NO-17

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Inscription
Transliteration:	ketanuvaleutiku
Original script:
Object:	NO-17 bone point (bone)
Position:	right-hand side"right-hand side" is not in the list (front, back, top, bottom, inside, outside, neck, shoulder, foot, handle, ...) of allowed values for the "position" property.
Script:	North Italic script (Sanzeno alphabet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	0.8 cm
Number of letters:	15
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	complete, damaged
Date of inscription:	5th–2nd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	'X-ed of/by the son of Keta*'
Alternative sigla:	MLR 31 TM 653562

Images

Object NO-17 bone point with inscription NO-17.

Inscription NO-17.

Commentary

First published in Marchesini 2014: 138. Autopsied by TIR in October 2014.

Image in Marchesini 2014: fig. 4 (photo), MLR (photo).

Length 4.8 cm, inscribed along the shaft of the object, starting at 4 mm from the end. The writer did not manage to keep a straight line, the last letter being situated about 3 mm higher than the first one. The lines are thin, but the letters are well distinguishable. The glue from the application of the invertory number covers the lower parts of letters . Towards the end of the inscription, a number of scratches disturbs the reading, esp. and (in the latter case leading Marchesini to read ). The bars of do not touch the hastae.

The interpretation is clear: a patronymic in the pertinentive with a deverbal form in -u. The v between u and a is unusual, since the disyllabic sequence /u.a/ usually appears as ua in spelling; most likely, the unusual spelling is phonetically more accurate than the other spellings and shows that /u.a/ was regularly realised as [uwa]. NO-17 is the only inscription in the Sanzeno alphabet which has "traditional" Tau rather than : The bar does clearly cross the hasta, not touch its top; in the second instance, it is longer on the left than on the right side of the hasta. Hastae and bars do not cross in any of the other letters. The orientation of the letter, with the bar rising in writing direction, is the same as in typical Sanzeno Tau. See T.

Bibliography

Marchesini 2014

Simona Marchesini, "Nuove iscrizioni retiche da Cles e Sanzeno (Trento)", in: Rosa Roncador, Franco Nicolis, Antichi popoli delle Alpi. Sviluppi culturali durante l'età del Ferro nei territori alpini centro-orientali (Atti della giornata internazionale di studi 1 maggio 2010 Sanzeno, Trento), Trento: Provincia autonoma di Trento. Soprintendenza per i beni architettonici e archeologici 2014, 127–144.