MI+JA+RU

myrrh (murru), compound logogram

𐘻MIAB7345 entries𐘱JAAB5774 entries𐘘RUAB2645 entries
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Reading
murru
Confidence
Candidate
Root
*marār- ‘bitter’ 1, ‘myrrh’ 2
Kind
Commodity
Language
Semitic
Rank
—

Compared forms

  • Akkadianmurrumurru "myrrh, bitter resin" (CAD M/2 222; OB medical/ritual texts, c. 2000–1600 BCE)
  • Hebrewמֹרmōrmōr (מֹר) "myrrh" (Exod 30:23, Song 1:13, 3:6, 4:6)
  • Aramaicmurrāmurrā "myrrh"
  • Arabicmurrmurr "myrrh, bitter"
  • Egyptianmꜣrwmꜣrw "myrrh" (attested from 2400 BCE, imported from Punt)
  • Greekmyrrha (μύρρα)—Semitic loan
  • Ugaritic𐎎𐎗mrmr ‘myrrh’ (DULAT 561f.)
  • AmarnaŠIM.ZAR.MEŠ : mu-ur-ra, a Canaanite gloss (GlOS 2, 49)

Attestations8 cited

  1. HT 23aMI+JA+RU ≈ ¹⁄₆myrrh
  2. HT 23bMI+JA+RUcomposite, as HT23a
  3. HT 32MI+JA+RU 1
  4. HT 35MI+JA+RU ¹⁄₃
  5. HT 81A-SE MI+JA+RU ≈ ¹⁄₆
  6. KH 12MI+JA+RU ¹⁄₂
  7. KH 36KA MI+JA+RU 4
  8. KH 60MI+JA+RU ¹⁄₅

Commentary

A ligature of three signs, on eight tablets at two sites (HT 5, KH 3), always in sequences of oils and aromatics beside *308 šamnu, OLE+NE, OLE+RI, OLE+TA, CYP and VIN, in the small fractions of aromatics (⅙, ⅓, ½). murru ‘myrrh’, from pan-Semitic √m-r-r ‘bitter’; three signs for a two-consonant root make the compound ideographic, not phonetic. Exod 30:23 mōr-dərōr heads the anointing-oil recipe, the place MI+JA+RU takes in the Linear A aromatic lists, and the Uluburun wreck (c. 1300 BCE) carried aromatic resins between the Levant and the Aegean. ME-MI-JA-RU on ZA Zg 35 is a prefixed form. See MA-RI-RE-I.

On the 3D inscriptions

Not written on any of the 82 inscriptions modelled so far.

Linear A Lexicon