# SI-MA (šima)

> name, renown, progeny (common noun in construct state; also attested as personal name Šima = Shem)

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

- Reading: šima
- Confidence: Candidate. A comparison worth testing; the evidence is thin or the word is rare.
- Root: [\*(ʾi-)šim-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/621/index.md>) 'name'
- Kind: Personal name
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: SI (si) · MA (ma)
- Rank: Amorite-linked appendix

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: שֵׁם *šēm* — šēm (שֵׁם) "name, renown" (BDB 1027); personal name Shem (Gen 5:32)
- Ugaritic: 𐎌𐎎 *šm* — šm "name"
- Akkadian: *šumu* — šumu "name, offspring, progeny" (CAD Š/III 281); Amorite PN element: Sumu-abum "Progeny of the Father" (founder of 1st Dynasty of Babylon, c. 1894 BCE), Sumu-la-El "Progeny of God"
- Phoenician: 𐤔𐤌 *šm* — šm "name" (KAI)
- Arabic: *ism* — ism "name"

## Attestations

- [PH Zb 4](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/PHZb4/index.md>): SI-MA I-JA-TE — personal name ("Name/Renown/Progeny", = Shem; cf. Amorite Sumu-abum, Sumu-la-El)

## Commentary

PH Zb 4 (Phaistos, a clay vessel): SI-MA 𐄁 I-JA-TE. Either the common noun šima 'name of', in construct with I-JA-TE, šima ʾiyyate 'name of the island', or the personal name Šima, Shem, 'Name, Renown, Progeny', a person named on a commodity vessel, as DI-NA-U 𐄁 VIN on KN Zb 27. šumu- is the most productive element of Old Babylonian Amorite names (Sumu-abum, Sumu-la-El, Šumu-ditāna in Hammurabi's genealogy), and Amorite has the bare ŠU-MU-UM Šumum (Gelb 1980, no. 5941). Rival: the name Šimaʿ 'hear!', Ebla si-ma, three witnesses (Pagan 1998, row 4222). No case is assigned, since nothing here selects one (Fischer 2002, §140). One attestation. See JA-SU-MA-TU.

## Same root

- [JA-SU-MA-TU](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/JA-SU-MA-TU/index.md>) (yā Šumāt)
- [JA-DA-SU](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/JA-DA-SU/index.md>) (Yadaʿ-Šum)

## References

- Reading: di Mino; Gelb 1980; Pagan 1998
- KAI: Donner, Herbert; Röllig, Wolfgang (2002), Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften. Band 1. Harrassowitz
- AS 21: Gelb, Ignace J. (1980), Computer-aided Analysis of Amorite. Assyriological Studies 21,The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago
- Fischer, Wolfdietrich (2002), A Grammar of Classical Arabic. Yale Language Series,Yale University Press
- Pagan, Joseph M. (1998), Ebla Electronic Corpus: Onomastic Data Base. Undena Publications (1998 disk); HTML edition by G. Buccellati, IIMAS / Cybernetica Mesopotamica (2012)
- CAD Š/3: Oriental Institute (Erica Reiner, ed.) (1992), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 17, Š, part 3. The Oriental Institute, Chicago; J. J. Augustin, Glückstadt
- BDB: Brown, Francis; Driver, S. R.; Briggs, Charles A. (1907), A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, with an Appendix Containing the Biblical Aramaic. Houghton Mifflin Company

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/SI-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 50525edd.