Mycenaean qe-te-o and Greek adjectives in -τέος and *-eyo-

Abstract

Since the earliest days of the decipherment the general consensus has been that the forms variously spelt qe-te-a(2), qe-te-(j)o are somehow to be understood as semantically the equivalent of a classical verbal adjective in -τέος with a sense “to be paid” or similar, either from *gwhedh- (cf. θέσσασθαι), or *kwei- (cf. τίω). Ventris and Chadwick accepted the sense but saw the missing /w/ as an insurmountable problem. They interpreted qe-te-a(2) as an s-stem neuter plural in /-e(h)a/, with qe-te-o a genitive singular in /-ehos/ or plural in /-ehōn/, comparing τέλθος “debt, payment due”; the spelling qe-te-jo, which is difficult to square with an s-stem formation, was not then known.