Definitions
Palaeolexicon: advantage, benefit / debt, deficiency
Wiktionary deficit, under obligation
Chadwick & Ventris 1973:
1. deficit, advantage cf. ὄφελος
2. being under obligation
Variants
o-pe-ro-qe
Ruipérez 1985: non-copulative -qe; "[...] according to Greek usage, the second -qe [in PY Eb 149] cannot coordinate the personal verb te-re-ja to the particle o-pe-ro."
o-pe-ro-sa
cf. (-se, -ta) a-pe-o?
Chadwick & Ventris 1973: nominative singular feminine of o-pe-ro2
o-pe-ro-si
Chadwick & Ventris 1973: 3rd person plural present indicative "thus they owe" of o-pe-ro2
o-pe-ro-ta
cf. (-se, -ta) a-pe-o?
Chadwick & Ventris 1973: accusative singular masculine of o-pe-ro2
o-pe-ro-te
Chadwick & Ventris 1973: nominative plural masculine of o-pe-ro2
o-po-ro
Chadwick & Ventris 1973: 3rd person plural aorist indicative "thus they owed" of o-pe-ro2
Confirmation of o-pe-ro's quantitative inequality
o-pe-ro <ideogram> is always less than or equal to <ideogram>. Interestingly, the only contrary evidence appears on PY Ad 679 and the o-pe-ro VIR quantity which is greater than the VIR quantity was erased by the scribe.
| Tablet | Ideogram | Qty | o-pe-ro Ideogram | o-pe-ro Qty | Equality |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PY Ma 193 | ri-jo *146 | 17 | pe-ru-si-nu o-pe-ro *146 | 2 | < |
| ri-jo O M | 4 | pe-ru-si-nu o-pe-ro O M | 4 | = | |
| ri-jo ME | 362 | pe-ru-si-nu o-pe-ro ME | 362 | = | |
| PY Ma 330 | e-sa-re-wi-ja *152 | 18 | pe-ru-si-nu-wo o-pe-ro *152 | 6 | < |
| KN Ga 1530 | to-sa AROM | 58 | (to)-sa-de / o-pe-ro AROM | 31 | < |
| KN So 4446+ | ]ri-ka , o-da-ke-we-ta ROTA ZE | (62) | o-pe-ro ROTA ZE | 16 | < |
| PY Ac 1275 | pe-ti-ni-jo VIR | (6)9 | o-pe-ro VIR | 1 | < |
| PY Ac 1277 | a-ke-re-wa VIR | 10 | o-pe-ro VIR | 6 | < |
| PY Ac 1280 | me-ta-pa VIR | 22 | o-pe-ro VIR | 7 | < |
| PY Ad 357 | ne-we-wi-ja-o ko-wo VIR | 6 | o-pe-ro VIR | 3 | < |
| PY Fn 324 | ] HORD | (T) 1 V 2 | o-pe-ro , HORD | T 1 V 2 | = |
References
Chadwick, John and Michael Ventris, 1973 Documents in Mycenaean Greek
Ruipérez, Martín S., 1985 Tractata Mycenaea "Subjunctive Forms in Mycenaean Texts" kar WNXIII.95
If o-pe-ro is a Greek word, I believe that, in the context of wool production, profit is the best definition. However, I would like to propose an alternate definition: the Latin opero, which means work and which is equally plausible in this context.
o-pe-ro has a really specific mathematical context. Take a look at all instances of o-pe-ro and its abbreviation o and you’ll see it. A great place to start is the PY Ma series.
Updated o-pe-ro page to include the evidence for the quantitative inequality inherent to it.