MA-12

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Inscription
Transliteration:	estualeaφiṛ·[
Original script:	[
Variant Reading:	estualeaφiḷ·[ [
Object:	MA-12 antler (antler)
Position:	front
Script:	North Italic script (Magrè alphabet)
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Letter height:	11 cm <br /> – 1.7 cm
Number of letters:	11
Number of characters:	12
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	incomplete
Archaeological culture:	Este IV [from object]
Date of inscription:	3rd–2nd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	'of/by Estu* ?'
Alternative sigla:	PID 232 LIR MA-2 MLR 54 TM 218485
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 164

Commentary

First published in Pellegrini 1918: 180 (no. 4).

Images in Pellegrini 1918: 180, fig. 11 (drawing), LIR (photo and drawings), MLR (photos).

Length of the remains 4.5 cm, starting at the broader end of the antler piece. With deeply incised letters on a well preserved object, the inscription is in excellent condition and very well legible. Of the letter damaged by the breaking edge, a hasta and upper bar are left – the length of the bar suggests Rho, but Lambda in sixth position also features a longish bar; both readings are possible. Both Rho and Lambda appear with inscribed punct in the Serso inscriptions; see also MA-16 and MA-17. The punct itself appears as a short vertical line. The letters are written in the centre of the antler piece, starting out rather big and becoming not only smaller but somewhat cramped towards the end – there is probably not much missing of the inscription. Punctuated Rho or Lambda indicates either the end of the inscription, or a following consonant.

estuale can be compared with a number of similar forms attested in the Magrè inscriptions and elsewhere (see the word page). It is written with Tau instead of the usual Theta, and appears in the pertinentive, unless le belongs with the following sequence. Cp. eθsuale on PA-1, but note that no other pertinentive constructions occur in the Magrè inscriptions. aφir[ or aφil[ is opaque.

On the back, at 1.7 cm from the broader end, an arrangement of lines (length 2.5 cm).

Further references: Vetter 1943: 80, Kretschmer 1943: 177, 183, Pisani 1964: 318 (no. 134i), Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 237 f.

Bibliography

Kretschmer 1943	Paul Kretschmer, "Die vorgriechischen Sprach- und Volksschichten (Fortsetzung)", Glotta 30 (1943), 84–218.
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)