DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.1793#0052
44 LINEAR SCRIPT B: THE PALACE ARCHIVES OF KNOSSOS
Greek version; and the royal names were the keystone of the decipherment of the Persian
cuneiform.
3. That both classes of tablets—name-lists and commodity transactions—presume personal agents.
Sign-groups followed by the 'man' sign, or 'woman' sign, must refer to individuals or com-
munities ; sign-groups so varied as the 'principal' groups on 'commodity' tablets are too numerous
for village-names, even in Crete 'of the hundred cities'.
Other considerations are submitted in examining the contents of the tablets, tending to support
the same hypothesis. It does not preclude the recognition of linguistic structure within the sign-
groups, and of prefixes and suffixes attached to verbal stems. Only by the probability that names—
or any other kinds of word—in the same position within the formula of a transaction must have the
same grammatical function, as agent, recipient, or the like, does it apply a test to all theories of gram-
matical 'cases'. For this test, the material is collected below in the Inventory, § E, among the
'principal' and 'subsidiary' word-groups of the numerous 'cattle' tablets.
The proof that many sign-groups are personal names is as follows:
1. As no other kind of proper name—villages, farms, or topographical units-—is so copious as the
many hundreds of names in these tablets would require, they must be names of individuals. Further,
the recurrence of the same name as 'principal' on one tablet and as 'subsidiary' on others precludes
such topographical meaning; only individuals could stand in these varied relations with each other,
as giver and receiver, principal and agent or witness, and the like.
2. Sign-groups followed by the 'man' sign in the long lists of persons numbered individually and
authenticated by a total-figure with the same 'man' sign, recur on 'commodity' tablets, both as 'prin-
cipal' sign-group, and sometimes as 'subsidiary' groups, which have been described as 'official'
because they recur on a whole series of tablets. This makes it certain that some at least of the
'principal' and 'subsidiary' sign-groups are personal names; and the uniform drafting of the large
classes of tablets within which these personal names recur makes it certain also that these whole
classes deal with personal transactions, and contain personal names in the corresponding places in
their formulae.
3. This proof is supported by the recurrence of elements from compound personal names in the
'man'-sign lists, as prefixes or suffixes within other sign-groups on 'commodity' tablets, which may
therefore be recognized as compounds, like the Ar/jito-, Aco-, 'Hpo-, 'Itttto-, -jutjStjs, -/cA.?/? names in
Greek, or J'eho-, Adoni- names in Hebrew, or Amen-, Ptah-, and -hotep names in Egyptian. This proof
is strongest when the identical element is the greater part of the group; but it is valid when any two
initial signs or more are the same. The argument from terminals is qualified by the consideration
that grammatical suffixes may occur (p. 49 below); but this is unlikely in a list of proper names,
which should all have the same grammatical form in the same context. Only in the short lists 749,
833> 875 do all the sign-groups happen to end in f.
4. They include words compounded with signs representing animals and occasionally other objects,
which give the impression of a rebus or type-parlant such as is common among personal names of all
languages: examples are ^ 4796; \^J 1419. 1, 1425. 1; ffpl 188; pjff 131; cf. 544, 756; Af'H
539-
5. Several groups are Lallnamen, repeating one syllable twice or thrice, in jest or endearment.
Greek version; and the royal names were the keystone of the decipherment of the Persian
cuneiform.
3. That both classes of tablets—name-lists and commodity transactions—presume personal agents.
Sign-groups followed by the 'man' sign, or 'woman' sign, must refer to individuals or com-
munities ; sign-groups so varied as the 'principal' groups on 'commodity' tablets are too numerous
for village-names, even in Crete 'of the hundred cities'.
Other considerations are submitted in examining the contents of the tablets, tending to support
the same hypothesis. It does not preclude the recognition of linguistic structure within the sign-
groups, and of prefixes and suffixes attached to verbal stems. Only by the probability that names—
or any other kinds of word—in the same position within the formula of a transaction must have the
same grammatical function, as agent, recipient, or the like, does it apply a test to all theories of gram-
matical 'cases'. For this test, the material is collected below in the Inventory, § E, among the
'principal' and 'subsidiary' word-groups of the numerous 'cattle' tablets.
The proof that many sign-groups are personal names is as follows:
1. As no other kind of proper name—villages, farms, or topographical units-—is so copious as the
many hundreds of names in these tablets would require, they must be names of individuals. Further,
the recurrence of the same name as 'principal' on one tablet and as 'subsidiary' on others precludes
such topographical meaning; only individuals could stand in these varied relations with each other,
as giver and receiver, principal and agent or witness, and the like.
2. Sign-groups followed by the 'man' sign in the long lists of persons numbered individually and
authenticated by a total-figure with the same 'man' sign, recur on 'commodity' tablets, both as 'prin-
cipal' sign-group, and sometimes as 'subsidiary' groups, which have been described as 'official'
because they recur on a whole series of tablets. This makes it certain that some at least of the
'principal' and 'subsidiary' sign-groups are personal names; and the uniform drafting of the large
classes of tablets within which these personal names recur makes it certain also that these whole
classes deal with personal transactions, and contain personal names in the corresponding places in
their formulae.
3. This proof is supported by the recurrence of elements from compound personal names in the
'man'-sign lists, as prefixes or suffixes within other sign-groups on 'commodity' tablets, which may
therefore be recognized as compounds, like the Ar/jito-, Aco-, 'Hpo-, 'Itttto-, -jutjStjs, -/cA.?/? names in
Greek, or J'eho-, Adoni- names in Hebrew, or Amen-, Ptah-, and -hotep names in Egyptian. This proof
is strongest when the identical element is the greater part of the group; but it is valid when any two
initial signs or more are the same. The argument from terminals is qualified by the consideration
that grammatical suffixes may occur (p. 49 below); but this is unlikely in a list of proper names,
which should all have the same grammatical form in the same context. Only in the short lists 749,
833> 875 do all the sign-groups happen to end in f.
4. They include words compounded with signs representing animals and occasionally other objects,
which give the impression of a rebus or type-parlant such as is common among personal names of all
languages: examples are ^ 4796; \^J 1419. 1, 1425. 1; ffpl 188; pjff 131; cf. 544, 756; Af'H
539-
5. Several groups are Lallnamen, repeating one syllable twice or thrice, in jest or endearment.