TI·42

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	minuku : komoneos
Reading in original script:
Object:	TI·42 Stabio (stela)
Position:	front, centre
Orientation:	90°
Frame:	(left: feet, middle: top and bottom, right: stela head)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	4.5–11 cm1.772 in <br />4.331 in <br />
Number of letters:	14
Number of words:	2
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	carved
Condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	La Tène B, La Tène C [from object]
Date of inscription:	4th–mid-2nd c. BC [from object]
Type:	funerary
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'Minuku son of Komu'
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 275 Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 7 Solinas 1995: 22 Motta 2000: 11 Morandi 2004: 39
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 542 no. 39

Images

Fabretti's incorrect drawing of TI·42 from Giussani

Stela from Stabio with inscription TI·42 from Motta

Stela TI·42 Stabio with inscription TI·42 from Solinas

Close-up of the last letters of inscription TI·42

Stela from Stabio with inscription TI·42

Commentary

First published in Lavizzari 1864. Examined for LexLep on 28^th September 2021.

Images in Lavizzari 1864 (drawing = Keller & Meyer 1865: 205, no. 2 = CII: iii, no. 2 bis a = Pastore 2006: 46, fig. 4), CII: tab. LVIII, fig. 2 bis a (drawing = Pauli 1885: Taf. I, fig. 16 = Giussani 1902: 36, fig. 6), Ghirardini 1869: 98 (drawing), Rhŷs 1913: pl. I (photo), Risch 1970: 131, Abb. 2.4 (drawing), Crivelli 1973b: tav. 8, fig. 22 (drawing), Risch 1984: 27, Abb. 5 (drawing = Risch 1989: 1585, fig. 3) and 34, Abb. 15 (photo = De Marinis & Motta 1991: 209, fig. 5 = Risch 1992: 681, Abb. 3.2 = Solinas 1995: tav. LX c = Morandi 2001: 6, fig. 1), Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 81 (drawing), Motta 2000: 205, fig. 9 (photo = Butti Ronchetti 2006: 56, fig. 4).

The inscription is applied in one line (length 74 cm) down the centre of the stela, between two frame lines which end in little lines representing feet at the bottom and come together to form a stylised head on top. The letters are well legible despite some unusual features. Mu, nu and upsilon are executed throughout with short lines cutting off the tips of all corners; this may be intended to produce a rounded effect. The second to last omicron is inscribed under the bars of preceding mu. Epsilon and the last omicron are of equal height (i.e. smaller than the majority of the letters) and placed somewhat below the line, with epsilon below the bars of preceding nu. Final sigma is full-size and in line again, but executed so flatly that its intended shape cannot be determined with certainty – and are as plausible as given above, as indeed reflected in the various drawings provided in the literature. The arrangement of the last three letters would appear to be due to lack of space, though there was ample space on the stone – an indication that the frame was applied before the inscription, and the writer tried to avoid going too far below its end (cf. Tibiletti Bruno 1997: 1009 f.).

The inscription was first mentioned in a notice by Luigi Lavizzari in the newspaper Gazzetta Ticinese, reproduced in Keller & Meyer 1865: 205, no. 2. The correct reading was first given by Rhŷs 1913: 16–18, no. 5 (1) (previous readings omitted the epsilon in komoneos which is missing from Fabretti's drawing). Rhŷs interprets the two words as a name formula in the nominative with komoneos, which appears in identical form on another stela from Stabio (TI·40), as the patronym (see the word pages for details). See also CII: iii, no. 2 bis a, Corssen 1874: 948 f., Pauli 1885: 9, no. 16, 70, 72 f., Giussani 1902: 36, no. 5, Danielsson 1909: 20, n. 2, 23, n. 3, Jacobsohn 1927: 31, no. 194, PID: 94 f., no. 275, Pisani 1964: 282, no. 119 B, Lejeune 1971: 52, Tibiletti Bruno 1975b: 49, 53, Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 140, Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 160 f., no. 7, Risch 1984: 26, Risch 1989: 1582, Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 91, Risch 1992: 680 f., Solinas 1995: 328 f., no. 22, Motta 2000: 205, no. 11, Morandi 2001: 6 f., Morandi 2004: 542, no. 39.

Tibiletti Bruno 1975b: 49 (also 1978: 140, 1981: 160 f., no. 7) considers the stylistic features of the inscription – the execution of the frame and letters – to be archaising, features which demonstrate its late date being the direction of the inscription from top to bottom and the different text formula (nominative rather than dative + pala).

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Butti Ronchetti 2006	Fulvia Butti Ronchetti, "Stabio in età romana", in: Rossana Cardani Vergani, Sergio Pescia (eds), Stabio antica. Dal reperto alla storia. Testimonianze archeologiche scelte illustrano il suggestivo percorso di Stabio e delle terre del Sottoceneri dalle età più remote al Medioevo, Stabio: Armando Dadò 2006, 53–82.
CII	Ariodante Fabretti, Corpus inscriptionum italicarum antiquioris aevi. Ordine geographico digestum et glossarium italicum, in quo omnia vocabula continentur ex umbricis, sabinis, oscis, volscis, etruscis aliisque monumentis quae supersunt, Augusta Taurinorum: 1867.
Corssen 1874–1875	Paul Wilhelm Corssen, Über die Sprache der Etrusker, Leipzig: Teubner 1874–1875. (2 volumes)
Crivelli 1973b	Aldo Crivelli, "Cronologia protostorica della Valpadana dal IV al I sec. a.C.", Rivista Archeologica dell'Antica Provincia e Diocesi di Como 152–155 (1970–1973), 427–474.
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 Marinis & Motta 1991	Raffaele C. De Marinis, Filippo Motta, "Una nuova iscrizione lepontica su pietra da Mezzovico (Lugano)", Sibrium 21 (1990–1991), 201–225.