ZE

seed-grain (agricultural category marker for planting stock allocations)

𐘼ZEAB741 entries
clay tagDrag to turn
Reading
zēru
Confidence
Candidate
Root
*ʒVry/ʾ/ʕ- ~ *ǯVry/ʾ/ʕ 1, *ʒry/wʾ/ʕ ~ *ǯry/w/ʾ/ʕ 2 ‘seed, sowing, sown field’ 1, ‘to sow…’
Kind
Administrative
Language
Semitic
Rank
—

Compared forms

  • Akkadianzēruzēru ‘seed, acreage, semen, descendants’ (CAD Z 89)
  • Ugariticd/ḏrʕd/ḏrʕ ‘seed, seed-grain, sowing’ (DULAT 278)
  • Hebrewzeraʿzeraʿ ‘seed, offspring’ (HALOT 282)
  • Phoenician𐤆𐤓𐤏zrʿzrʿ ‘seed, offspring’ (Krahmalkov 174)
  • AmoriteḎRʿ ‘sow, seed’: jaḏraʿ, ḏarʿum (Gelb AS 21, 18)

Attestations47 cited

  1. HT 16SA-PO ZE ¹⁄₁₆
  2. HT Wa 1282ZE
  3. HT Wa 1283ZE
  4. HT Wa 1284ZE
  5. HT Wa 1285ZE
  6. HT Wa 1286ZE
  7. HT Wa 1287ZE
  8. HT Wa 1288ZE

Commentary

HT 16, under KA-KU-PA: SA-PO ZE ¹⁄₁₆, the smallest quantity on the tablet. ZE alone marks 40 HT nodules (HT Wa 1282–1321) and six Khania nodules (KH Wa 1005–1010), a seed-grain category beside GRA. zēru ‘seed’: Akk. zēru ‘seed (of cereals and of other plants), acreage’ (CAD Z 89), Heb. zeraʿ ‘seed’ (HALOT 282), Ph. zrʿ, Aram. zəraʿ. Ebla has ðerʕ ‘seed’ with the same e (zi-ir-ḫu; GlOS 1, 167). Weak point: ZE stands alone, and only its context ties it to seed. See *305-RU.

On the 3D inscriptions

Not written on any of the 82 inscriptions modelled so far.

Linear A Lexicon