# MU-RU (mūru)

> young bull, young animal

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

- Reading: mūru
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*muhr-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/2243/index.md>) 'foal'
- Kind: Commodity
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: MU (mu) · RU (ru)

## Compared forms

- Akkadian: *mūru* — mūru 'young animal; young bull; foal' (eBL mūru I; CAD M2 229–30)
- Ugaritic: 𐎎𐎗 *mr* — mr 'young of an animal, cub' (DULAT 562f.)
- Eblaite: mu-ra, mu-rí, names 'foal' (GlOS 2, 32)

## Attestations

- [HT 3](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT3/index.md>): MU-RU 1 — young bull
- [HT 46a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT46a/index.md>): MU-RU 1

## Commentary

HT 3 MU-RU 1 and HT 46a MU-RU 1, the latter before KU-RO 43½: whole units, as *23M counts whole animals. MU-RU spells mūru sign for sign, the proposed value of the *23M logogram: Akk. mūru 'foal; calf' (CAD M/2 229–230). Rival: √m-r-ʾ 'fatling', Ug. mrỉ (DULAT 563). Two attestations.

## Rival readings

- marʾ: 'lord, master' (Ug. mrʾ, Aram. mārē; Amorite MRʾ, Gelb AS 21 §0.7); needs MU for ma. NWS *marʾ- 'lord, master' (Ugaritic mrʾ, Aramaic mārē). MU=/mu/ for /m/, RU=/ru/ for /rʾ/ (guttural ʾ drops). On HT3 with qty 1 on personnel roster. Alternative: opaque PN. || Third attestation HT46a; Amorite MRʾ (Gelb AS 21 §0.7). Ug mrủ is 'fattened, fatling' (DULAT 563) and, as mrủ (III), an official (DULAT 564; Akk. murʔu); 'lord' is Aramaic mārē.

## Same root

- [\*23M](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/*23M/index.md>) (mūru)

## References

- Reading: di Mino; GlOS 2; CAD M/2; DULAT
- AS 21: Gelb, Ignace J. (1980), Computer-aided Analysis of Amorite. Assyriological Studies 21,The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
- 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
- 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
- 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

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/MU-RU/
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.