ZA

Status: conventional. The conventional value carried over from Linear B.

Phonetic value

FieldValue
Value/za/
Alternates/sa/, /ṣa/, /ša/, /ṯa/, /ḏa/
Linear BB 17, value za
Linear B UnicodeU+1003C LINEAR B SYLLABLE B017 ZA
Neutralization classS

Alternate values

ValueConfidenceEvidence
/sa/Second value of the same sign, not a rival: ME-ZA massu, MA-ZA mazza, U-*325-ZA ʾubūs, MI-ZA-SE, O-KA-MI-ZA-SI-I-NA Ukammis-Sîn. Cuneiform ZA writes ṣa, za, sà (Huehnergard 2011, 574); at Ugarit Z-signs write z, s and ṣ (Huehnergard 2008, 199)
/ṣa/Second value of the same sign: one cuneiform sign writes za and ṣa (Huehnergard 2011, 2; 574); Ugarit ZA writes ṣ (Huehnergard 2008, 199)
/ša/Second value of the same sign: the S-class sibilants share signs, as SA writes s and š; one letter writes š and ś in Hebrew (Steiner 1997, 148)
/ṯa/Second value of the same sign: U-DE-ZA Ḥudaṯu (Ugar. PN ḥdṯ, DULAT 351). The Z-row writes ṯ, as ZU does; sibilant signs write Ugaritic ṯ, ḥdθn = ḫu-ud!-ša-nu (Huehnergard 2008, 230); ṯ merged with š in Phoenician (Huehnergard 2012, 20; Steiner 1997, 147)
/ḏa/Second value of the same sign: ZA-TI zāt. Ugarit amḏy = ᵘʳᵘam-mi-ZA (Huehnergard 2008, 224); *ḏ > z in Akkadian and Hebrew (Huehnergard 2011, 587; Steiner 1997, 147)

Forms cited for the value

  • Linear B projection

Lexicon words written with this sign

WordProposed readingConfidence
A-*325-ZAʾabūs(a)Candidate
A-DU-ZAʾAddu-ʿazzSpeculative
DU-RE-ZA-SEturēṯa-seCandidate
MA-TI-ZA-I-TEMatiʿ-zaytiSpeculative
MA-ZAmazzaSpeculative
ME-ZAmassuCandidate
MI-ZA-SEmizza-seSpeculative
O-KA-MI-ZA-SI-I-NAUkammis-SînSpeculative
RE-ZA(ʾa)razSpeculative
TA-SA-ZAtaḫsazSpeculative
TA-TE-I-KE-ZA-REṯāt ʾikezzerSpeculative
TU-MI-TI-ZA-SEtumtiṣa-seSpeculative
U-*325-ZAʾubūs(a)Candidate
U-DE-ZAḤudaṯuCandidate
ZA-TIzātCandidate

Updated 24 October 2026

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Linear A Lexicon