SR-9

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Inscription
Transliteration:	?]θ̣ṣ́ieṛịṣna
Original script:	[
Variant Reading:	??]uaṭeriṣna [
Object:	SR-9 antler (antler)
Position:	front
Script:	North Italic script
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	1.81.8 cm <br /> – 2.3 cm
Number of letters:	11
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	damaged, incomplete
Date of inscription:	3rd century BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	IR 91 LIR SE-4
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 158

Images

Object SR-9 antler with inscription SR-9.

Inscription SR-9 - detail (microscopic image).

Inscription SR-9 - detail (microscopic image).

Inscription SR-9 - detail (microscopic image).

Commentary

First published in Pellegrini & Sebesta 1965: 14 f. (no. 9). Autopsied by TIR in November 2014.

Images in Pellegrini & Sebesta 1965: 15 (drawing), IR (drawing = LIR), LIR (photo).

Length of the remains about 8.7 cm. The surface of the fragment representing the narrow end of the piece of antler is more heavily damaged than the others; it cannot be excluded that it held traces of the first letter(s). The distance between this fragment and the preserved part of the inscription cannot be securely determined, but was probably not quite as long as suggested by the recent restoration of the object (cp. the images provided by Pellegrini & Sebesta 1965 and Mancini). The first trace of a letter is the end of an oblique line in the lower area. After this, a problematic bit: Pellegrini read based on three ends of lines , and (cp. his drawing). The original state of affairs is hard to reconstruct today; the small fragment in the lower right may have been attached slightly lopsidedly. If this is the case, and may indeed align to form . The breaking edge to the right of , however, appears to follow a vertical line which cannot align with (see drawing and photo). The following segment also presents difficulties: The two chevrons read by Pellegrini do touch, but the second one might feature a bar – curiously different in appearance from the other lines (see photo), and possibly just a crack. The next letter is a vertical hasta without any discernible bars or other marks in its vicinity; even under the microscope, no dot can be made out, alwas excluding very slight traces which might as well be unintentional (see photo). After this hasta, with its lower bar missing. Of , only the upper part is left; of , only the very tip. Final and , despite missing lower halfs, are unambiguous.

Despite the numerous problems posed by the bad condition of object and inscription, the presence of the word terisna, attested two more times in Montesei di Serso, can hardly be contested. The lack of any mark on the hasta expected to be in combination with Pellegrini's reading ]θśierisna has lead Schumacher to the assumption that the group θśi represents a substitutional way of writing the phoneme usually written with , which he concluded to be a dental affricate (p. 309). See the discussion on T.

As concerns punctuation in this inscription, the three deep indentations taken by Schumacher to be punctuation marks are not likely to belong to the inscription, the second one being the centre of a broad and deeply incised circle – cp. Kreisaugenverzierung on .... This apparently unfinished decoration may be the reason for the big spaces to the right and left of .

Further references: Pellegrini & Sebesta 1965: 23, Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 234 ff.

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)