# NI > figs—commodity ideogram (FIC) A Linear A word in the Linear A Lexicon. The reading is a proposal and carries its tier. - Reading: none proposed - Confidence: Confirmed. The function is fixed inside the corpus (position, arithmetic, commodity signs). The etymology may still be a proposal. - Kind: Commodity - Language: Aegean, Aegean substrate - Signs: NI (ni) - Rank: #15 of the top 100 ## Compared forms - Linear B: NI 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): νικύλεον — νικύλεον 'fig' (Cretan gloss)—exact acrophonic source of /ni/ ## Attestations - [HT 30](): NI 7 ¹⁄₅ - [HT 6a](): DA-TA-RA TE NI 15 - [HT 27a](): NI 10 ¹⁄₃ — figs - [HT 28a](): NI 2 - [HT 28b](): NI 2 — figs - [HT 44a](): NI 1 — figs - [HT 44b](): NI - [HT 51a](): NI TE — figs - [HT 67](): NI TE 400 — figs - [HT 88](): NI KI-KI-NA 7 — figs - [HT 89](): NI 2 ¹⁄₄ - [HT 90](): NI 10 — figs - [HT 91](): NI ≈ ¹⁄₆ — figs - [HT 94a](): NI 3 ≈ ¹⁄₆ - [HT 96a](): \]-KU-MA-RO TE NI 20 — figs (commodity ideogram) - [HT 96b](): NI 2 ¹⁄₁₀ — figs (commodity ideogram) - [HT 99a](): NI 4 — figs - [HT 100](): NI 2 double mina — figs - [HT 103](): U-TA₂ NI 40 — figs (AB 30, FIC) - [HT 110a](): NI 15 - [HT 110b](): NI 1 ¹⁄₂ - [HT 111a](): NI - [HT 111b](): \]NI 1 - [HT 114a](): NI 1 — figs - [HT 121](): NI 2 — figs - [HT 125b](): NI 23 - [HT 129](): NI 22 — figs - [HT 130](): NI 6 - [HT 131a](): NI 62 — figs - [HT 131b](): NI 30 — figs - [HT 12](): NI 1 — figs - [HT 18](): NI 10 — figs - [HT 70](): \]NI TE 30\[ — figs (commodity ideogram) - [HT 147](): NI - [HT 154e](): NI 14 - [KH 1](): NI - [KH 5](): NI 2 𐝆𐝁 — figs (logogram), 2 with fractions - [KH 8](): \[\[NI\]\] \[\[¹⁄₂\]\] - [KH 9](): NI 𐝃𐝁 - [KH 11](): NI 1 - [KH 14](): NI ¹⁄₄ - [KH 15](): NI ¹⁄₂ — figs (commodity ideogram) - [KH 17](): NI - [KH 20](): NI ¹⁄₄ — figs (logogram), ¼ - [KH 21](): NI 2 - [KH 26](): NI 2 𐝃𐝋 - [KH 27](): NI - [KH 30](): NI 9 - [KH 34](): NI - [KH 55](): NI — figs (commodity ideogram) - [KH 58](): NI\[ - [KH 65](): NI - [KH 73](): NI 1 - [KH 75](): NI ¹⁄₃ - [KH 88](): QA-NU-MA \*21F-\*118 NI 10 — figs (commodity ideogram) - [KH 91](): NI\[ — figs (commodity ideogram) - [KH Zb 98](): NI - [KN Zb 35](): \]-JA-\[ \]-DI-\[ \]-WI-\[ \]OLE 100 NI 2 - [KN Zb \<39\>](): NI - [KN Zg 57a](): \*401+RO \*401+RO \*401+\*304 \*401+RU \*418+L2 \[…\] \[…\] \[…\] \[…\] NI \[…\] \[…\] \[…\] \[…\] VAS \[…\] \[…\] — figs (CONFIRMED ideogram) - [PH 14a](): JA-\*304 NI - [PH 1b](): \]NI 2 𐝄𐝇 - [ZA 1a](): KI-RE-ZA NI 42 ¹⁄₂ - [ZA 8](): A-TA-RE NI ¹⁄₂ — figs (logogram), ½ - [CR Zg 3](): VIN ≈ NI ≈ VIN+RA — figs (?) - [TEL Zb 1](): MU ≈ TELA+TE ≈ NI — figs ## 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). ## References - Reading: di Mino; Neumann 1957, 157–58; Montecchi 2024, 178; Salgarella et al. 2025, 38–39; V&C 1956 s.v. su-za - Neumann, G. (1957), Zur Sprache der kretischen Linearschrift A. Glotta,36,156–158 - Salgarella, Ester; Bellinato, Laura; Ferrara, Silvia (2025), On Aegean spices: decipherment prospects on Linear A and B spice-related signs. Kadmos,64/1–2,29–44 - Montecchi, Barbara (2024), Design and Origins of Linear A Picture-Based Signs. In S. Ferrara, B. Montecchi & M. Valério (eds.), Writing from Invention to Decipherment, Oxford University Press, pp. 171–188 --- Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/NI/ 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.