SZ-16

edit with form

Inscription
Transliteration:	laθurusitianusatanin
Original script:
Object:	SZ-16 statuette (bronze)
Position:	foot
Orientation:	0°
Script:	North Italic script (Sanzeno alphabet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	0.4 cm
Number of letters:	20
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	embossed
Current condition:	complete
Date of inscription:	450–400 BC [from object]
Date derived from:	typology [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	'of/by Laθuru of/for Tianu(s) ?'
Alternative sigla:	LIR SA-1 TM 218386
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 136

Images

Object SZ-16 statuette with inscription SZ-16 - front side.

Object SZ-16 statuette with inscription SZ-16 - sideview.

Object SZ-16 statuette with inscription SZ-16 - backside.

Object SZ-16 statuette with inscription SZ-16 - sideview.

Inscription SZ-16.

Commentary

First published in Sulzer 1855: 307 ff. Autopsied by TIR in October 2014.

Images in Sulzer 1855: Tav. X (drawings) = Giovanelli 1876: Taf. II, No. 3 = Schneller 1866: Tab. II,2a, CII: Tav. II = AIF I: Taf. II (no. 34 A), Corssen 1874: 934 (Abb. 32) (drawing) = AIF I: Taf. II (no. 34 B), Oberziner 1883b: Tav. XXV, fig. 1a,b,c, LIR (photos and drawing).

Inscribed on the side of the statuette's base, starting left of the right foot's heel and running around to its right side; length about 6.8 cm. The letters are well legible and unambiguous, only the lines of in tianusa are somewhat misaligned. The angle of in tianusa is extended to avoid damage to the left foot's toes. In both instances, Sigma is turned against writing direction.

An individual name laθurusi in the pertinentive can be identified without doubt. The two other words are the supposed theonym tianus(a) and the supposed noun tanin, the latter appearing without the more usual u in the second syllable. The inscription can be tentatively translated as 'by Laθuru for Tianu(s) (a gift vel sim.?)'.

Further references: Schneller 1866: 193 ff., CII 23, Corssen 1874: 933 ff., Giovanelli 1876: 97, Pichler 1880: 41 (no. 3), Oberziner 1883b: 202, AIF I: 16 f. (no. 34), 100 ff., PID II: 545, PID III: 41, Battisti 1934: 192, Pisani 1935: 94, Battisti 1936b: 595, Battisti 1944: 228 f., Pisani 1964: 321 (n. 2), Vetter 1943: 80, Mayr 1959: 231 f., Mayr 1960f: 389 f., Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 221, 225

Bibliography

AIF I	Carl Pauli, Altitalische Forschungen. Band 1: Die Inschriften nordetruskischen Alphabets, Leipzig: 1885.
Battisti 1934	Carlo Battisti, "L'Etrusco e le altre lingue preindoeuropee d'Italia", Studi Etruschi 8 (1934), 179–196.
Battisti 1936b	Carlo Battisti, "Rassegna critica degli studi linguistici sull'Alto Adige nel quinquennio 1931-36", Archivio per l'Alto Adige 31/2 (1936), 561–611.
Battisti 1944	Carlo Battisti, "Osservazioni sulla lingua delle iscrizioni nell'alfabeto etrusco settentrionale di Bolzano", Studi Etruschi 18 (1944), 199–236.
CII	Ariodante Fabretti, Corpus inscriptionum italicarum, Torino: 1867. (2 volumes)
Corssen 1874	Wilhelm Paul Corssen, Ueber die Sprache der Etrusker. Band 1, Leipzig: 1874.
Giovanelli 1876	Benedetto Giovanelli, "Die Rhätisch-Etruskischen Alterthümer entdeckt bei Matrei im Mai 1845", Zeitschrift des Ferdinandeums für Tirol und Vorarlberg 3/20 (1876), 45–99.
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 1959	Karl M. Mayr, "Das Schildchen von Mechel und der Reiter von Sanzeno und ihre Inschriften. Zwei Deutungsversuche", Der Schlern 33 (1959), 230–232.