MA-11

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Inscription
Transliteration:	ẹ]ṣθuvaθinaχe
Original script:
Variant Reading:	e]sθulaθinaχe
Object:	MA-11 antler (antler)
Position:	front
Script:	North Italic script (Magrè alphabet)
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Letter height:	2.12.1 cm <br /> – 3 cm
Number of letters:	12
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	incomplete, damaged
Date of inscription:	3rd–2nd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	'Esθua dedicated' (?)
Alternative sigla:	PID 231 LIR MA-3 MLR 65
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 163

Commentary

First published in Pellegrini 1918: 180 f. (no. 5).

Images in Pellegrini 1918: 180, fig. 12 (drawing), LIR (photo and drawings), MLR (photo).

Length of the remains 9.5 cm, starting at the narrower end of the antler piece. The sequence is preserved on one large fragment – surface abrasion makes the lines faint, but the letters are still well legible. The break on the left runs along the hasta of . To the left of Upsilon, three fragments on which the lines are much better visible. Theta is completely preserved, though damaged by two horizontal breaks. Before Theta, Sigma can be identified by the unmistakeable upper angle, the object being broken along the lowest bar. On the upper fragment, which extends farthest to the left, the tip of a bar of what is most probably can be seen (cp. inverted Epsilon in final position). This Epsilon is likely to represent the beginning of the inscription, as a sequence esθua vel sim. appears as the first word in MA-12 and MA-13, as well as in PA-1. The only problematic element is the fifth letter, which consists of a hasta and two bars, one extending from the top in writing direction, the other topping the hasta at an angle. The question is whether the two lines should be considered to be one sloppily carved bar (with regard to similar untidily repeated scratches in Upsilon, Theta and Epsilon), or whether they are two distinct bars . The second case is altogether more likely, as v can be easily explained as a written reflection of the semivocalic element between u and a. Cp., however, the sequence (h)estulanuale in ST-5. θinaχe is the verbal form þinaχe, written with Theta instead of the Magrè special character for the dental affricate. For inverted Epsilon cp. MA-1, MA-6, MA-8 and MA-9. If esθua is a name in the nominative, the inscription follows the same formula as MA-8, MA-9 and MA-10, but without the additional element between the individual name and the verb.

On the back, at about 2 cm from the broader end, an arrangement of lines (length 4.7 cm), as is the case in all the antler votives from Magrè. Although they can only be seen near the upper and lower edges where the cut face is intact, they appear to be forming the symbol .

Further references: Kretschmer 1932, Vetter 1943: 80, Kretschmer 1943: 177, 182, Pisani 1964: 318 (no. 134h), Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 237 f.

Bibliography

Kretschmer 1932	Paul Kretschmer, "Die Etruskerfrage und die Inschriften von Magrè", in: Axel Nelson (Ed.), Symbolae philologicae O.A. Danielsson Octogenario dicatae, Uppsala: 1932, 134–142.
Kretschmer 1943	Paul Kretschmer, "Die vorgriechischen Sprach- und Volksschichten (Fortsetzung)", Glotta 30 (1943), 84–218.
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)