Linear A Sign AB122

It is the Linear A olive sign, conventionally glossed “olives.”

In scholarly transcriptions, AB 122, also labeled OLIV, marks olives as a commodity. The label names the apparent thing recorded; it does not give the sign’s ancient sound or the word used for it by people on Bronze Age Crete.

The earliest secure Linear A records date to the end of the nineteenth century BCE. That is the script’s attestation, not a known first appearance for AB122.

Why does AB122 appear in olive records?

It marks olives as an agricultural commodity in records.

Linear A was used in Bronze Age Crete for administrative writing: tablets, roundels (small clay disks), and sealings recorded goods and transactions. AB122 appears among commodity entries, while a separate sign, A 302, marks olive oil. A 2025 study also examines non-administrative records and joined forms, called ligatures, A 518 and A 587, relating their distribution to olive exploitation and palace institutions.

AB122 also appears in discussion of a stone libation table from Palaikastro, an object used for ritual pouring. This shows the sign could occur outside administrative records; the ritual setting does not by itself change its commodity gloss.

How should I read 𐙋 in a message?

Name it as Linear A AB122 and explain “olives.”

A bare 𐙋 in a modern message does not identify olives on its own. If that meaning matters, name the script and say it is conventionally glossed as “olives”; the glyph otherwise works best as a historical-script citation or writing sample.