# SU-PU (sapu)

> bowl, basin (the vessel named on HT31)

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

- Reading: sapu
- Confidence: Confirmed. The function is fixed inside the corpus (position, arithmetic, commodity signs). The etymology may still be a proposal.
- Root: [\*sapp-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/311/index.md>) 'kind of vessel'
- Kind: Vessel
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: SU (su) · PU (pu)
- Rank: #10 of the top 100
- First proposed by Cyrus H. Gordon, Evidence for the Minoan Language (1966), §115, §139

## Compared forms

- Hebrew: סַף *sap* — sap (סַף) 'basin, goblet, bowl' (HALOT 762)
- Ugaritic: 𐎒𐎔 *sp* — sp 'bowl' (DULAT 753)
- Phoenician: 𐤎𐤐 *sp* — sp 'bowl' (DULAT 753)
- Old Syrian: Mari sà-ap-pu sapp 'a type of bowl' (GlOS 2, 203)

## Attestations

- [HT 31](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT31/index.md>): \*415-VS-SU-PU 10 — bowl, basin

## Commentary

On HT 31, the vessel tablet, the word is written into a vessel sign: *415-VS-SU-PU 10, beside *416-VS-KA-RO-PA₃ 10 (the jar, Akkadian karpu) and *402-VS-QA-PA₃ 10. sapu 'bowl, basin': Heb. sap (HALOT 762), Ug. and Ph. sp 'bowl' (DULAT 753), Mari sà-ap-pu (GlOS 2, 203); a bowl, which also keeps HT 31's two vessels distinct. See SU-PU₂-*188.

## Same root

- [SU-PU₂-\*188](<https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/SU-PU~E2~82~82-*188/index.md>) (sapu buṭni)

## References

- Reading: Gordon 1966 §115; HALOT; DULAT; GlOS 2
- Gordon, Cyrus H. (1966), Evidence for the Minoan Language. Ventnor Publishers,68
- 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
- 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

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/SU-PU/
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.