereṣ pəlištîm 'Canaan, land of the Philistines' (Zeph 2:5); wəhikrattî ʾet-kərētîm 'and I will cut off the Kerethites' (Ezek 25:16); hakkərētî wəhappəlētî 'the Kerethite and the Pelethite', David's guard (2 Sam 8:18)
- Linear B: *ke-re-te Krētes* — ke-re-te Krētes 'Cretans', an ethnic (PY An 128.3; Ventris and Chadwick 1956, 147); ke-re-si-jo we-ke 'of Cretan workmanship', of tripods (PY Ta 641, 709; Ventris and Chadwick 1956, 396)
- Greek: Κρής, pl. Κρῆτες 'Cretan(s)'; Κρήτη 'Crete'
- Ugaritic: see KI-RE-TA₂

## Attestations

- [HT 2](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT2/index.md>): KI-RE-TA-NA OLE+U 54 — Cretan (gentilic: 'of Crete')
- [HT 8a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT8a/index.md>): KI-RE-TA-NA ¹⁄₂ — the Cretan (gentilic)
- [HT 108](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT108/index.md>): KI-RE-TA-NA VIR+\[?\] 1 — Cretan (gentilic)
- [HT 120](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT120/index.md>): KI-RE-TA-NA GRA+B 60 — Kretan; Cretan or of Crete

## Commentary

HT 2, HT 8a, HT 108 and HT 120, all at Haghia Triada: Kretan 'Cretan', the gentilic -ān on the name written KI-RE-TA₂ and KI-RI-TA₂, twice each; cf. Heb. kərētī 'Kerethite' (כְּרֵתִי). Ug. krt is /kirta/, the protagonist Kirta, and lkrt /li-kirta/ 'belonging to the story of Kirta'; Huehnergard rejects the vocalization 'keret' as non-Ugaritic, and BH kərētī differs in its vowels (Huehnergard 2012, 60, 68).

## Same root

- [KI-RI-TA₂](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/KI-RI-TA~E2~82~82/index.md>) (Kirīta)
- [KI-RE-TA₂](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/KI-RE-TA~E2~82~82/index.md>) (Kirēta / Kret)

## In the onomasticon

- [KI-RE-TA-NA](<https://linear-a.ai/names/KI-RE-TA-NA/index.md>): Gentilic, Semitic

## References

- Reading: Gordon 1966; Ventris and Chadwick 1956
- Gordon, Cyrus H. (1966), Evidence for the Minoan Language. Ventnor Publishers,68
- Huehnergard, John (2012), An Introduction to Ugaritic. Hendrickson
- Ventris, M. & Chadwick, J. (1956), Documents in Mycenaean Greek: Three Hundred Selected Tablets from Knossos, Pylos and Mycenae with Commentary and Vocabulary. Cambridge University Press

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/KI-RE-TA-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.