VB·28

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	namu / esopnio
Reading in original script:
Object:	VB·28 Stresa (stela)
Position:	top, front
Orientation:	0°
Frame:	(left: none, middle: all, right: none)
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
adapted to:	Latin script
Letter height:	8–11 cm3.15 in <br />4.331 in <br />
Number of letters:	11
Number of words:	2
Number of lines:	2
Workmanship:	carved
Condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	La Tène D 2 [from object]
Date of inscription:	1st c. BC [from object]
Type:	funerary
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'Namu the Esopnian'
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 303 Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 18 Solinas 1995: 127 Morandi 2004: 71
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 567 f. no. 71

Images

Stela VB·28 Stresa with inscription VB·28 from Solinas 1995

Stela VB·28 Stresa with inscription VB·28

Inscription VB·28

Commentary

First published in Ferrero 1889: 262 (d). Examined for LexLep on 20^th April 2024.

Images in Ferrero 1889: 262 (drawing), Ponti 1896: 154, no. 188 (drawing from Fabretti's calque), Ferrero 1897: 58 (drawing from Fabretti's calque), Caramella & De Giuli 1993: 210 (drawing), Solinas 1995: tav. 68a (photo).

Inscribed in two lines between three horizontal lines, the uppermost 17.5 cm from the top of the stela (frame height line 1 12–13 cm, line 2 12.5–13.5 cm). Made from a different stone than the other stelae from Levo, the letters on the stela are well preserved; the letters show Latin influence in the form of epsilon with almost straight bars, Latin nu and mu with straight hastae and the middle tip not reaching the bottom (see M).

The text is a Latinised name formula with individual name and filiation; both names are etymologically Celtic (see the word pages). See Ponti 1896: 154 f., Ferrero 1897: 58 f., no. 2, Danielsson 1909: 28, n. 1, Rhŷs 1913: 50 f., no. 1, Jacobsohn 1927: 30, no. 189, Whatmough PID 108, no. 303, Pisani 1964: 282 f., no. 119 C, Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 153, Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 171 f., no. 18, De Hoz 1990: 323 f. (namu as patronym, cf. VB·22; critical Eska 1995: 43), Solinas 1995: 374 f., no. 127, Morandi 2004: 567 f., no. 71.

See the object page on the dating. Based on the stela shape, writing direction and Latin-influenced alphabet, VB·28 may be the youngest of the attested epichoric Verbano gravestones.

See also Untermann 1960: 280, 306, Caramella & De Giuli 1993: 210.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Caramella & De Giuli 1993	Pierangelo Caramella, Alberto De Giuli, Archeologia dell'Alto Novarese, Mergozzo: Antiquarium Mergozzo 1993.
Danielsson 1909	Olof August Danielsson, Zu den venetischen und lepontischen Inschriften [= Skrifter utgivna av Kungliga Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala 13.1], Uppsala – Leipzig: 1909.
De Hoz 1990	Javier de Hoz, "El genitivo celtico de los temas en -o-", in: Francisco Villar (ed.), Studia indogermanica et palaeohispanica in honorem Antonio Tovar et Luis Michelena, Salamanca: Ediciones Universidad de Salamanca 1990, 315–329.
Eska 1995	Joseph F. Eska, "Observations on the thematic genitive singular in Lepontic and Hispano-Celtic", in: Joseph F. Eska, R. Geraint Gruffydd, Nicolas Jacobs (eds), Hispano-Gallo-Brittonica. Essays in honour of Professor D. Ellis Evans on the occasion of his sixty-fifth birthday, Cardiff: University of Wales Press 1995, 33–46.
Ferrero 1889	Ermanno Ferrero, "Regione XI. (Transpadana)", Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità (1889), 261–262.
Ferrero 1897	Ermanno Ferrero, "Iscrizioni di Chignolo Verbano", Atti della Società di Archeologia e Belle Arti per la provincia di Torino 7 (1897), 56–60.