Linear B Sign B083

It is an undeciphered Linear B sign, not a known syllable.

Scholars refer to it as *83; B083 is a catalogue label, not a word or pronunciation. Linear B is a syllabary: most signs represent a consonant followed by a vowel. It was used to write Mycenaean Greek, an early form of Greek, in Crete and parts of the mainland.

Linear B was modeled on the older Linear A. Linear A and Cretan Hieroglyphic, another script from Crete, probably descend from a shared earlier model. Surviving Linear B records date to roughly the 15th–12th centuries BCE; this dates the script’s surviving record, not the first appearance of *83. A 2021 review reports *83 in personal and place names, only in words up to three signs long. Scholars treat it as a likely Linear B invention, not a sign inherited from Linear A; those short contexts have not established its reading.

Someone sent me 𐁛—what does it mean?

Treat it as a reference to an undeciphered sign.

A reader who studies inscriptions can recognize *83 as a catalogue label; someone outside that field may see only an unfamiliar ancient sign. In a modern message, the sender may mean a historical reference or a design choice; the glyph itself does not settle which. Ask what prompted it before assigning it a word or feeling.