WE-3

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Inscription
Transliteration:	lastasieluku / piθamnuale
Original script:
Object:	WE-3 antler (antler)
Position:	outside
Script:	North Italic script (Sanzeno alphabet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Letter height:	11 cm <br /> – 1.5 cm
Number of letters:	22
Number of lines:	2
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	complete, damaged
Date of inscription:	4th–3rd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	unknown [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	'X-ed by/for Lasta, son of Piθamne'
Alternative sigla:	LIR BZ-32 MLR 14
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 189, 342

Images

Object WE-3 antler with inscription WE-3 - line 2.

Object WE-3 antler with inscription WE-3 - line 1.

Commentary

First published in Dal Rì 1987: 178 (no. 731). Autopsied by TIR in November 2014.

Images in Dal Rì 1987: fig. 305 (photos), Schumacher 2004: Taf. 7,1 and 2 (photos) and Taf. 5,1 (drawings), LIR (photos and drawings) and Tecchiati et al. 2011: figg. 35–37 (photos) and fig. 38 (drawings), MLR (photos).

Length 6 and 6.5 cm respectively. The inscription is written in two lines in reverse boustrophedon (both sinistroverse, one inverted). The lines are not quite straight, the letters are of unequal height, and hastae and bars do not touch. The scratches are much faded; while some lines or parts of lines are still well visible, others are almost gone. The reading is nevertheless unambiguous, including that of -ale, though damaged by a crack. The two Sigmas of this inscription have opposite orientation although they are separated only by two letters.

Both lines start at the respective end of the object; it cannot be securely determined in which order they should be read: In our line 1, a non-script sequence, much damaged by a broad crack, follows at a certain distance; this group () does not belong with the inscription, being scratched much more deeply, presumably with a different instrument. Similarly, in our line 2, a very faintly and untidily scratched -shape follows. Both these elements differ in application technique not only from the inscription proper but also from the ornament bands; they seem to have been added at a later time and cannot be interpreted as line fillers. The sequence in which we have edited the two lines presupposes that the inscription consists of an individual name plus patronymic, both in the pertinentive case, accompanied by a deverbal form in -u, an arrangement which is typical of Raetic inscriptions.

Further references: Mancini 1994: 289, Rix 1998: 22–23 (below No. 7.1), 30 (below No. 10.1), Morandi 1999: 52 (No. 9), fig. 19.9 (transcription).

Bibliography

Dal Rì 1987	Lorenzo Dal Rì, "Influssi etrusco-italici nella regione retico-alpina", in: Raffaele De Marinis (Ed.), Gli Etruschi a nord del Po, Mantova: Regione Lombardia - Provincia e Comune di Mantova 1987, 160–179.
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)
Mancini 1994	Alberto Mancini, "-", review of: Stefan Schumacher, Die rätischen Inschriften. Geschichte und heutiger Stand der Forschung [= Innsbrucker Beiträge zur Kulturwissenschaft, Sonderheft 79], Innsbruck: Verlag des Instituts für Sprachwissenschaft der Universität Innsbruck 1992, Geschichte und Region / Storia e regione 3/1994 (1994), 286–291.