natom

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Attestation:	VB·3.1 (latumarui:sapsutai:pe:uinom:natom) (1)
Status:	probable
Language:	Celtic
Word Type:	nominal
Grammatical Categories:	nom., acc. sg. masc., neut.
Stem Class:	o
Morphemic Analysis:	nat-om (n.) or nat-om
Phonemic Analysis:	/natom/
Meaning:	unknown

Commentary

See the inscription page on the reading.

Two analyses have been proposed for the form.
1. Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 145 (also 1981: 163 f.) suggests that it is gnāto- < *g̑n̥h₁-to- 'born' with simplified initial cluster as in RIG L-112, L-121 nata uimpi and in Enderlicher's glossary nate gl. fili (see Lambert 1994: 203, no. 12). As observed by herself, the Gallo-Latin spindle whorl inscriptions are late (2^nd c. AD?) and heavily influenced by Latin; whether nātā may be Latinised (or simply Latin) is discussed by Lambert in RIG: 334. Linguistically Latin influence is of course also possible in the Cisalpine Celtic inscription, also considering the first part of the phrase uinom, but cf. ateknati with intact cluster in a later inscription. Tibiletti Bruno's interpretation of the form as a noun 'son' (with her reading a plural 'sons') is problematic, as the noun would be expected to stand before the adjective.
2. Morandi 2004: 551 hypothesises that, if uinom is 'fair' as per Tibiletti Bruno, natom may refer to the vessel, but this solution faces the same problem as Tibiletti's 'son'. As implied by Morandi's notation "na(n)tom", the underlying form may be (*)nantom with the nasal not spelled before the voiceless stop.
Cf. DLG: 181, GPN: 207, Delamarre 2007: 222.

Bibliography

Delamarre 2007	Xavier Delamarre, Noms de personnes celtiques dans l'épigraphie classique. Nomina Celtica Antiqua Selecta Inscriptionum, Paris: Errance 2007.
DLG	Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise. Une approche linguistique du vieux-celtique continental, 2nd, revised edition, Paris: Errance 2003.