sekenei

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Attestation:	MN·1 (sekene·i·) (1)
Language:	perhaps Celtic
Word Type:	proper noun
Semantic Field:	personal name
Grammatical Categories:	dat. sg.
Stem Class:	i
Morphemic Analysis:	seg-ē̆n-ei̯ (?)
Phonemic Analysis:	/sege/ēnei̯/ (?)
Meaning:	'for/to Sekenis' (?)

Commentary

Analysed as Celtic by Morandi 2004: 680 f., who compares names in seg- as well as CO·75 siki and points out that the dative -ei̯ can be Celtic as well as Venetic (as indicated by the alphabet, see the inscription page), leaving the obscure suffix -ē̆n-. The base is also identified as Celtic seg- by Agostiniani 1996: 11 f., who assumes that the name itself and the inflection are Venetic, and compares seken- to bellen- in the Venetic inscription *Pa 25 tivalei bellenei, where -en- is identified as an ablaut variant of -on- in derivations (pattern fougon- : fugenia, see Calzavara Capuis et al. 1978: 187, Pellegrini & Prosdocimi 1967 II: 51, 89, Prosdocimi 1988: 359). Agostiniani analyses both names as Venetic en-stem hypocoristics to Celtic compound names with o-stems a first element (sego-/bello-) – cf. also Prosdocimi 1986e: 86, Prosdocimi 1986d, Prosdocimi 1987: 576. In either case, the spelling of /g/ in seg- with kappa consitutes a problem. Agostiniani (n. 17) speculates that Celtic /k/ could be equated with Venetic /g/ and that the use of kappa is hypercorrect; more plausible is the suggestion by Prosdocimi & Marinetti 1991: 441 that kappa denotes /k/ as the result of hypocoristic strengthening.

An alternative analysis is suggested by Colonna 1986: 62 (n. 32), who analyses the sequence as a feminine Etruscan nomen in -nei, comparing Etr. secnes etc. The segmentation of the underlying name as Venetic se-genes as in voltigenes, enogenes (Cristofani 1985: 278) is unlikely because of the short and opaque first element. De Marinis 1985: 204 mentions a possible comparandum in the toponym vicus secenia (Farini, Piacenza) on the Tabula Alimentaria (CIL XI 1147); a PN secenus (CIL II 5333, Talavera de la Reina) is listed in AcS II: 1425.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

AcS	Alfred Holder, Alt-celtischer Sprachschatz, Leipzig: Teubner 1896–1907.
Agostiniani 1996	Luciano Agostiniani, "Relazione di possesso e marcatura di caso in Venetico", Studi orientali e linguistici 6 (1995–1996), 9–28.
Calzavara Capuis et al. 1978	Loredana Calzavara Capuis, Anna Maria Chieco Bianchi Martini, Aldo Luigi Prosdocimi, "Due nuovi ciottoloni con iscrizione venetica", Studi Etruschi 46 (1978), 179–203.
Colonna 1986	Giovanni Colonna, "La piú [sic] antica iscrizione di Bologna", Studi e Documenti di Archeologia 2 (1986), 57–66.
Cristofani 1985	Mauro Cristofani (Ed.), Die Etrusker, Stuttgart: Belser 1985.
De Marinis 1985	Raffaele C. De Marinis, "Mantua", Studi Etruschi 51 (1983 [1985]), 196–213.