SL-1

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Inscription
Transliteration:	φerisna
Original script:	Φ6 s
Object:	SL-1 helmet (bronze)
Position:	front, 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.
Orientation:	0°
Script:	North Italic script (Magrè alphabet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	0.90.9 cm <br /> – 1.3 cm
Number of letters:	7
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	embossed
Current condition:	complete
Date of inscription:	second half of the 5th century BC [from object]
Date derived from:	typology [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	none
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 329

Images

Inscription SL-1.

Object SL-1 helmet with inscription SL-1 - front side.

Commentary

First published in Marstrander 1927: 18–24. Autopsied by TIR on 12^th February 2014.

Pictures in Marstrander 1927: Pl. III (photo), Pellegrini 1969: tav. I (photo), Egg 1986: 228, Abb. 186 (drawing) and Nedoma 1995: 32, Fig. 11 (drawing) and Abb. 22 and 23 (photos).

Length 3.7 cm. Embossed with a pointed tool on the chamfer. The inscription is in excellent condition, the characters are easily legible. The only point of debate is the first letter, built up of a hasta with a circle of eight indentations, embossed counter-clockwise, encircling one of the hasta's topmost elements. A single indentation, apparently belonging to the hasta, appears over the circle. See also the detailed description by Marstrander 1927: 18. The letter has in the past been interpreted as a form of Zeta for t (Marstrander 1927: 20 ff., Prosdocimi in Prosdocimi & Scardigli 1976: 228, see also SL-2.3), as Etruscan f (Kretschmer 1943: 186, see also SL-2.3), or as i (Pellegrini 1969: 50 f., Egg 1986: 228 (Nr. 330)). See Φ for a discussion of the interpretation of Φ6 s as a character for a labial or dental, and the possible consequences for ascription to the Magrè alphabet. The small scratched bar extending upwards from the hasta to the left, suspected by Eichner 1994: 135 to be the bar of a character variant of Tau, we consider with Marstrander 1927: 18 to be unintentional – either a slip of the tool used for embossing, or entirely unconnected with the inscription. The same goes for what looks like one or even two indentations right below the bar of . See also Nedoma 1995: 33.

As the find circumstances are unknown, no terminus ante quem can be given for the dating of the inscription.

Bibliography

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.
Eichner et al. 1994	Heiner Eichner, Janka Istenič, Milan Lovenjak, "Ein römerzeitliches Keramikgefäß aus Ptuj (Pettau, Poetovio) in Slowenien mit Inschrift in unbekanntem Alphabet und epichorischer (vermutlich keltischer) Sprache", Arheološki vestnik 45 (1994), 131–142.
Kretschmer 1943	Paul Kretschmer, "Die vorgriechischen Sprach- und Volksschichten (Fortsetzung)", Glotta 30 (1943), 84–218.
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.