VB·23

Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	kiketu / ṛẹṭalos
Reading in original script:

Object:	VB·23 Stresa (stela)
Position:	front
Orientation:	0°
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Number of letters:	13
Number of words:	2
Number of lines:	2
Workmanship:	carved
Condition:	damaged

Archaeological culture:	La Tène D 2 [from object]
Date of inscription:	1^st c. BC [from object]

Type:	funerary
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'Kiketu son of Retos' (?)

Alternative sigla:	Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 15 Solinas 1995: 121 Morandi 2004: 66

Sources:	Morandi 2004: 564 no. 66

Images

Gravestone from Bee with Latin inscription

Inscription VB·23 from De Giuli 1979

Stela VB·23 Stresa with inscription VB·23 from De Giuli 1979

Inscription VB·23 from Tibiletti Bruno 1979

Stela VB·23 Stresa with inscription VB·23

First published in De Giuli 1979: 247.

Images in De Giuli 1979: 247, fig. 2 (photo and drawing), Tibiletti Bruno 1979: 259, fig. 3 (drawing).

On the difficult reading Tibiletti Bruno 1979: 257–260 (257), who interprets retalos as a patronym in -al-, pointing to the late appearance of the suffix in NO·18 (Miasino) (thus also Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 167 f., no. 15, Solinas 1995: 372, no. 121). Differently Markey & Mees 2003: 139, who appear to regard kiketu as a patronym in -ū (see The Cisalpine Celtic Languages).

Caramella & De Giuli 1993	Pierangelo Caramella, Alberto De Giuli, Archeologia dell'Alto Novarese, Mergozzo: Antiquarium Mergozzo 1993.
De Giuli 1978	Alberto De Giuli, "Le stele funerarie di Brisino", Bollettino Storico per la Provincia di Novara 69/1 (1978), 13–20.
De Giuli 1979	Alberto De Giuli, "Le stele funerarie di Brisino", Sibrium 14 (1978–1979), 245–252.
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.