SZ-3

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Inscription
Transliteration:	vispeχamaiu?
Original script:	?
Object:	SZ-3 bronze (bronze)
Position:	front
Script:	North Italic script (Sanzeno alphabet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	0.80.8 cm <br /> – 1.71.7 cm <br />
Number of letters:	11
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	embossed
Current condition:	complete
Date of inscription:
Date derived from:
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	'Vispeχa (?)'
Alternative sigla:	IR 16 LIR SA-5
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 132

Images

Object SZ-3 bronze with inscription SZ-3.

Commentary

First published in Mayr 1950: 333 f. (III). Autopsied by TIR in October 2014.

Images in Roberti 1950: Tav. I,III (drawing) = Mayr 1950: 335 (III), Pellegrini 1951: 305 (3) (photo) and 307 (3) (drawing), Morandi 1982: 203 (no. 79) (drawing), LIR (photo and drawing = IR).

Length of the readable part ( to ) 7.5 cm. The initial sequence , running in a straight line from the stylised back of the horse to the curve at the shoulder, is written in tallish letters and well legible despite somewhat sloppy execution (, , with a short central line). Sigma is turned against writing direction. The following sequence , set at an angle to the first part on the neck of the horse, has shorter letters and is more slightly embossed. After , an untidy succession of strokes, disturbed by short intermediate and repeated strokes, covering the entire breadth of the object, and even more slightly embossed – these have been read apnu (Alpha with a short oblique left hasta extending from the bar, Nu with an angle reaching the bottom of the line) by Pellegrini 1951: 309 f. (no. 3) after the cleaning of the bronze in April 1952 (Vetter 1954: 70 (no. 3)). Pellegrini attributed the irregularities to the difficulty of writing in a curve, but the reading is highly doubtful. The thin lines appear rather to be a cambered zig-zag ornament or line filler.

vispeχa can be identified as an individual name, being attested on another Sanzeno bronze. maiu remains obscure.

Further references: Mayr 1952: 175, Mayr 1960f: 390, Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 223.

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)
Mayr 1950	Karl M. Mayr, "Die Inschriften der Votive von Sanzeno (1)", Der Schlern 24 (1950), 332–336, 407–409.
Mayr 1952	Karl M. Mayr, "Zu den Inschriften der Votive von Sanzeno", Der Schlern 26 (1952), 175–177.