# TA-RA (ṯa(ġ)ra)

> gatekeepers (of the sanctuary); rival Akkadian tārû 'child-minder'

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

- Reading: ṯa(ġ)ra
- Confidence: Speculative. A proposed reading on a word too rare to test. Most occur only once.
- Root: [\*ŝₓaʕar-](<https://linear-a.ai/roots/677/index.md>) 'gate'
- Kind: Personnel
- Language: Semitic
- Signs: TA (ta) · RA (ra)

## Compared forms

- Ugaritic: 𐎘𐎙𐎗 *ṯġr* — ṯġr (II) 'gatekeeper', pl. ṯġrm, in personnel and ration lists (KTU 4.126:22; 4.141 III 2; 4.128:11)
- Eblaite: *taggārum* — /taggārum/ 'gatekeeper' (VE 269)
- Hebrew: שֹׁעֵר *šōʿēr* — שֹׁעֵר šōʿēr 'gatekeeper'
- Aramaic: תָּרָעַיָּא *tārāʿayyāʾ* — תָּרָעַיָּא tārāʿayyāʾ 'gatekeepers' (Ezra 7:24)
- Akkadian: *tārû/tāriu* — tārû/tāriu 'child-minder, male nursemaid or fosterer' (rival)

## Attestations

- [HT 89](<https://linear-a.ai/texts/HT89/index.md>): TA-RA 5

## Commentary

HT 89 TA-RA 5, last of five classes under A-SA-RA₂ · *307 (dubur 'sanctuary'), KU-RO 87. /ṯa(ġ)ra/ from *ṯaġr- 'gate', ṯ written in the T-series before a and ġ unwritten: Ug. ṯġr 'gatekeeper', a personnel class with grain rations (DULAT 888); the gatekeepers of the house of God beside MA-I-MI's water-drawers (Ezra 7:24). Cf. TA 4, last entry before KU-RO on HT 94a (entries 111 against KU-RO 110), and ]TA 4 before ]KU-RO 129 on HT 109, broken on the left. Rival: Akkadian tārû 'male nursemaid' (CAD T 250), which predicts TA-RU. One witness.

## In the onomasticon

- [TA-RA](<https://linear-a.ai/names/TA-RA/index.md>): Title, Semitic

## References

- Reading: di Mino; DULAT; Uchitel 2006; SED II; CAD T
- KTU: Dietrich, Manfried; Loretz, Oswald; Sanmartín, Joaquín (2013), Die keilalphabetischen Texte aus Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani und anderen Orten / The Cuneiform Alphabetic Texts from Ugarit, Ras Ibn Hani and Other Places (KTU³). Ugarit-Verlag, Münster (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 360/1); ISBN 978-3-86835-014-2
- VE: Pettinato, Giovanni (1982), Testi lessicali bilingui della biblioteca L. 2769. Parte 1: Traslitterazione dei testi e ricostruzione del VE. Materiali epigrafici di Ebla 4,Istituto Universitario Orientale
- SED II: Militarev, Alexander; Kogan, Leonid (2005), Semitic Etymological Dictionary, Vol. II: Animal Names. Ugarit-Verlag, Münster (Alter Orient und Altes Testament 278/2)
- 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
- CAD T: Oriental Institute (Erica Reiner, ed.) (2006), The Assyrian Dictionary of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, vol. 18, T. The Oriental Institute, Chicago
- Uchitel, Alexander (2006), Listing by Age and Occupation in Minoan Linear A. Kadmos,45,De Gruyter (volume dated 2006, issued 2007),73–81

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Page: https://linear-a.ai/lexicon/TA-RA/
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.