# OLE+TA (ṭābu)

> fine-grade olive oil; 'good oil' as an administrative quality designation

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

- Reading: ṭābu
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*ṭayb-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/2494/index.md>) 'good' 1, 'perfume' 2
- Kind: Commodity
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: OLE · TA (ta)

## Compared forms

- Ugaritic: *šmn ṭb* — šmn ṭb 'perfumed (good) oil', KTU 4.738:4 (DULAT 873)
- Hebrew: *kaššemen haṭṭôb* — kaššemen haṭṭôb 'like the good oil', Ps 133:2; ṭôb 'good' (HALOT 370)
- Akkadian: *ṭābu* — ṭābu 'good, sweet, fresh' (CAD Ṭ 19); šamnu ṭābu 'sweet oil' (HALOT 371)
- Amorite: *ṭābum* — ṭābum 'good' (Gelb AS 21, 35)

## Attestations

- [HT 30](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT30/index.md>): OLE+TA 𐝓
- [HT 35](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT35/index.md>): OLE+TA
- [KH 19](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KH19/index.md>): OLE+TA ¹⁄₃
- [KH 39](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KH39/index.md>): OLE+TA
- [KH 55](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KH55/index.md>): OLE+TA ¹⁄₃ — fine-grade olive oil ('good oil')
- [KH 61](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KH61/index.md>): OLE+TA 𐝉𐝫
- [KH 85](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KH85/index.md>): OLE+TA ¹⁄₂

## Commentary

OLE with the complement TA, on HT 30 and HT 35 at Haghia Triada and on KH 19, 39, 55, 61 and 85 at Khania, in small fractions (⅕, ⅓, ½, 𐝓), a premium grade issued in measured amounts. ṭābu 'good': Akk. ṭābu, Heb. ṭōb, Ug. ṭb, TA writing ṭa as its first syllable. Ugarit issues šmn ṭb 'good oil' (KTU 4.14, 4.91, 4.158), and Ebla writes Ì.DU₁₀ = sa-ma-nu-um da-bù samnum ṭābu 'good oil', D for ṭ (GlOS 2, 311). See DA-I-PI-TA.

## Same root

- [DA-I-PI-TA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/DA-I-PI-TA/index.md>) (Ṭayyibat)
- [TU-PA-DI-DA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/TU-PA-DI-DA/index.md>) (ṭūb-dida)

## References

- Reading: di Mino; GlOS 2
- KTU: Dietrich, Manfried; Loretz, Oswald; Sanmartín, Joaquín (2013), Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani und anderen Orten / The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places (KTU³). Ugarit-Verlag, Münster (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 360/1); ISBN 978-3-86835-014-2
- AS 21: Gelb, Ignace J. (1980), Computer-aided Analysis of Amorite. Assyriological Studies 21,The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
- 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 Ṭ: Oriental Institute (Martha T. Roth, ed.) (2006), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 19, Ṭ. The Oriental Institute, Chicago
- 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/OLE~2BTA/
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.