Linear A to Japanese: u.di.mi to

· Linear A Lexicon


LinA words
u.di.mi | |

Greek words
Σύμη |

Japanese words (Hiragana)
うじみ | うす | うつ |

Japanese words (Kanji)
氏見 | |
伐つ |

Japanese words (Katakana)
ウシーミ |

Japanese words (Romaji)
ujimi | usu | utsu |

u.di.mi | うじみ (ujimi)
u.di.mi | 氏見 (ujimi) | † clan visitation

  • u.di | 氏 (uji, uji-, shi) | family name, surname; clan, lineage
  • mi | 見 (mi) | seeing, viewing

u.di.mi | † ウシーミ (ushiimi) > † Σύμη (Syme or Symi, Simi) | Symi island, Greece
HT 117 (HT Scribe 9) (Toponym)
The main definition for u.di.mi is found in a single surname; other meanings are inferred from other words. Just as 氏 uji has been shortened to shi, it is plausible that Simi, which is found in シーミトウ shiimitou “Simi (island)”, arises from a similar shortening of ウシーミ ushiimi. Although Symi is thought to be derived from scimmia “monkey”, my initial research does not find any evidence of monkey habitation on the island. More than likely, “Symi” is derived, instead, from 染み shimi “blotch, spot, stain”, especially as a descriptive term for 島 shima, an island in the middle of the ocean.  Clan visitation may be a reference to the Minoans and the Mycenaeans who used Symi as a staging area.
08.29.16 | うす (usu) * うつ (utsu) | 臼 (usu) | millstone, mortar | 伐つ (utsu) | to attack, to cut, to fell, to strike
HT 117 (HT Scribe 9) (Toponym)
In Minoan Crete, millstones were essential for grinding grain. Since millstones ideally comprise volcanic material, Minoan millstones would have been imported. Fortunately for historians, millstone composition is unique to each volcanic quarry. suggests Ušu, which, as the center of the ancient kingdom of Tyre, Lebanon, was located on the mainland adjacent to the island. Durward [1913:753] states that, at the time of his visit, Tyre was still exporting millstones from the Hauran region.



You are commenting using your account. Log Out / Change )

Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Google+ photo


Connecting to %s

%d bloggers like this: