Linear B sign B079

Its sound is unresolved; “zu?” is only a proposal. As of 2026, Linear B scholarship lists the sign as *79 without an accepted syllable value. The asterisk marks an uncertain reading; 79 identifies the sign in the scholarly inventory. B079 is its modern Unicode inventory label, not an ancient sign name.

Linear B is a syllabic script—a writing system whose signs usually represent syllables—used for palace administration in Bronze Age Crete and mainland Greece. Its earliest known examples are associated with Knossos around 1450 BCE. Linear B was adapted from Linear A; Cretan Hieroglyphic and Linear A belong to the older Aegean writing landscape.

Why is *79 different from “zu?”

The number identifies a sign; “zu?” suggests a sound. In transcriptions, an asterisk before a sign number marks an uncertain reading; a question mark after a proposed value marks that value as tentative. Keep them distinct: *79 is the catalog reference, while “zu?” is a possible phonetic reading, not a translation.

The tablet sequence A-*79 has been discussed as either a woman's name or a place-name; the tablet's format affects that interpretation. If someone sends 𐁙 alone, treat it as a Linear B reference and ask whether they mean the catalog label or a proposed sound.