{ "id": "epe3x4e1k0", "slug": "nu", "title": "Nu", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society" }, { "id": "society.language", "label": "Languages and linguistics", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.language" }, { "id": "society.language.writing", "label": "Writing and notation systems", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.language.writing" }, { "id": "society.language.writing.writing.ancient_aegean", "label": "Mediterranean, Italic, and undeciphered ancient scripts", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/society.language.writing.writing.ancient_aegean" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate.society.language", "label": "Non-geographic · Not dated: Languages and linguistics", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate.society.language", "path": [ { "id": "geo.nongeo", "label": "Non-geographic", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo" }, { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate", "label": "Non-geographic · Not dated", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate" }, { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate.society", "label": "Society and history", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate.society" }, { "id": "geo.nongeo.nodate.society.language", "label": "Languages and linguistics", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.nongeo.nodate.society.language" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Nu (B055, 𐀝) is the Linear B syllabogram with the value /nu/, one of five n-series CV signs used to write Mycenaean Greek c. 1450–1200 BCE; encoded at Unicode U+1001D, with a rare proposed Linear A counterpart.", "snippet": "Nu (B055, 𐀝) is the Linear B syllabogram with the value /nu/, one of five n-series CV signs used to write Mycenaean Greek c. 1450–1200 BCE; encoded at Unicode U+1001D, with a rare proposed Linear A counterpart.", "node": "society.language.writing.writing.ancient_aegean", "markdown": "# Nu\n\n**Nu** ([Linear B](https://www.edgepedia.org/linear-b) syllable B055, written 𐀝) is a syllabic sign of the Linear B script with the phonetic value /nu/, one of the five signs in the script's n-series of consonant-plus-vowel syllables.[1](https://www.unicodecharacter.org/block/linear-b-syllabary) Linear B is a syllabic writing system used on Crete and parts of the nearby mainland to write the oldest recorded variety of the [Greek language](https://www.edgepedia.org/greek-language), [Mycenaean Greek](https://www.edgepedia.org/mycenaean-greek), from about 1450 bce until the end of the Mycenaean period around 1200 bce.[2](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode16.0.0/core-spec/chapter-8/) • [3](https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198908746.003.0005)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Sign and value | Linear B Syllable B055, Unicode U+1001D 𐀝, value /nu/[1](https://www.unicodecharacter.org/block/linear-b-syllabary) |\n| Series | One of five n-series signs: na (B006), ne (B024), ni (B030), no (B052), nu (B055)[1](https://www.unicodecharacter.org/block/linear-b-syllabary) |\n| Script type | Syllabic; phonetic signs represent a consonant plus a vowel, or a vowel alone[2](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode16.0.0/core-spec/chapter-8/) |\n| Language and period | Used for Mycenaean Greek, c. 1450–1200 bce[3](https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198908746.003.0005) |\n| Sign inventory | 87 known syllabic signs, plus free variants, unidentified signs, numerals, and ideograms[2](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode16.0.0/core-spec/chapter-8/) |\n| Linear A counterpart | A same-shaped sign in Linear A carries the proposed value nu, attested on 2 of 695 documents with a word list[4](https://www.lineara.eu/words/nu/) |\n\n## Place in the syllabary\n\nLinear B signs mostly represent open syllables of the type consonant plus vowel, and nu belongs to the row of signs sharing the consonant n with the five vowels a, e, i, o, and u.[2](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode16.0.0/core-spec/chapter-8/) • [1](https://www.unicodecharacter.org/block/linear-b-syllabary) The script's phonetic inventory was not designed for Greek, which has consonant clusters and final consonants that a CV syllabary cannot write directly; scribes coped by omitting consonants, inserting vowels, or using approximating sequences.[5](https://didyeah.com/facts/mycenaean-scribes-used-syllables-not-alphabet-letters) Alongside the basic CV signs the syllabary includes a small number of extra signs for consonant plus semivowel plus vowel, such as nwa (B048), and the same sequence could alternatively be spelled out with separate signs, for example nu-wa.[1](https://www.unicodecharacter.org/block/linear-b-syllabary) • [6](https://mufi.info/mufi/pdfs/ALPHABETUM_v15_manual.pdf)\n\nThe syllabary as a whole is well established: of its 87 syllabic signs, 14 still have no sound values assigned, so nu belongs to the majority whose values are secure.[7](https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/31dc97fe-c2f4-4a51-b4e0-329526ceddb0) Its value was fixed during [Michael Ventris](https://www.edgepedia.org/michael-ventris)'s decipherment of Linear B, announced with John Chadwick in a joint 1953 publication, which established that the script wrote Greek.[2](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode16.0.0/core-spec/chapter-8/)\n\n## Use in texts\n\nAs a phonetic sign, nu served to spell names and vocabulary words on tablets that are overwhelmingly inventories of commodities and accounting records; the majority of known inscriptions are of this administrative and economic kind.[2](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode16.0.0/core-spec/chapter-8/) • [3](https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198908746.003.0005) The latest surviving tablets, which contain such spellings, date from the mid- to late thirteenth century BCE and predate Homeric Greek by some 700 years.[2](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode16.0.0/core-spec/chapter-8/)\n\n## The Linear A counterpart\n\nLinear B's graphic repertoire is largely derived from the earlier Cretan script [Linear A](https://www.edgepedia.org/linear-a), and many sign shapes are shared between the two systems.[8](https://academic.oup.com/book/58672/chapter/485388397) Because Linear A remains undeciphered, values assigned to its signs are proposals based on the Linear B sound for the same shape rather than established readings. The sign corresponding to nu is attested on only 2 of 695 Linear A documents with a word list, so its frequency in that script is low.[4](https://www.lineara.eu/words/nu/)\n\n## Encoding\n\nNu is encoded in the Unicode Standard in the Linear B Syllabary block (U+10000–U+1007F) as U+1001D LINEAR B SYLLABLE B055 NU, using catalog numbers based on the Wingspread Convention documented by Bennett in 1964.[1](https://www.unicodecharacter.org/block/linear-b-syllabary) • [2](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode16.0.0/core-spec/chapter-8/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Linear B Syllabary Unicode Block, unicodecharacter.org](https://www.unicodecharacter.org/block/linear-b-syllabary)\n2. [The Unicode Standard, Version 16.0.0, Chapter 8: Linear B](https://www.unicode.org/versions/Unicode16.0.0/core-spec/chapter-8/)\n3. [Willemijn Waal, \"Closing the Gap: Writing in the Aegean from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age,\" in S. Ferrara (ed.), Writing from Invention to Decipherment, Oxford University Press, 2024](https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198908746.003.0005)\n4. [nu, lineara.eu](https://www.lineara.eu/words/nu/)\n5. [Why Mycenaean scribes used syllables, not alphabet letters, DidYeah](https://didyeah.com/facts/mycenaean-scribes-used-syllables-not-alphabet-letters)\n6. [ALPHABETUM Unicode font manual, version 15.00, MUFI](https://mufi.info/mufi/pdfs/ALPHABETUM_v15_manual.pdf)\n7. [The Undeciphered Signs of Linear B, University of Cambridge repository](https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/31dc97fe-c2f4-4a51-b4e0-329526ceddb0)\n8. [Barbara Montecchi, \"Design and Origins of Linear A Picture-Based Signs,\" in Writing from Invention to Decipherment, Oxford University Press, 2024](https://academic.oup.com/book/58672/chapter/485388397)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Languages and linguistics › Writing and notation systems › Mediterranean, Italic, and undeciphered ancient scripts*\n\n*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/nu", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/nu.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Nu\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/nu. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Nu](https://www.edgepedia.org/nu)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/nu](https://www.edgepedia.org/nu). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Nu\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/nu. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Nu is the Linear B syllabogram with the value /nu/, one of five n-series CV signs used to write Mycenaean Greek c." }