SZ-15.1

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Inscription
Transliteration:	laspaθianuesiunne / lipiekalaśunu
Original script:
Object:	SZ-15 bronze (bronze) (Inscriptions: SZ-15.1, SZ-15.2)
Position:	front
Script:	North Italic script (Sanzeno alphabet)
Direction of writing:	boustrophedon
Letter height:	0.70.7 cm <br /> – 1.2 cm
Number of letters:	30
Number of lines:	2
Craftsmanship:	embossed
Current condition:	complete
Date of inscription:	5th–1st centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	'Laspa, son of Θia*, (and) Esiunne, Lipie, son of Kalaśu'
Alternative sigla:	IR 28 LIR SA-3a
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 135, 336

Images

Object SZ-15 bronze with inscription SZ-15.1 - front side.

Inscription SZ-15.1 - line 2.

Inscription SZ-15.1 - line 1.

Commentary

First published in Pellegrini 1951: 315 f. (no. 15a). Autopsied by TIR in October 2014.

Images in Pellegrini 1951: 320 (15a) (photo) and 313 (15a) (drawing), LIR (photo and drawing = IR).

Inscribed on the front of the bronze in two sinistroverse lines running along the edges, with the top of the letters toward the centre. It cannot be securely determined which line should be read first. Our line 1 starts at the head (length 7.5 cm), line 2 starts at the tail fin (length 6 cm). The letters are well legible, despite problems posed by the bulges above the back fins. The inscription was applied after the hole was drilled, as the lines of second stop short before it. In line 2, the left hasta of is bent to avoid the bulge above the fin.

Line 1 can be segmented into three words: two individual names laspa and esiunne, and a patronymic in -nu. Line 2 can be segmented into a single individual name lipie (or pipie?) plus patronymic. Of these five names, only laspa is documented elsewhere in this form, but esiunne is highly likely to correspond to either esimne or esumne. While the latter might theoretically belong with either of the two patronymics ('Laspa, son of Θia*, and Esiunne; Lipie, son of Kalaśu' vs. 'Laspa, son of Θia*; Esiunne (and) Lipie, sons of Kalaśu', it is more likely to belong with line 1, seeing as both lines terminate before the end of the object is reached – if no separation of two name formulas had been attempted, lipie could well have fit into line 1. It remains to be decided whether the two lines belong to the same inscription, i.e. whether they were inscribed at one time (indicating three persons investing into an offering together), or whether one of the lines documents a reuse of the object. We do not know whether such a thing would have been possible, but note the use of in line 1 vs. in line 2 (cp., however, inscriptions like SZ-30, where both variants are employed). The overall ductus of the two lines is very similar, but this is true of a number of the Sanzeno bronze inscriptions.

Further references: Mayr 1952: 176 f. (15b), Vetter 1954: 70 (15b).

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)
Mayr 1952	Karl M. Mayr, "Zu den Inschriften der Votive von Sanzeno", Der Schlern 26 (1952), 175–177.