VR-2

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Inscription
Transliteration: malav·zn
Original script: N sZ2 spunctuation8 sV sA dL sA dM s

Object: VR-2 antler (antler)
Position:
Script: North Italic script (Magrè alphabet)
Direction of writing: sinistroverse
Letter height: 1.21.2 cm <br /> – 1.5 cm
Number of letters: 8
Number of characters: 9
Number of lines: 1
Craftsmanship: engraved
Current condition: complete
Archaeological culture: Late Iron Age [from object]
Date of inscription: 5th–4th centuries BC [from object]
Date derived from: archaeological context, cultural context [from object]

Language: unknown
Meaning: unknown

Alternative sigla: PID 246
IR 13
LIR VR-2
MLR 45
TM 218514
Sources: Schumacher 2004: 171

Commentary

First published in Cipolla 1884d: 414 ff. Autopsied by TIR on 19th November 2015.

Images in Pauli 1888: 148 (idealised rendering), Pellegrini 1918: 191, Fig. B (drawing), IR (drawing = Mancini & Prosdocimi 1976: 121), Mayr 1958 (photos).

Length 4.5 cm; starting on the inside of the crook. The surface of the object is hardly damaged; the lines are perfectly well distinguishable. The first four letters are unambiguous, as is final Nu. For the group of lines in between, various readings have been suggested. V s seems clear (definitely not Alpha (Pauli, IR), as the bar would be turned the wrong way). The upper bar of Digamma is, with a slightly misaligned second scratch, prolonged to touch the lower tip of the following, slightly oblique hasta. This latter, with its bar on top, is usually read L s (Whatmough's Upsilon is groundless). The short vertical on top is likely a punctuation mark, though secondarily inserted Iota (Schumacher) cannot be excluded. If the entire group is not a para-script element (cp. a similar group in NO-19), the prolongation of the bar of Digamma makes no sense. Marchesini reads a ligature with (inverted) Alpha (-valn), which is so far unparalleled in the Raetic corpus (but cp. VR-6); also the assumed bar of Alpha is completely vertical. In comparison with new material from the area of Verona (VR-10, esp. VR-11), the scratch which appears to connect Digamma with the following hasta may be considered to belong with the second letter, which can then be read Z2 s Zeta. In this case, the letters N sZ2 s zn are likely to represent the verbal form þinaχe. Cp. VR-4. malav remains obscure.

Further references: Cordenons 1911: 221 (no. 101), Pellegrini 1918: 190 f. (note 1), NRIE 57b, Mayr 1958: 41 f., Mancini & Prosdocimi 1976: 121 f., Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 239 f.

Bibliography

Cordenons 1911 Federico Cordenons, Silloge delle Iscrizioni Venetiche. Con note sugli antichi alfabeti e sistemi di scrittura usata dagli Italici e dagli Etruschi, Feltre: 1911.
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)
Mancini & Prosdocimi 1976 Alberto Mancini, Aldo Luigi Prosdocimi, "Nota sui Corni Iscritti di S. Briccio di Lavagno e sul "Retico"", in: Alessandra Aspes (Red.), 3000 anni fa a Verona. Dalla fine dell'età del Bronzo all'arrivo dei romani nel territorio Veronese, Verona: 1976, 111–122.
Mayr 1958 Karl M. Mayr, "Hirschhörner mit etrusko-rätischen Inschriften aus S. Briccio di Lavagno (Verona)", Der Schlern 32 (1958), 41–42.