# MA-ZU (maṯu)

> infants or young dependents (personnel category)

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

- Reading: maṯu
- Confidence: Speculative. A proposed reading on a word too rare to test. Most occur only once.
- Root: [\*ma/iṯ-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/1702/index.md>) 'child' 1, 'twin' 2, 'man, husband, male, grown-up' 3
- Kind: Personnel
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: MA (ma) · ZU (zu)

## Compared forms

- Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎘 *mṯ* — mṯ (I) 'infant, baby boy' (KTU 1.69:2; 1.5 V:22; 3.7:15; Copenhagen Ugaritic Corpus/DULAT)

## Attestations

- [HT 102](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT102/index.md>): MA-ZU 3 — infants or young dependents: 3
- [HT 6a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT6a/index.md>): MA-\*321 10

## Commentary

HT 102 counts MA-ZU 3 in an administrative list, between DI-RI-NA 10 and WI 10, under KU-RO 1060. HT 6a writes MA-*321 10 under the same KA-PA heading, among ration entries (GORILA I 13). Ugaritic mṯ 'infant', after yld 'give birth' in KTU 1.5 V:22. ZU writes ṯ, a proposed value; the vowels of /maṯu/ come from the Linear A spelling, since alphabetic Ugaritic writes only mṯ. Weak point: the HT 102 sign has ZU's round hoop and two bars, as on HT 1, but stands on a foot, a feature of *321, perhaps a variant of ZU; GORILA dots it (GORILA I 169).

## In the onomasticon

- [MA-\*321](<https://linear-a.ai/names/MA-*321/index.md>): Personal name, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino
- 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
- 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
- GORILA I: Godart, Louis; Olivier, Jean-Pierre (1976), Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A, volume 1: Tablettes éditées avant 1970 (GORILA I). École française d'Athènes (Études crétoises XXI, 1); Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/MA-ZU/
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.