NO·29

edit with form

Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	χọθiọṣ
Reading in original script:	?
Variant reading:	χọθiọị
Object:	NO·29 Castelletto sopra Ticino (slab)
Position:	front
Orientation:	0°
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Number of letters:	6
Number of words:	1
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	carved
Condition:	damaged
Archaeological culture:	Golasecca I C, Golasecca II A [from object]
Date of inscription:	7th–mid-6th century BC [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'Χoθios' (?)
Alternative sigla:	none
Sources:	Gambari 2011: 19

Commentary

First published in Gambari 2011: 19.

Image in Gambari 2011: 20, fig. 3 (photo = Gambari 2018: 37, fig. 4 [in colour; referred to as fig. 2 in the text p. 34 – the correct caption is indeed that of fig. 2]).

Our reading follows Gambari 2011 (also Gambari 2018: 34). Chi, theta and iota are clearly legible; both omicrons are uncertain, but their presence can be inferred from their small size and rounded lines. It is uncertain whether the breaking edge after sigma/iota predates the inscription or whether the inscription is incomplete.

The sequence is most likely a personal name in -i̯o‎; as pointed out by Gambari, the ending could be nom. sg. -os, gen. sg. -oi̯so (if incomplete), or, theoretically, an archaic dat. sg. -ōi̯ (see -oi̯ for other forms in -oi). The uncertainty concerning the function or functions of theta and chi in the archaic Lepontic alphabet (see North Italic Script) make the identification of the name base difficult; Gambari plausibly suggests kott-.

The situation of the stone in a settlement rather than a necropolis and its crude shape make an identification as a gravestone unlikely; Gambari proposes that stone and inscription marked the named person's property, possibly in a workshop context.

Gambari 2011: 19 proposes a dating to the third quarter of the 7^th century BC based on the forms of chi and theta and the writing direction, but the reasoning is not clear to me. Chi is a standard form that occurs throughout the phases of the Lepontic alphabet; theta is only attested here, and the only other variant with circle and cross (NM·6.1) dates to the 4^th century BC.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Gambari 2011	Filippo Maria Gambari, "Le pietre dei signori del fiume: il cippo iscritto e le stele del primo periodo della cultura di Golasecca", in: Filippo Maria Gambari, Raffaella Cerri (eds), L'alba della città. Le prime necropoli del centro protourbano di Castelletto Ticino, Novara: 2011, 19–32.
Gambari 2018	Filippo M. Gambari, "Un alfabeto antico per lingue nuove. Le prime attestazioni delle lingue celtiche nelle epigrafi preromane della lombardia occidentale", in: Cristina Miedico (ed.), Le voci degli altri. Linguaggi, parole e alfabeti inconsueti nella Lombardia antica, Angera: 2018, 31–41.