TI·33

edit with form

Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	]nialui : pala
Reading in original script:	[
Object:	TI·33 Bedigliora (stela)
Position:	front
Orientation:	270°
Frame:	?  (left: waisted head, middle: top and bottom, right: unknown)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	13 cm5.118 in <br />
Number of letters:	10
Number of words:	2
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	carved
Condition:	fragmentary
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:	'pala for ... the son of °nios'
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 273 Solinas 1995: 2 Motta 2000: 7 Morandi 2004: 31
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 537 no. 31

Images

Drawing of TI·33 Bedigliora with inscription TI·33 )nialui : pala

Stela fragment TI·33 Bedigliora (photograph by C. Reguzzi)

Fragment TI·33 Bedigliora with inscription TI·33

Commentary

First published in Giussani 1914: 56–60.

Images in Giussani 1914: 57, fig. 3 (photo) and 59, fig. 4 (drawing = Lattes 1914: 920), Rhŷs 1914: 315, pl. II (photo), Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 81 (drawing), Motta 2000: 202, fig. 5 (photo).

Inscribed in a single line within a frame running from bottom to top (length of remains 59 cm). Though the stela is broken on both sides, only the first part of the inscription is missing; the neck of the anthropomorphic frame can be seen on the left side after pala, which is thus the last word. The upper parts of final lambda and alpha are broken off, but the letters are unambiguous, as is nu with a curve instead of two bars – attested repeatedly on stelae in the Lugano area – after the break on the lower end. The remains of the inscription contain the end of a patronym from a personal name in °nios (Rhŷs 1914: 4 speculatively emends to slanialui based on TI·36.1 slaniai) and the formula word pala; see the word pages for details.

According to Piana Agostinetti 2004: 168, the inscription is offset toward the right, and a worked area to its left indicates that a second inscription was planned to be applied on the stela.

Dating according to De Marinis & Motta 1991: 206 – the authors tentatively classify the stela as their type B, but type C seems more appropriate with regard to the clear definition of a neck (cf. esp. TI·36.1/TI·36.2).

See also Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 138, Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 90.

Bibliography

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.