- Reading
- none proposed
- Confidence
- Confirmed
- Root
- —
- Kind
- Commodity
- Language
- Aegean · Aegean substrate
- Rank
- #15 of the top 100
Compared forms
- Linear BNI ideogram = figs, anchored by the phonetic descriptor su-za on KN F 841 (V&C 1956: σῦκον ‘fig’); the Fs ration series HORD+NI+OLE(+VIN) directly continues the LA GRA+NI+OLE+VIN lists (KN Fs 2/4/8/17, PY Fn 187, PY Fg 253)
- Cretan Greek (Hesychius)νικύλεοννικύλεον ‘fig’ (Cretan gloss)—exact acrophonic source of /ni/
Attestations66 cited
Commentary
Figs. Linear B writes su-za, σῦκον, beside the same ideogram on KN F 841. The Linear A commodity signs OLE, VIN, GRA, VIR and OLIV keep their sense in Linear B. NI is the onset of *nikuleon. NI takes the small food-measure fractions ½ ⅓ ¼ ⅕ ⅙ ⅒ ¹⁄₁₆ ¹⁄₂₄ in 20 entries (HT 30 NI 7⅙; HT 94a NI 3¹⁄₁₆; KH 8 NI ½, erased), as Linear B measures figs in fractions on the Fs tablets. The sign draws a fig leaf or plant, AB 30, descended from CH 024. 66 documents carry it (HT 35, KH 22, KN 3, PH 2, ZA 2, CR 1, Tel Haror 1). It stands alone 76 times, 66% of them before a numeral, most often beside VIN (12), CYP (8) and GRA (4).