SL-2.1

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Inscription
Transliteration:	siraku :̣ þurpi
Original script:
Object:	SL-2 helmet (bronze) (Inscriptions: SL-2.1, SL-2.2, SL-2.4)
Position:	front, right area"right area" is not in the list (front, back, top, bottom, inside, outside, neck, shoulder, foot, handle, ...) of allowed values for the "position" property., 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 (Sanzeno alphabet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	1.11.1 cm <br /> – 2.0 cm
Number of letters:	11
Number of characters:	11 – 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 I.2: 143, Anm. 23, Giovanelli 1845: 43 ff., Von Sacken & Kenner 1866: 292, no. 1089, CII: no. 59, Corssen 1874: 949 (note), Pichler 1880: 43 f., AIF I: 36, no. 99a, Marstrander 1925: passim, Marstrander 1927: 2 ff. (A 1), Kretschmer 1943: 187, Egg 1986: 227 (Nr. 324), Prosdocimi 1986: 32 f., Nedoma 1995: 19 f. (Ia), Markey 2001: 104–112, Urban & Nedoma 2002: 57.

Pictures in Von Hormayr 1823: Nr. 2 (drawing), Giovanelli 1845: tav. II (drawing = Giovanelli 1876: Taf. II, No. 1), Mommsen 1853: Taf. I, 12B (drawing; see Mommsen 1853: 208 f.) (= CII: Tab. VI, b = AIF I: Taf VI, 99 A = Marstrander 1925: 38), Sulzer 1855: Taf. VII, Von Sacken & Kenner 1866: Taf. Nr. 3 (drawing), Pichler 1880: [?] (= AIF I: Taf. VI, 99 B), Marstrander 1927: 4, Fig. 1 (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. 2 and 3 (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 is immediately followed by SL-2.2, separated by a punctuation mark consisting of four small dots, distinctly unlike the (slightly doubtful, see below) separator between siraku and þurpi. The two inscriptions, though not at first glance unlike in appearance, were separated by Marstrander 1927, who observed that they seem to be written by two different persons: The scratches in SL-2.1 are deeper – "gravée par une main hardie et énergique" (p. 3), the overall execution is neater than that of SL-2.2, which is distinguished by a "manque de sûreté et de contours". The strokes in SL-2.1 appear to be scratched from bottom to top. This seems counterintuitive in the absence of an immediate obstacle like, for example, the rim in SL-2.4. It may be argued that the characters were more easily applied when turning the helmet upside-down, because the chamfer can be accessed more comfortably – compare the upside-down SL-2.3. This inscription, however, is clearly written as seen when the helmet is worn, so the writer would have had to engrave their letters upside-down. The hastae of and in SL-2.2, by contrast, are scratched top to bottom. While both inscriptions are indubitably sinistroverse, in SL-2.1 is turned against writing direction, whereas in SL-2.2 it is written . Another difference is the execution of r, written in SL-2.1, but in SL-2.2. Marstrander's splitting of the row has been widely accepted (Kretschmer, Nedoma, but see also Prosdocimi 1986: 33).

Curiously, writer's mistakes with somewhat similar outcomes must be suspected in both inscriptions. SL-2.1, after starting out fairly tidily in spite of some iterated scratches, features what looks like a cramped between the second and . Close inspection shows that the twig branching off the hasta has been deleted with tiny scratches crossing it (recorded in the early drawings by Giovanelli and Marstrander, but neglected by Pichler and Egg). The writer seems to have either prematurely added the twig of the following to the hasta meant for (Marstrander 1927: 4), or they erroneously started to write in the wrong direction – all the more comprehensible if they were indeed seeing their work upside-down. Markey also points out that the two preceding letters are symmetrical; "this may have left an unskilled engraver in doubt as to the direction of the next asymmetrical letter" (p. 110). They also seem to have tried to accentuate the hasta with additional scratches. Apart from this lapse, the characters are legible without ambiguity.

It is not absolutely sure, though probable, that the two large dots between siraku and þurpi are itentional, as strictly speaking no indentations can be made out, and the space between and is not uncommonly broad. A third dot on top of the left stroke of may belong to it. Compare Marstrander 1927: 4, who believed the marks to be accidental; Egg did not include them either. An interpretation of the spots as intentional is endorsed by the fact that the segmentation into siraku and þurpi is linguistically plausible for both Raetic and Celtic interpretations.

Epigraphically (Sanzeno-type and , characteristical Raetic and ), the inscription can be ascribed to the Raetic corpus.

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.