# SU (šaḫū)

> pig (livestock commodity)

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

- Reading: šaḫū
- Confidence: Probable. Fits the word’s contexts and has a close external comparison, without an independent control.
- Root: š-ḫ-w (Sumerian šaḫ; CAD Š/1 102)
- Kind: Animal
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: SU (su)
- Rank: #51 of the top 100

## Compared forms

- Akkadian: *šaḫû* — šaḫû 'pig', Sum. lw., wr. ŠAḪ (CAD Š/1 102; AHw 1133)
- Hebrew: ḥazīr (different root—NWS replaced Akk. term)
- Arabic: ḫinzīr (different root—PS *ḫinzīr-)
- Ugaritic: polyglot list [ŠA]Ḫ = še-ḫu-ú = ú-ḫi = ḫu-zi-rù: Akk. šaḫû beside local ḫuzīr (GlOS 1, 277)

## Attestations

- [HT 115a](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT115a/index.md>): SU 2 ¹⁄₅ — pig, 2 ⅙[
- [HT 37](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT37/index.md>): KA-KI SU\[
- [KH 11](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KH11/index.md>): SU 3
- [KH 22](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KH22/index.md>): ZA SU 7
- [KH 24](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KH24/index.md>): SU 12
- [KH 63](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/KH63/index.md>): SU 10 — pigs (logogram)
- [ZA 16](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/ZA16/index.md>): SU 4

## Commentary

A logogram, the first syllable of šaḫū 'pig'; the pictographic ancestor of AB 58 is a pig or boar (CH 035; Ferrara 2022). Seven standalone occurrences at three sites (KH 4, HT 2, ZA 1), most followed by numerals; HT 115a's fraction (2 ¹⁄₅) marks a measured commodity, meat by weight, not a head count. On KH 11 it stands with VIN, NI, SI and CYP. Akk. šaḫû, a Sumerian loanword: the ḫ is unwritten and šaū contracts to šū. Linear B parted the pig logogram (*85 SUS₂) from the syllabogram B 58, so AB 58 served both in Linear A. Rival: NWS ḫuzīr (PS 2170 *ḫV(n)zīr-), Mari names ḫu-zi-ra-nu-um, ḫu-zi-ra-tum 'sow' (GlOS 1, 277).

## References

- Reading: di Mino; Ferrara 2022; GlOS 1; CAD; AHw
- AHw: von Soden, Wolfram (1981), Akkadisches Handwörterbuch, Bd. I–III. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden
- Ferrara, Silvia; Montecchi, Barbara; Valério, Miguel (2022), The Relationship between Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A: A Palaeographic and Structural Approach. Pasiphae,16,Fabrizio Serra Editore,81–109
- CAD Š/1: Oriental Institute (Erica Reiner, ed.) (1989), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 17, Š, part 1. The Oriental Institute, Chicago
- GlOS 1: Sanmartín, Joaquín (2019), A Glossary of Old Syrian, Volume 1: ʔ – ḳ. Languages of the Ancient Near East 8/1,Eisenbrauns (Pennsylvania State University Press), University Park

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