# RI-DA-U (Ridāyu)

> Ridāyu 'Helper, Escort' (personal name, hypocoristic)

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

- Reading: Ridāyu
- Confidence: Speculative. A proposed reading on a word too rare to test. Most occur only once.
- Root: [\*rVdVʾ-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/K0343/index.md>) 'pursue' 1, 'help' 2
- Kind: Personal name
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: RI (ri) · DA (da) · U (u)

## Compared forms

- Arabic: *ridʾ* — ridʾ 'a helper, an aider' (Lane 1065); ridʾan, Q 28:34
- Sabaic, Qatabanic: RDʾ, personal name, 'to aid, support' (Harding 1971, 275)
- Geez: *radʾ* — radʾ 'help, helper', radāʾi 'helper' (Dillmann)
- Eblaite: *|r-d-ʔ/y|* — |r-d-ʔ/y| 'to lead' in names: rí-dam-ma-lik, ìr-da-um, ìr-da-ma-lik (GlOS 2, 156)

## Attestations

- [LACH Za 1](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/LACHZa1/index.md>): \]-MI(?) RI-DA-U SE ³⁄₄ — personal name, 'Helper' (hypocoristic, as DI-NA-U Dīnāyu); rival a vessel or contents name

## Commentary

LACH Za 1, a limestone vessel from Tel Lachish, Level VI: ]-MI(?) · RI-DA-U · SE ¾, right to left, RI-DA-U whole between dividers (Finkelberg, Uchitel and Ussishkin 1996, 195–203). The frame of KN Zb 27 DI-NA-U · VIN 17, the closest parallel: name, commodity, number. Arb. ridʾ 'helper, aider' (Lane 1065), with U writing the hypocoristic -āyu as in DI-NA-U Dīnāyu, the ʾ unwritten. Hebrew Raddai (1 Chr 2:14) is the same name type. Rival: the name of a vessel or its contents, from ri-da-(wa)-*65 round *309 on TY 2 (GORILA V 76), groups the GORILA I reading does not keep. West Semitic names carry the root as 'to lead': Ebla rí-dam-ma-lik, ìr-da-um (GlOS 2, 156), Ugaritic rdn (DULAT 721), Akk. redû 'to accompany, lead'. Weak point: 'help' is the Arabic, Sabaic and Geʿez sense. RILA-S1 D 5 lists the inscription as doubtful. One attestation.

## In the onomasticon

- [RI-DA-U](<https://linear-a.ai/names/RI-DA-U/index.md>): Personal name, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino; Lane; Harding 1971; Finkelberg, Uchitel and Ussishkin 1996; GlOS 2; DULAT
- Harding, G. Lankester (1971), An Index and Concordance of Pre-Islamic Arabian Names and Inscriptions. Near and Middle East Series 8,University of Toronto Press
- GORILA V: Godart, Louis; Olivier, Jean-Pierre (1985), Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A, volume 5: Addenda, corrigenda, concordances, index et planches des signes (GORILA V). École française d'Athènes (Études crétoises XXI, 5); Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris
- 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
- Lane: Lane, Edward William (1863), An Arabic-English Lexicon. Williams and Norgate, London
- GORILA I: Godart, Louis; Olivier, Jean-Pierre (1976), Recueil des inscriptions en linéaire A, volume 1: Tablettes éditées avant 1970 (GORILA I). École française d'Athènes (Études crétoises XXI, 1); Librairie orientaliste Paul Geuthner, Paris
- 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
- Finkelberg, Margalit; Uchitel, Alexander; Ussishkin, David (1996), A Linear A Inscription from Tel Lachish (LACH Za 1). Tel Aviv,23,195–207

---

Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/RI-DA-U/
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.