NO-13

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Inscription
Transliteration:	p̣erisna
Original script:
Variant Reading:	þ̣erisna Þ4 s
Object:	NO-13 bone (bone)
Position:
Script:	North Italic script
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	1.51.5 cm <br /> – 1.8 cm
Number of letters:	7
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	complete
Date of inscription:	uncertain [from object]
Date derived from:	linguistics [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	IR 77 LIR OZ-1
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 153, 377

Images

Object NO-13 bone with inscription NO-13.

Object NO-13 bone with inscription NO-13.

Inscription NO-13 - detail of letter 1 (microscopic image).

Commentary

First published in IR.

Images in IR (photo tav. LIII a = LIR and drawing = LIR).

Inscribed on ???; length about 3.5 cm. A deep scratch is situated in the cavity right between the two bulges. This mark can be found on the other side of this object and also on many other astragaloi (cp. Non-script notational systems), and does not belong with the inscription. Though it interferes with crammed in on its right, the reading of all but the first letter is unambiguous. A chervron is engraved on one of the broad sides of the astragalos; it is to be seen in connection with the two lines on the narrow sides and has nothing to do with the inscription.

The first letter consists of a hasta topped with a variety of contradictory marks (see drawing). The most pronounced of these is a bar , which appears to cross the hasta in a slight curve. Two more scratches cross the hasta – one somewhat fainter scratch, inclined the same way, but more level than the first, and another, very faint one, inclined the other way, which might be unintentional. The result, a sort of lop-sided asterisk, is distorted by a very clear and pronounced indentation in its centre (slightly removed to the left, but touching the hasta). Mancini, who acknowledged only the two more clearly visible scratches inclined to the left, originally read the letter as , with the assymetry of the arrow's tip due to the difficulty of writing on a rounded surface. Based on the comparison with SL-1, he later read Þ4 s. Schumacher (p. 309 f.) suggested that the writer intended a compromise between the two character variants, which he assumed to denote the same phoneme. The fact that both of the indubitable scratches are inclined the same way also allows for a reading p (cp. BZ-26), although this would mean a character turned against writing direction in Sanzeno context. Note that apart from the problematic bars in the first letter, the ductus of NO-13 is identical to that of SL-1. See ??? for a discussion on the problem of distinguishing labial and dental in Raetic script.

Bibliography

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)