# KU-PA₃-PA₃ (Kubaba)

> Kubaba, Sumerian Kug-Baba 'Pure is Baba' (divine or personal name)

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

- Reading: Kubaba
- Confidence: Probable. Fits the word’s contexts and has a close external comparison, without an independent control.
- Root: Kubaba (Sumerian Kug-Baba 'pure Baba', Haas 1994, 406; kug = ellu 'pure', CAD E 102)
- Kind: Divine
- Language: Sumerian
- Signs: KU (ku) · PA₃ (pa₃) · PA₃ (pa₃)
- Rank: #77 of the top 100

## Compared forms

- Sumerian: ku₃-ᵈba-ba₆ Kug-Baba, the woman tavern-keeper (munus lu₂-kurun-na) who made firm the foundations of Kish and reigned 100 years (Sumerian King List 224–227, CDLI P479895); Ur III PN Ku-ba-ba-e (Monti 2017, 179)
- Akkadian: Old Babylonian awat Kubaba ša šarrūtam iṣbatu 'the case of Kubaba, who seized the kingship' (CAD Ṣ 32); ᵈNIN ku-ba-ba GAŠAN KUR.URU kar-ga-miš 'Lady Kubaba, Lady of the land of Carchemish' (RS 17.146; DULAT 208); ᵈku₃-KA₂ ᵈ15 ša uru gar-ga-mis 'Kubaba, Ištar of Carchemish' (SAA 2 6:469; CAD R 359)
- Old Assyrian: Kubabat (ku-ba-ba-at), with the Semitic feminine -t, in the pantheon of Kaneš (Haas 1994, 384, 406, 614); PNN Ṣilli-Kubabat, Ummi-Kubabat (CDLI P357798, P360824)
- Ugaritic: 𐎋𐎁𐎁𐎊 *kbby* — kbby PN 'Kubaba' (KTU 4.695:7), syllabic {f}ku-ba-ba, wife of Arḫalba, king of Ugarit (RS 16.144:6) (DULAT 419; Watson 2012, 332; Kinlaw 1967, 74); Hurrian kbbd 'for Kubaba' (KTU 1.116:23; Pardee 2002, 94–95)
- Amorite: Kupapa fem. DN (Gelb 1980, 23); ʾAlli-Kupapa, Baʿli-Kupapa (Gelb 1980, nos. 708, 2094); Mari ḫa-ià-ku-ba-ba 'Kubaba is alive' (Weeden 2009, 96 n. 118)
- Hurrian: ᵈKu-pa-pa, gen. Ku-ba-ba-be, with Adamma and Ḫašuntarḫi (Laroche 1980, 150); Alalakh fKubaba-danni (AT 364:7; Draffkorn 1959, 39)
- Hittite: ᵈKu-pa-pa, ᵈKu-ba-ba, in the circle of Ḫebat (van Gessel 1998, 264–266; Haas 1994, 406–407)
- Luwian: the 'Queen' of Carchemish, her name written with rhombus, bird and vessel (Haas 1994, 406)

## Attestations

- [HT 88](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT88/index.md>): KU-PA₃-PA₃ 1 — Kubaba; divine, personal, or institutional name

## Commentary

HT 88, under KI-RO ·: KU-PA₃-PA₃ 1, then KA-JU 1 and KU-PA₃-NU 1, in a list of single units totalled KU-RO 6. Kubaba sign for sign, with PA₃ in its proposed value ba. The name is Sumerian Kug-Baba 'Pure is Baba': the Sumerian King List writes ku₃-ᵈba-ba₆ for the tavern-keeper who founded Kish (SKL 224–227), an Old Babylonian omen already calls her Kubaba (CAD Ṣ 32), and Haas reads the goddess of Carchemish the same way, 'reine Baba', the Sumerian Kar 'trading place' in her city's name supporting it (Haas 1994, 406). Haas holds her identity with Phrygian Kybele and Lydian Kybebe secure (Haas 1994, 408). The goddess and women bear the name alike, and on HT 88 it names the goddess, a woman or a cult institution. Rival: an Old Syrian-Anatolian name of unknown meaning (Haas 1994, 406), with Assyrian KÙ.KA₂ kù-bābu 'holy gate' a folk etymology at most (Haas 1994, 406). One attestation.

## In the onomasticon

- [KU-PA₃-PA₃](<https://linear-a.ai/names/KU-PA~E2~82~83-PA~E2~82~83/index.md>): God or goddess, Sumerian

## References

- Reading: di Mino; Haas 1994; CAD E, Ṣ
- 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
- GLH: Laroche, Emmanuel (1980), Glossaire de la langue hourrite. Editions Klincksieck
- AS 21: Gelb, Ignace J. (1980), Computer-aided Analysis of Amorite. Assyriological Studies 21,The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
- Pardee, Dennis (2002), Ritual and Cult at Ugarit. Society of Biblical Literature
- Weeden, Mark (2009), The Akkadian Words for ‘Grain’ and the God Haya. Die Welt des Orients,39.1,77–107
- 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
- CAD E: Oriental Institute (A. Leo Oppenheim, ed.) (1958), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 4, E. The Oriental Institute, Chicago
- CAD R: Oriental Institute (Erica Reiner and Martha T. Roth, eds.) (1999), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 14, R. The Oriental Institute, Chicago
- CAD Ṣ: Oriental Institute (A. Leo Oppenheim, ed.) (1962), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 16, Ṣ. The Oriental Institute, Chicago; J. J. Augustin, Glückstadt
- Kinlaw, Dennis F. (1967), A Study of the Personal Names in the Akkadian Texts from Ugarit. Brandeis University, Department of Mediterranean Studies (Ph.D. dissertation)
- Monti, Luciano Esteban (2017), A Systematic Approach to the Hurrian Pantheon: The Onomastic Evidence. PhD dissertation, Università degli Studi di Udine (XXVIII cycle)
- Watson, Wilfred G. E. (2012), Ugaritic Onomastics (8). Aula Orientalis,30,323–351
- Haas, Volkert (1994), Geschichte der hethitischen Religion. E. J. Brill, Leiden (Handbuch der Orientalistik I/15)
- van Gessel, Ben H. L. (1998), Onomasticon of the Hittite Pantheon, Parts One and Two. Brill, Leiden (Handbook of Oriental Studies I/33)
- Draffkorn, Anne Elizabeth (1959), Hurrians and Hurrian at Alalaḫ: An Ethno-linguistic Analysis. PhD dissertation, University of Pennsylvania (University Microfilms, Ann Arbor, Mic 59-4612)

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/KU-PA~E2~82~83-PA~E2~82~83/
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.