# RI-TA-MA (Ritmā)

> personal name, 'broom (bush)'

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

- Reading: Ritmā
- Confidence: Speculative. A proposed reading on a word too rare to test. Most occur only once.
- Root: [\*rtm](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/3626/index.md>) 'broom (Retama)'
- Kind: Personal name
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: RI (ri) · TA (ta) · MA (ma)

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: *rōtem* — rōtem 'broom' (1 Kgs 19:4); Ritmâ, a wilderness encampment (Num 33:18)
- Arabian: PN rtm, 'ratam, broom (plant)' (Harding 1971, 269)

## Attestations

- [HT 115a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT115a/index.md>): \*47-NU-RA-JA I GRA+BOSm RI-TA-MA — personal name, 'broom (bush)'

## Commentary

HT 115a .1–2 RỊ-TẠ-MẠ, all three signs underdotted in both copies, then NU-WI 2; the copie tabulaire joins RỊ-TẠ-MẠ-NU-WI, GORILA's note on .2 allows the divider (GORILA I 189). A person, as TI-NU-JA · NU-WI on HT 115b. rit-mā, TA's vowel echoing MA: Ritmâ, where Israel encamped (Num 33:18), beside NU-WI 'steppe-dweller'. Rival: Arabian rtm rathîm 'broken-nosed' (Harding 1971, 270), which needs TA for ṯ. One witness.

## In the onomasticon

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

## References

- Reading: di Mino; Harding 1971
- 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 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

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/RI-TA-MA/
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.