# KI-TA-NA (kitāna)

> linen (material adjectival base in jar labels)

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

- Reading: kitāna
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*kitn-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/2678/index.md>) 'linen, tunic'
- Kind: Commodity
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: KI (ki) · TA (ta) · NA (na)

## Compared forms

- Ugaritic: 𐎋𐎚𐎐 *ktn* — ktn 'linen tunic'
- Akkadian: *kitûm/kitinnû* — kitûm/kitinnû 'linen'
- Mari: *ku-ta-na-am kutān* — ku-ta-na-am kutān 'a fabric' (ARM 30 55; GlOS 1, 176)
- Eblaite: GÍD.TÚG = gu-da-núm 'a garment' (GlOS 1, 176)
- Greek: χιτών via LB ki-to, from Ug. ktn (Rendsburg 2026, 214); here fully vocalized

## Attestations

- [PE Zb 3](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/PEZb3/index.md>): A-KA-RA-KI-TA-NA-SI-JA-SE-VIR+\[?\]-ZA — linen

## Commentary

PE Zb 3, a pithos label: KI-TA-NA-SI-JA-SE, kitāna šī-yāṣē pidr-qê 'linen which goes out, a qê-measure of fat'. SI-JA-SE šī-yāṣē, the relative with the 3ms imperfect of √y-ṣ-ʾ 'to go out', marks goods for issue, as in A-NA-NU-SI-JA-SE (HT Zb 159) on another stem. Linear B ki-to, χιτών, comes from the same ktn. KI-TA-NI-TE kitānit 'linen robe, linen cloth' (PK Zb 21) is its -t derivative.

## Same root

- [KI-TA-NI-TE](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/KI-TA-NI-TE/index.md>) (kitānit)

## References

- Reading: di Mino; GlOS 1; Rendsburg 2026
- 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
- Rendsburg, Gary A. (2026), Across the Mediterranean: Ugaritic Words which Reached Greek and Latin. In Colasuonno, Maria Maddalena; Criscuolo, Alfredo; D'Anna, Luca; Esposito, Raffaele; Lusini, Gianfrancesco; Nicosia, Mara (eds.), Forty Years of Semitic Philology: Studies in Honour of Riccardo Contini, Offered by Friends and Colleagues on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday, Volume II,Series Minor CX.2; Serie Orientale Roma n.s. 57.2,UniorPress, Napoli,201–219

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