VB·3.2

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	inou : ea
Reading in original script:
Variant reading:	mou : ea
Object:	VB·3 Ornavasso (bottle) (Inscriptions: VB·3.1, VB·3.2, VB·3.3, VB·3.4, VB·3.5)
Position:	shoulder, outside
Orientation:	0°
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	0.4–1 cm0.157 in <br />0.394 in <br />
Number of letters:	5–6
Number of words:	2
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	scratched after firing
Condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	La Tène D [from object]
Date of inscription:	first half of 1st c. BC [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	unknown
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 304 a Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 10 Solinas 1995: 128 4 Morandi 2004: 48 B1
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 550–552 no. 48 B1

Images

Layout of inscriptions VB·3.1–5 on the shoulder of the vase from Lejeune 1987	Inscriptions VB·3.1–5 from Morandi 2004	Detail of bottle VB·3 Ornavasso with inscriptions VB·3.1 and VB·3.2 from Solinas 1995	Inscription VB·3.2 from Solinas 1995	Top view of VB·3 Ornavasso with all five inscriptions
Flask VB·3 Ornavasso with inscriptions VB·3.1, VB·3.2 and VB·3.5	Inscription VB·3.1 Ornavasso, with VB·3.2 and VB·3.5 in the background	Inscription VB·3.2

Commentary

First published in Bianchetti 1895: 69 f. (no. 21). Examined for LexLep on 20^th April 2024.

Images in Lejeune 1987: 508, fig. 6 (drawing), Solinas 1995: tav. LXXIa (photo), Morandi 2004: 566, fig. 12.48 (drawing).

Inscribed above the sequence uinom of VB·3.1, near the innermost of the white bands (length 2.7 cm). The distance between upsilon and epsilon is larger than those between the other letters, and two adjacent round marks are situated where a single-dot separator might be expected; the marks themselves, however, look much like other spots of surface damage and are not evidently intentional. Bianchetti read a single sequence inouea (also Kretschmer 1905: 99, no. 21, Rhŷs 1913: 62, no. 20 (a)); the mark was considered relevant by Whatmough 1933: 111–113, no. 304 (b) and Pisani 1964: 286 f., no. 124 (b), the latter considering the inscription to form a sentence together with the other three short inscriptions (etninou.ealutou:iutuni:, see also Lejeune 1971: 74, n. 259). Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 144, 146 (also 1981: 162–164, no. 10) proposed to read the initial group of scratches as a very uneven mu mou.ea, including a faint oblique scratch crossing iota and nu (see also Lejeune 1987: 497, Morandi 2004: 550–552 no. 48 B1). Undecided, but including the separator, Solinas 1995: 375, no. 128 4.

We consider the scratch which is supposed to form Tibiletti's ramshackle mu unintentional, and the separator at least doubtful – clear separators in the inscriptions on the flask consist of at least two vertcally arranged dots, though the distance between upsilon and epsilon does indicate two separate sequences. Cf. specifically VB·3.3 for a short inscription with internal separation, also with a first part which ends in ou. The interpretation is unclear in any case, as no reading variant represents a linguistically plausible form.

See also Giussani 1902: 55 f., Piana Agostinetti 1972: 272, no. 12, tav. XXXI.12, Piana Agostinetti 1997–1999 II: 57, in IV Morandi 1999b: 308–312, no. 4.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Bianchetti 1895	Enrico Bianchetti, I sepolcreti di Ornavasso [= Atti della Società di Archeologia e Belle Arti della provincia di Torino 6], Torino: Paravia 1895.
Caramella & De Giuli 1993	Pierangelo Caramella, Alberto De Giuli, Archeologia dell'Alto Novarese, Mergozzo: Antiquarium Mergozzo 1993.