VR-6

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Inscription
Transliteration: ]ạṭ·laþu?[
Original script: ]?U sÞ3 sA3 dL spunctuation7 sT dA3 d[

Object: VR-6 antler (antler)
Position: front
Script: North Italic script
Direction of writing: sinistroverse
Letter height: 1.91.9 cm <br /> – 2.4 cm
Number of letters: 5
Number of characters: 6
Number of lines: 1
Craftsmanship: engraved
Current condition: damaged, fragmentary
Date of inscription: 4th–3rd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from: archaeological context [from object]

Language: unknown
Meaning: unknown

Alternative sigla: MLR 291
TM 653636

Commentary

First published in Marinetti 2004: 409 f. (no. 1). Autopsied by TIR on 17th November 2015.

Images in Marinetti 2004: 409 (drawing), MLR (photo).

Length of the remains 9 cm. Deeply engraved and well legible. The sequence U sÞ3 sA3 dL spunctuation7 s in the middle is unambiguous. On the right, the lower parts of two letters are gone. Marinetti's reading Ś s is improbable, given that the bars do not meet, but rather cross the respective hastae. Also, the remains of another line can be seen in the upper area at the breaking edge: Alpha, as suggested by Marchesini, is plausible, as is Tau for the following letter, although the latter is turned against writing direction. A syllabic punct would then be in place. After Upsilon, three oblique scratches of increasing length – the arrangement is vaguely reminiscent of VR-2 and also interpreted as a ligature of Upsilon and Alpha by Marchesini (with the last line read Iota). ·ii as suggested by Marinetti is unlikely. The last character on the left is V s or E s.

Venetoid Upsilon indicates the Magrè (or in fact a Venetic) alphabet, as does Tau – hence our reading of L s as Lambda. The occurence of the Sanzeno special character Þ3 s is surprising (in VR-10, Tau represents the dental affricate). The sequence is obscure – cp. laþe in BZ-10.1?

Bibliography

Marinetti 2004 Anna Marinetti, "Nuove iscrizioni retiche dall'area veronese", Studi Etruschi 70 (2004), 408–420.