BG·20
| Inscription | |
|---|---|
| Reading in transliteration: | ]kicrisi |
| Reading in original script: | ]    
|
| Variant reading: | ]kiφisi ] 
|
|
| |
| Object: | BG·20 Capriate San Gervasio (bowl) |
| Position: | outside |
| Frame: | ? ? (left: unknown, middle: top and bottom, right: unknown)
|
| Direction of writing: | dextroverse |
| Script: | unknown |
| Number of letters: | 6–7 |
| Number of words: | 1 |
| Number of lines: | 1 |
| Workmanship: | scratched into leather-hard clay |
| Condition: | fragmentary |
|
| |
| Archaeological culture: | Golasecca III A [from object] |
| Date of inscription: | 5th c. BC [from object] |
|
| |
| Type: | unknown |
| Language: | unknown |
| Meaning: | unknown |
|
| |
| Alternative sigla: | Morandi 2004: 223 |
|
| |
| Sources: | Morandi 2004: 663 f. no. 23 |
Images
 Potsherd with inscription BG·20 from Morandi
|
 Inscription BG·20 from Morandi 2004
|
Commentary
First published in Morandi 2004: 663 f., no. 23. (Mentioned in Solinas 1995: 384 without reading.)
Images in Morandi 2001: 17, fig. 5 (photo and drawing, the latter = Morandi 2004: 667, fig. 26.223), Morandi 2004: tav. XXVIII.223 (photo), Morandi 2007: 298, fig. 96 (photo).
Sequence of vertical and broken lines inscribed between two horizontal lines, underneath another such band with a zig-zag pattern. Reading following Morandi (also 2001: 17 f., no. 12 and 2007: 298, no. 24), who segments the middle group of scratches into gamma and rho , suggesting that gamma denotes /g/ in opposition to kappa, and interpreting the sequence as a personal name in the genitive. The inscription is much too early for a Latin letter to appear, however. An alternative reading with the middle section as phi is sometimes considered (literature); a sequence kibisī finds a better comparandum (see the word page), but the reading is even less plausible, as phi is not used in the Lepontic alphabet. In view of the even spacing of lines (gaps between hastae and bars in putative kappa and rho/phi), the framing, which is unusual for a pottery graffito, the accompanying decorative band above, and the fact that the lines were applied before firing, the scratching is much more likely to be purely decorative.
