# MI-DA-RU-RA (midrara)

> dust, ashes, dry earth (second accusative after √k-s-y 'cover')

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

- Reading: midrara
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*midr- ~ \*ramad-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/2470/index.md>) 'dust, dirt, ashes'
- Kind: Ritual
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: MI (mi) · DA (da) · RU (ru) · RA (ra)

## Compared forms

- Arabic: مَدَرَة *madarah* — madarah (مَدَرَة) 'clod of dry earth, clay' (Lane 2700)
- Emar: *ma-da-ri* — ma-da-ri 'field', the etymon of Syriac mdr 'soil, dust' (Pentiuc 2001, 117; GlOS 2, 30)

## Attestations

- [ARKH Zf 9](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/ARKHZf9/index.md>): JA-KI-SI-KI-NU MI-DA-RU-RA — dust, ashes, dry earth

## Commentary

ARKH Zf 9 (Arkhanes, a bronze votive object), word 2 of JA-KI-SI-KI-NU <> MI-DA-RU-RA; RILA rereads GORILA's MI-DA-MA-RA₂, sign 3 as RU (AB 26) and sign 4 as RA (AB 27). midrara 'dust, ashes', the second accusative after JA-KI-SI-KI-NU *yaksīkīnū 'May he cover you!': 'May he cover you with dust and ashes!' 'Cover, clothe' takes two accusatives, person and covering (Fischer 2002, §374a: albasanī ṯiyābahu 'He clothed me in his garments'), so the -a has its governor; the final RA writes either that accusative -a on a root-final r, *midr-a, or the geminate rr of an intensive *midrar-. Ashes and dust serve penance and purification, both fit for a votive bronze: sitting in ashes (Jonah 3:6), the red heifer's ashes (Num 19:17), dust on the head in mourning (Job 2:12), ashes in lament (2 Sam 13:19), rolling in ashes, בָּאֵפֶר יִתְפַּלָּשׁוּ (Ezek 27:30), sackcloth and ashes, וַיִּלְבַּשׁ שַׂק וָאֵפֶר (Esth 4:1), Abraham's עָפָר וָאֵפֶר 'dust and ashes' (Gen 18:27), and פְּאֵר תַּחַת אֵפֶר 'beauty instead of ashes' (Isa 61:3). One attestation.

## References

- Reading: di Mino; Pentiuc 2001; GlOS 2
- Fischer, Wolfdietrich (2002), A Grammar of Classical Arabic. Yale Language Series,Yale University Press
- Lane: Lane, Edward William (1863), An Arabic-English Lexicon. Williams and Norgate, London
- GlOS 2: Sanmartín, Joaquín (2024), A Glossary of Old Syrian, Volume 2: l – z. Languages of the Ancient Near East 8/2,Eisenbrauns (Pennsylvania State University Press), University Park
- Pentiuc, Eugen J. (2001), West Semitic Vocabulary in the Akkadian Texts from Emar. Harvard Semitic Studies 49,Eisenbrauns, Winona Lake, Indiana

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/MI-DA-RU-RA/
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.