Linear A Sign A598

A598 is a composite sign, not a securely translated Minoan word. Unicode lists 𐙍 and 𐘣 as its components; SigLA names them AB131b + AB40. Those labels identify how the sign is catalogued, not a complete reading.

Linear A was a Bronze Age script in use c. 1800–1450 BCE, attested mainly on Crete and elsewhere in the Aegean. Its earliest secure attestation is placed in Middle Minoan IIA. As of 2026, that dates the script's record, not a secure first appearance for A598 itself.

People used Linear A for palace administration: clay tablets, roundels (receipt-like clay pieces) and sealings recorded goods and transactions. Inscriptions on stone, metal and pottery also appear in cultic and practical settings. These are the kinds of records where a sign like A598 belongs.

Is A598 a wine sign?

The wine reading belongs to its sign family. Scholars associate AB131b, the base component in the SigLA form 131b+WI, with the wine ideogram. Context supports that interpretation: this sign family appears before liquid measures in records. A598 adds AB040, so “wine” is not a proven one-word translation of the whole composite.

The archaeologist Arthur Evans compared AB131 with Near Eastern forms and interpreted it as a ship. Sundwall later proposed a wine reading by comparing it with an Egyptian vine sign. Later contextual readings favored wine.

The AB131 family is also compared with CH*156, a sign in Cretan Hieroglyphic, another writing system used on Crete. Variants also continue into Linear B, a later Aegean script used to write an early form of Greek. These links trace sign forms; they do not prove A598's Minoan meaning.

What does 𐜂 mean when someone sends it?

Treat it as a reference to Linear A, not a message. The sign has no secure conversational translation. If the sender means “wine,” the glyph alone cannot establish that; they need to say so in words.