Nu

Nu (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 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, Mycenaean Greek, from about 1450 bce until the end of the Mycenaean period around 1200 bce.^{2 • 3}

Place in the syllabary

Linear 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 • 1} 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 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 • 6}

The 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 Its value was fixed during Michael Ventris's decipherment of Linear B, announced with John Chadwick in a joint 1953 publication, which established that the script wrote Greek.²

Use in texts

As 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 • 3} 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

The Linear A counterpart

Linear B's graphic repertoire is largely derived from the earlier Cretan script Linear A, and many sign shapes are shared between the two systems.⁸ 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

Encoding

Nu 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 • 2}

References

1. Linear B Syllabary Unicode Block, unicodecharacter.org
2. The Unicode Standard, Version 16.0.0, Chapter 8: Linear B
3. 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
4. nu, lineara.eu
5. Why Mycenaean scribes used syllables, not alphabet letters, DidYeah
6. ALPHABETUM Unicode font manual, version 15.00, MUFI
7. The Undeciphered Signs of Linear B, University of Cambridge repository
8. Barbara Montecchi, "Design and Origins of Linear A Picture-Based Signs," in Writing from Invention to Decipherment, Oxford University Press, 2024

Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Languages and linguistics › Writing and notation systems › Mediterranean, Italic, and undeciphered ancient scripts

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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