VR-2

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Inscription
Transliteration:	malav·zn
Original script:
Object:	VR-2 antler (antler)
Position:
Script:	North Italic script (Magrè alphabet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	1.21.2 cm <br /> – 1.5 cm
Number of letters:	8
Number of characters:	9
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	Late Iron Age [from object]
Date of inscription:	5th–4th centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context, cultural context [from object]
Language:	unknown
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	PID 246 IR 13 LIR VR-2 MLR 45
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 171

Commentary

First published in Cipolla 1884d: 414 ff. Autopsied by TIR on 19^th November 2015.

Images in Pauli 1888: 148 (idealised rendering), Pellegrini 1918: 191, Fig. B (drawing), IR (drawing = Mancini & Prosdocimi 1976: 121), Mayr 1958 (photos).

Length 4.5 cm; starting on the inside of the crook. The surface of the object is hardly damaged; the lines are perfectly well distinguishable. The first four letters are unambiguous, as is final Nu. For the group of lines in between, various readings have been suggested. seems clear (definitely not Alpha (Pauli, IR), as the bar would be turned the wrong way). The upper bar of Digamma is, with a slightly misaligned second scratch, prolonged to touch the lower tip of the following, slightly oblique hasta. This latter, with its bar on top, is usually read (Whatmough's Upsilon is groundless). The short vertical on top is likely a punctuation mark, though secondarily inserted Iota (Schumacher) cannot be excluded. If the entire group is not a para-script element (cp. a similar group in NO-19), the prolongation of the bar of Digamma makes no sense. Marchesini reads a ligature with (inverted) Alpha (-valn), which is so far unparalleled in the Raetic corpus (but cp. VR-6); also the assumed bar of Alpha is completely vertical. In comparison with new material from the area of Verona (VR-10, esp. VR-11), the scratch which appears to connect Digamma with the following hasta may be considered to belong with the second letter, which can then be read Zeta. In this case, the letters zn are likely to represent the verbal form þinaχe. Cp. VR-4. malav remains obscure.

Further references: Cordenons 1911: 221 (no. 101), Pellegrini 1918: 190 f. (note 1), NRIE 57b, Mayr 1958: 41 f., Mancini & Prosdocimi 1976: 121 f., Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 239 f.

Bibliography

Cordenons 1911	Federico Cordenons, Silloge delle Iscrizioni Venetiche. Con note sugli antichi alfabeti e sistemi di scrittura usata dagli Italici e dagli Etruschi, Feltre: 1911.
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)
Mancini & Prosdocimi 1976	Alberto Mancini, Aldo Luigi Prosdocimi, "Nota sui Corni Iscritti di S. Briccio di Lavagno e sul "Retico"", in: Alessandra Aspes (Red.), 3000 anni fa a Verona. Dalla fine dell'età del Bronzo all'arrivo dei romani nel territorio Veronese, Verona: 1976, 111–122.
Mayr 1958	Karl M. Mayr, "Hirschhörner mit etrusko-rätischen Inschriften aus S. Briccio di Lavagno (Verona)", Der Schlern 32 (1958), 41–42.