MA-13

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Inscription
Transliteration:	es·sθuaθel·pa?inua
Original script:
Object:	MA-13 antler (antler)
Position:	front
Script:	North Italic script (Magrè alphabet)
Direction of writing:	mixed
Letter height:	1.31.3 cm <br /> – 2.6 cm
Number of letters:	16
Number of characters:	18
Number of lines:	1
Craftsmanship:	engraved
Current condition:	complete, damaged
Date of inscription:	3rd–2nd centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from:	archaeological context [from object]
Language:	Raetic
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	PID 233 LIR MA-1 MLR 55
Sources:	Schumacher 2004: 164, 340

Commentary

First published in Pellegrini 1918: 179 f. (no. 3).

Images in Pellegrini 1918: 179, fig. 10 (drawing), LIR (photo and drawings), MLR (photos).

Length 11.7 cm, starting at the (slightly) narrower end of the antler piece. The object is broken into three fragments. The sequence is well legible on fragment 1 (the largest). Note that Upsilon is inverted in opposition to the second instance toward the end of the inscription, which is the expected Magrè . The first five letters being a little offset toward the edge, it appears that the writer started writing in dextroverse direction, then turned the object after Upsilon (the better to be able to support his hand) – cp. MA-17. Both other Magrè inscriptions which contain the word esθua* are dextroverse. In this case, Epsilon is inverted, for which cp. MA-1, MA-6, MA-8, MA-9 and MA-11. Sigma is turned with its upper angle opening in writing direction in MA-12 and MA-14. is heavily damaged by the break, but all three bars are discernible. The left half of the object is also broken horizontally, damaging all remaining letters but the last. is clear. Of the next letter, a hasta and a bar are visible. The surface here and to the left of the letter is damaged, but not so much that a second bar in the lower area to form (as surmised by Pellegrini) should not be discernible. Neither is the bar prolonged on the right of the hasta (). A letter San is used in the Venetic subcorpus of Cadore, but is not attested elsewhere in Raetic. is faint; the angle of Nu looks more like it belongs with the hasta of Iota – maybe Iota was inserted after Nu to correct a mistake, or the crampedness is due to the lack of space. is smallish; is crammed into the top left corner.

Syllabic punctuation is applied correctly, although the repetition of Sigma in esθua is unprecedented. esθua can be compared with a number of similar forms attested in the Magrè inscriptions and elsewhere (see the word page). The remaining sequence is unclear, but the ending is likely to be a patronym in -nu in the genitive -a. If the twelfth letter is really San, a sequence paśinua might be compared with SZ-15.1 paśunu (?). In any case, if the final form is a genitive, this would indicate that it corresponds with the supposed individual name esθua, which would then also have to be interpreted as a genitive. A very tentative interpretation is 'of/to Esθu*, son of Paś* ?'; θel is opaque.

On the back, at the broader end, an arrangement of very tidy, deeply and broadly engraved lines (length about 5 cm).

Further references: Kretschmer 1932, Vetter 1943: 80, Kretschmer 1943: 177, 179, 182, Mayr 1956b: 245, Pisani 1964: 318 (no. 134k), Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 237 f.

Bibliography

Kretschmer 1932	Paul Kretschmer, "Die Etruskerfrage und die Inschriften von Magrè", in: Axel Nelson (Ed.), Symbolae philologicae O.A. Danielsson Octogenario dicatae, Uppsala: 1932, 134–142.
Kretschmer 1943	Paul Kretschmer, "Die vorgriechischen Sprach- und Volksschichten (Fortsetzung)", Glotta 30 (1943), 84–218.
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 1956b	Karl M. Mayr, "Hirschhornvotive aus den rätischen Bergen", Der Schlern 30 (1956), 245–246.