# MA-I-MI (mayimi)

> water(-men), water-drawers of the sanctuary; rival Anatolian 'grown-ups'

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

- Reading: mayimi
- Confidence: Speculative. A proposed reading on a word too rare to test. Most occur only once.
- Root: [\*maʾ-/\*may-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/711/index.md>) 'water'
- Kind: Personnel
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: MA (ma) · I (i) · MI (mi)

## Compared forms

- Ugaritic: *mh/y* — mh/y 'water', pl. mym; tkmt my 'who carries water on her shoulders' (KTU 1.19 II 6)
- Akkadian: *mēma* — EA mi-e-ma, mi-ma /mēma/ < /mayma/ 'water' (CAD M/2 17)
- Hebrew: מַיִם *mayim* — מַיִם mayim 'water'; שֹׁאֲבֵי מַיִם 'drawers of water' (Josh 9:21, 27; Deut 29:10)
- Phoenician: 𐤌𐤉𐤌 *mym* — mym 'water'

## Attestations

- [HT 89](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT89/index.md>): MA-I-MI 24

## Commentary

HT 89 MA-I-MI 24, third of five classes under A-SA-RA₂ · *307 (dubur 'sanctuary'), KU-RO 87. mayimi 'water' (DULAT 529): the sanctuary's water-drawers, as the Gibeonites drew water for the altar (Josh 9:27), and the Nethinim stand beside the gatekeepers (Ezra 7:24); compare TA-RA. Rival: Uchitel's Anatolian 'grown-ups', from mai- 'to grow' (Uchitel 2006, 75); Hittite makes its participle mi(y)ant- (EDHIL 541–542), and the -mi participle is Luwian (Finkelberg 1990/91, 80 n. 86), which has no verb mai- (Melchert 1993, 146). One attestation. See MI-JA.

## Same root

- [MI-JA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/MI-JA/index.md>) (mayya)

## In the onomasticon

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

## References

- Reading: di Mino; DULAT; Uchitel 2006; Finkelberg 1990/91; Kloekhorst 2008; Melchert 1993
- 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
- EA: Moran, William L. (1992), The Amarna Letters. Johns Hopkins University Press
- Finkelberg, Margalit (1990), Minoan Inscriptions on Libation Vessels. Minos,25,Universidad de Salamanca,43–85
- CAD M/2: Oriental Institute (A. Leo Oppenheim and Erica Reiner, eds.) (1977), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 10, M, part 2. The Oriental Institute; J. J. Augustin
- Kloekhorst, Alwin (2008), Etymological Dictionary of the Hittite Inherited Lexicon. Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 5,Brill (Leiden and Boston),xiii + 1162
- 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
- Uchitel, Alexander (2006), Listing by Age and Occupation in Minoan Linear A. Kadmos,45,De Gruyter (volume dated 2006, issued 2007),73–81
- Melchert, H. Craig (1993), Cuneiform Luvian Lexicon. Lexica Anatolica 2,Chapel Hill, N.C.: the author

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/MA-I-MI/
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.