# SI-RU-TE (šīrūt)

> sacred song, hymnody (abstract in -ūt of √š-y-r "sing")

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

- Reading: šīrūt
- Confidence: Probable. Fits the word’s contexts and has a close external comparison, without an independent control.
- Root: [\*šVyVr-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/618/index.md>) 'sing'
- Kind: Ritual
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: SI (si) · RU (ru) · TE (te)
- Rank: #48 of the top 100

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: שִׁיר *šîr* — šîr (שִׁיר) "song" and šîrâ (שִׁירָה) "song"; plural šîrôt (Amos 8:3)
- Ugaritic: *šīru* — syllabic ši-i-ru /šīru/ "song" (Huehnergard 2012, 158)
- Akkadian: non-cognate semantic and morphological controls in -ūtu: kalûtu "the lament-singer's craft/repertoire," zammārūtu "music," and Old Babylonian nārūtu "musicianship"

## Attestations

- [IO Za 2](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/IOZa2/index.md>): SI-RU-TE TA-NA-RA-TE-U-TI-NU I-DA-\[?\] — sacred song
- [IO Za 14](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/IOZa14/index.md>): SI-RU-TE I-DI — sacred song
- [IO Za 15](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/IOZa15/index.md>): I-PI-NA-MA SI-RU-TE — sacred song
- [KO Za 1](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KOZa1/index.md>): I-PI-NA-MA SI-RU-TE — sacred song
- [SY Za 3](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/SYZa3/index.md>): A-TA-I-\*301-WA-\[ \]-KA-NA-\[ SI-RU-TE — sacred song
- [TL Za 1](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/TLZa1/index.md>): \[…\]NA-MA SI-RU\[…\] — sacred song
- [VRY Za 1](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/VRYZa1/index.md>): SI-RU-TE — sacred song

## Commentary

šīrūt 'sacred song', an abstract in -ūt from √š-y-r 'sing', 'sacred' from its ritual distribution: 7 tokens on stone vessels at five peak sanctuaries (Iouktas, Kophinas, Syme, Troullos, Vrysinas), fragmentary on IO Za 14, IO Za 15 and TL Za 1; PK Za 11 breaks after SI-RU-[. Ugaritic syllabic ši-i-ru /šīru/ 'song' gives the root and the long ī in the Bronze Age (Huehnergard 2012, 158). The plural šīrōt 'songs' (Amos 8:3) would be SI-RA-TE from *šīrāt or SI-RO-TE from šīrōt; Linear A keeps O and U apart (Steele 2024, 17), and the stone has RU wherever the sign survives (IO Za 2, KO Za 1, SY Za 3, VRY Za 1). TE writes final t with a support vowel, as in genitive position on AP Za 2 and PH Zb 4. Rival: širrūt 'cultic service' (√š-r-t), MHeb. šêrût, JArm. šêrûtā 'service, worship' (HALOT 1661), the Levites who stand 'to minister to him' (lĕšārĕtô, Deut 10:8) and the singers who 'ministered … with song' (1 Chr 6:17), Ph. mšrt 'service' (KAI 60.7–8; Krahmalkov 2000, s.v. MŠRT); Ugaritic šrd 'to serve' is 'more likely' Š of √yrd (Huehnergard 2012, 157). Weak point: after I-PI-NA-MA a genitive šīrūti is expected (Fischer 2002, §292).

## References

- Reading: di Mino; Huehnergard 2012; Steele 2024; HALOT; Krahmalkov 2000; Fischer 2002
- KAI: Donner, Herbert; Röllig, Wolfgang (2002), Kanaanäische und aramäische Inschriften. Band 1. Harrassowitz
- Huehnergard, John (2012), An Introduction to Ugaritic. Hendrickson
- Krahmalkov: Krahmalkov, Charles R. (2000), A Phoenician-Punic Dictionary. Peeters (Leuven)
- Steele, Philippa M. (2024), Exploring Writing Systems and Practices in the Bronze Age Aegean. Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1-78925-901-8 (hb), 978-1-78925-902-5 (digital). Online work CC BY 3.0
- Fischer, Wolfdietrich (2002), A Grammar of Classical Arabic. Yale Language Series,Yale University Press
- 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

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/SI-RU-TE/
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.