SL-2.2

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Inscription
Transliteration:	: ar??eisṿ?
Original script:	???
Variant Reading:	:ịar??eisṿ? ???
Object:	SL-2 helmet (bronze) (Inscriptions: SL-2.1, SL-2.2, SL-2.4)
Position:	front, lower area"lower area" is not in the list (front, back, top, bottom, inside, outside, neck, shoulder, foot, handle, ...) of allowed values for the "position" property., outside
Script:	North Italic script
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	1.11.1 cm <br /> – 2.0 cm
Number of letters:	7 – 10
Number of characters:	8 – 12
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	La Tène A [from object]
Date of inscription:	second half of 5th–beginning of 4th century BC [from object]
Date derived from:	typology [from object]
Language:	unknown
Meaning:
Alternative sigla:	none
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 330

Images

Inscriptions SL-2.1 and SL-2.2.

Commentary

First published in Mommsen 1853: 208, no. 12.

Further references: Von Hormayr 1823: 143, Anm. 23, Fabretti 1867: no. 59, Von Sacken & Kenner 1866: 292, no. 1089, Corssen 1874: 949 (Note), Pichler 1880: 43 f., Oberziner 209, AIF I: 36, no. 99a, Marstrander 1925: passim, Marstrander 1927: 5 f. (A 2), Kretschmer 1943: 187, Egg 1986: 227 (Nr. 324), Nedoma 1995: 19 f. (Ib), Markey 2001: 112 f., Urban & Nedoma 2002: 57.

Pictures in Von Hormayr 1823: Nr. 2 (drawing), Giovanelli 1845: tav. II (drawing), Giovanelli 1876: tav. II (drawing), Mommsen 1853: Taf. I, 12B (drawing; see Mommsen 1853: 208 f.) (= Von Sacken & Kenner 1866: Taf. Nr. 3 = AIF I: Taf VI, 99 A = Marstrander 1925: 38), Fabretti tab. VI, Pichler 1880: ??? (= AIF I: Taf. VI, 99 B), Marstrander 1927: 5, Fig. 2 (drawing) and Pl. I (photo), Reinecke 1942: 133, Taf. 11a (drawing = Markey 2001: 105, Fig. 6), Egg 1986: 226, Abb. 183 (drawing) (= Schumacher 2004: Taf. 16, 2) and Nedoma 1995: Abb. 3–5 (photos).

Written on the chamfer. A white inlay was added sometime before 1927, possibly for photos made for Marstrander 1927, but must have been cleaned away since. Remains can still be seen in some of the deeper scratches.

The inscription immediately follows SL-2.1, being separated from it by a punctuation mark consisting of four small dots (the lowermost executed twice) distinctly unlike the separator in SL-2.1. The two inscriptions were dissociated by Marstrander (see SL-2.1), who argued that the intermediate separator must have been added by the writer of the second inscription (p. 4). SL-2.2 runs leftwards right up to the last sign of the embossed and upside-down SL-2.3.

The inscription begins with a single repeatedly scratched and somewhat crooked hasta, conveying the impression of being jammed in between the separator and . While the distance between the stroke and the right hasta of is rather big and the sequence may be read ia, it is more likely that the two strokes together constitute the hasta – the other hasta of is scratched twice as well. engraved – with some effort – with a curve is followed by a problematic group of strokes. The most likely segmentation graphically would be , yielding a sequence arlþ. The fact that the twig of supposed is prolonged at an angle suggests that this was done after the right twig of supposed was seen to merge with it. A reading (Marstrander 1927: 5 f.) is therefore unlikely, although his suggestion of corrected to is interesting, because it explains the questionable twig to the left of the second hasta. If part of a letter , it may be crooked because the writer's tool was led along the hasta for a few millimetres. and , though not too neat, are fairly well legible. The following is confined on top by a patch of corrosion, but no additional twig (yielding ) can be made out. The inscription is concluded by two crooked strokes, which have been read i (Mommsen, Pauli, Kretschmer, Markey; scratched twice like some of the hastae before it), u (Egg; very unlikely in the context of the other inscriptions on helmet A), or been interpreted as a demarcation sign added to separate the inscription from SL-2.3 (Marstrander 1927: 6). The twig branching away from the left stroke, mentioned and dismissed by Marstrander, is clearly unintentional.

Epigraphically, the inscription is likely to be Raetic ( – also found in Venetic inscriptions of the Isonzo-area), , and possibly with the same shape as in SL-2.1).

Markey 2001 reads iarśeisvi = *Iarśe eisvi 'Iarsus (who performs the) sacred ceremony/offering'.

Bibliography

AIF I	Carl Pauli, Altitalische Forschungen. Band 1: Die Inschriften nordetruskischen Alphabets, Leipzig: 1885.
CII	Ariodante Fabretti, Corpus inscriptionum italicarum, Torino: 1867. (2 volumes)
Corssen 1874	Wilhelm Paul Corssen, Ueber die Sprache der Etrusker. Band 1, Leipzig: 1874.
Egg 1986	Markus Egg, Italische Helme. Studien zu den ältereisenzeitlichen Helmen Italiens und der Alpen. Teil 1: Text, Teil 2: Tafeln, Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum 1986.
Giovanelli 1845	Benedetto Giovanelli, Le antichità rezio-etrusche scoperte presso Matrai nel Maggio 1845, Trento: Monauni 1845.
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.
Hormayr 1823	Joseph Freiherr von Hormayr, Wien, seine Geschicke und seine Denkwürdigkeiten, Wien: Franz Härter 1823.
Kretschmer 1943	Paul Kretschmer, "Die vorgriechischen Sprach- und Volksschichten (Fortsetzung)", Glotta 30 (1943), 84–218.
Markey 2001	Tom Markey, "A tale of two helmets: The Negau A and B inscriptions", The Journal of Indo-European Studies 29 (2001), 69–172.
Marstrander 1925	Carl Johan Sverdrup Marstrander, "Les inscriptions des casques de Negau, Styrie", Symbolae Osloensis 3 (1925), 37–64.
Marstrander 1927	Carl Johan Sverdrup Marstrander, "Remarques sur les inscriptions des casques en bronze de Negau et de Watsch", Avhandlinger utgitt av Det Norske Videnskaps-Akademi i Oslo. Hist.-filos. klasse 1926/2 (1927), 1–26.