# PA₃-NI-WI (bānīy)

> the builder (nisba/gentilic)

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

- Reading: bānīy
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*bVn-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/649/index.md>) 'build' 1, 'create' 2
- Kind: Personnel
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: PA₃ (pa₃) · NI (ni) · WI (wi)

## Compared forms

- Ugaritic: 𐎁𐎐𐎊 *bny* — bny 'architect, builder; maker, creator' (DULAT 231)
- Akkadian: *bānû* — bānû B 'housebuilder' (CAD B 95)
- Hebrew: Bānî, PN, bənê bānî, Ezra 2:10 (HALOT 139)
- Amorite: PN BANIJ-IM (Gelb AS 21 no. 1128); bānijum (Gelb AS 21, 16)

## Attestations

- [SY Za 4](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/SYZa4/index.md>): A-TA-I-\*301-WA-JA JA-I-NWA-RO PA₃-NI-WI — the Builder

## Commentary

SY Za 4, the Syme libation formula, beside A-TA-I-*301-WA-JA and JA-I-NWA-RO. √b-n-y 'build' with the NWS gentilic *-iy, written -WI: bānīy 'the builder'. The same nisba closes DU-RU-WI (*ḏu-luwwī 'the Levite', 'the attached one') and U-RE-WI (*ʾūr-lēwī), occupational adjectives from the gentilic *-iyy-; Linear A writes the glide of /iy/ as WI, where Hebrew contracts it to -î. The Merarite Levite Bānî (בָּנִי, 1 Chr 6:31) bears the name. RILA-S1 underdots WI and rates PA₃-NI-PI less plausible (RILA-S1 84). One attestation. See PA₃-NI.

## Same root

- [PA₃-NI-NA](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/PA~E2~82~83-NI-NA/index.md>) (banīna)
- [PA₃-NI](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/PA~E2~82~83-NI/index.md>) (bānī)

## In the onomasticon

- [PA₃-NI-WI](<https://linear-a.ai/names/PA~E2~82~83-NI-WI/index.md>): Title, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino
- 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 B: Oriental Institute (A. Leo Oppenheim and Erica Reiner, eds.) (1965), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 2, B. The Oriental Institute, Chicago; J. J. Augustin, Glückstadt

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/PA~E2~82~83-NI-WI/
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.