SR-4

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Inscription
Transliteration:	θul·φe?·s[ạ / $ φeris·ṇ[
Original script:	]Φ5 s ]Φ5 s
Object:	SR-4 antler (antler)
Position:	front
Script:	North Italic script (Magrè alphabet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	1.21.2 cm <br /> – 1.7 cm
Number of letters:	13
Number of characters:	16
Number of lines:	2
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	fragmentary
Date of inscription:	3rd century BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	IR 86 LIR SE-3
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 157, 337 f.

Images

Object SR-4 antler with inscription SR-4.

Object SR-4 antler with inscription SR-4 - line 1.

Object SR-4 antler with inscription SR-4 - line 2.

Commentary

First published in Pellegrini & Sebesta 1965: 11 f. (no. 4). Autopsied by TIR in November 2014.

Images in Pellegrini & Sebesta 1965: 11 (drawings) and fig. 6 (photos), IR (drawings = LIR), LIR (photos).

Written in two lines (remains about 5.5 cm each), starting at the preserved end of the object; tidily scratched and well legible. Epsilon is inverted in both lines, Sigma appears once turned in, once against writing direction. The inscription is distinguished by the presence of non-script elements. While the symbol before the first letter of line 2 is more deeply scratched and might not belong with the inscription (cp. the chevron-shaped marks on SR-3 antler, SR-6 antler and SR-9 antler), the three oblique scratches inserted between and are definitely part of it. Seeing as the rules for Venetic syllable punctuation are applied correctly in case of the other two punctuation marks (after and ), the mark after suggests that the three lines represent a consonant. Pellegrini (p. 18) compared on BZ-10.1 and proposed a simplified form of Heta; Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 234 f. suggested San. Of the letter after , a slightly inclined hasta and the end of a bar are left. While both and are theoretically possible, we prefer because the hastae of are inclined the other way in the two secure instances. The last peserved letter in line 2 can despite the missing second bar be identified as . (Note that a fragment of the object has broken off and disappeared, damaging the hasta of – cp. the drawings and photographs provided by Pellegrini & Sebesta 1965 and Mancini). We can identify φerisna in line 2; the sequence in line 1 is obscure.

Further references: Pellegrini & Sebesta 1965: 23.

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)