# OLE+NE (neseku)

> oil designated for ritual libation; sacred oil poured as an offering

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

- Reading: neseku
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*nVsVk-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/2715/index.md>) 'to pour a libation'
- Kind: Commodity
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: OLE+NE

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: *nesek* — nesek 'libation' (HALOT 703); at Bethel Jacob wayyassēk ʿālêhā nesek and poured oil on the pillar, Gen 35:14
- Ugaritic: *n-s-k* — /n-s-k/ 'to pour (out), spill' (DULAT 635)

## Attestations

- [HT 23a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT23a/index.md>): OLE+NE ≈ ¹⁄₆ — libation oil
- [HT 32](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT32/index.md>): OLE+NE 𐝆𐝇
- [HT 100](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT100/index.md>): OLE+NE ³⁄₄ — olive oil subtype NE
- [TY 3b](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/TY3b/index.md>): OLE+NE 2

## Commentary

OLE with the complement NE, on HT 23a, HT 32, HT 100 and TY 3b, at Haghia Triada and Tylissos, always in small quantities (¾, ≈⅙, 2 units), measured ritual portions. neseku 'libation': Akk. nasāku 'to pour a libation' (CAD N/2 26), Heb. נֶסֶךְ nesek 'libation, drink offering' (Num 15:5; Isa 48:5), √n-s-k, NE its first syllable. HT 32 issues it under a *307 dubur 'sanctuary' heading; on HT 23a OLE+NE, OLE+TU, OLE+RI and *308 stand at the same ≈⅙, a recipe of four oils; on TY 3b it is a minor entry (2 units) beside large quantities of OLE+MI, anointing oil. Rival: nēru 'lamp' (√n-w-r), lamp oil, against which tell the small quantities and the sanctuary contexts.

## References

- Reading: di Mino
- HALOT: Koehler, Ludwig; Baumgartner, Walter; Stamm, Johann Jakob; Richardson, M. E. J. (trans. and ed.) (1994), The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament, vols. I–IV. E. J. Brill, Leiden · New York · Köln
- 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
- CAD N/2: Oriental Institute (Erica Reiner, ed.) (1980), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 11, N, part 2. The Oriental Institute, Chicago; J. J. Augustin, Glückstadt

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/OLE~2BNE/
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 add28e94.