PU-4

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Inscription
Transliteration:	χarse
Original script:
Object:	PU-4 plaque (schist)
Position:	front
Script:	North Italic script (Magrè alphabet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	2.5 cm
Number of letters:	5
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	complete
Date of inscription:	5th century BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	'Χarse' (PN) (?)
Alternative sigla:	IR 101 LIR SLO-2 MLR 138 TM 218546
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 187

Images

Object PU-4 plaque with inscription PU-4 - front side.

Object PU-4 plaque with inscription PU-4 - rear side.

Object PU-4 plaque with inscription PU-4 - sideview.

Object PU-4 plaque with inscription PU-4 - sideview.

Commentary

First published in Calzavara Capuis & Pellegrini 1970. Autopsied by TIR in November 2014.

Images in Calzavara Capuis & Pellegrini 1970: fig. 1 (photos) and fig. 2 (drawings), LIR (drawings), MLR (photo).

Length 5.3 cm; well legible and unambiguous. The sequence, written on one of the broad surfaces, was probably applied before the drilled holes, seeing as the letters (esp. ) might have been more expediently placed. After , some very thin and faint scratches suggest , but these might be unintentional; they certainly do not belong with the inscription. χarse is most easily interpreted as a Raetic individual name in the nominative, with the typical auslaut in -e (see already Pellegrini: p. 252 f.).

Each of the six sides of the object bears marks, some clearly unrelated to each other (see PU-4 plaque). While the ornaments on the side opposite the inscription appear to have been applied after the holes were drilled, and the strokes on two of the narrow sides were stamped into the stone, the group of scratches on the narrow side below the one bearing the inscription may have been applied at the same time as the inscription. The group has been tentatively read aalii by Pellegrini and, following him, Schumacher, but we are probably concerned with non- or pseudo-script: The two hypothetical Alphas are orientated differently, the three scratches on the left are clearly inclined, the bar of is very doubtful.

Bibliography

Calzavara Capuis & Pellegrini 1970	Loredana Calzavara Capuis, Giovan Battista Pellegrini, "Tavoletta Iscritta da S. Lorenzo di Sebato", in: Istituto di Archeologia dell'Università di Padova (Ed.), Venetia. Studi miscellanei di archeologia delle Venezie, Vol. 2 [= Pubblicazioni dell'Istituto di archeologia dell'Università di Padova 6], Padova: 1970, 235–253.
IR	Alberto Mancini, "Iscrizioni retiche", Studi Etruschi 43 (1975), 249–306.
LIR	Alberto Mancini, Le Iscrizioni Retiche [= Quaderni del dipartimento di linguistica, Università degli studi di Firenze Studi 8–9], Padova: Unipress 2009–10. (2 volumes)