BS·3.2

edit with form

Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	θomezecuai / obauzanaθina
Reading in original script:
Variant reading:	θomezeclai / obalza naθina (Thurneysen, Eska) : omezecụai / obauzana : ina ( taken as separator, Morandi)
Object:	BS·3 Voltino (stela) (Inscriptions: BS·3.1, BS·3.2)
Position:	front
Orientation:	0°
Frame:	(left: straight, middle: bottom, right: straight)
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	Camunic script
Number of letters:	20–22
Number of lines:	2
Workmanship:	carved, painted
Condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	Augustan [from object]
Date of inscription:	late 1st c. BC–early 1st c. AD [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	unknown
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 249 Morandi 2004: 233 5–6
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 670 f.

Images

Stela BS·3 Voltino with inscriptions BS·3.1 and BS·3.2 from Morandi 2004

Commentary

Image in Morandi 2004: 806, tav. XXIX (photo).

Reading and interpretation unclear. The script appears to be a variant of the Camunic alphabet, possibly with some interference from Latin and/or Lepontic, although mu and nu are neither properly Latin nor Camunic; is a Latin character, while the four alphas (if that's what they are) are of the Lepontic type. See Zavaroni 2008: 20–23, Schürr 2007: 336–340, De Marinis 1992: 160 f., Tibiletti Bruno 1990: 165, Prosdocimi 1965. Cf. CIL V 4717 (Brescia) with three "Camunoid" letters at the end.

Further alternative readings: θoMe þeCuai ośau saNaθiNa (Zavaroni 2008: 18–35), θome zecAai oBau zanaθina (Schürr 2007: 335–345).

Summaries of interpretation attempts e.g. in Zavaroni 2008: 18 f., Schürr 2007: 336 f.

• Para-Etruscan: Pauli 1885: 96 f., Lattes 1914b: 476
• Raetic: Whatmough 1933: 57–59, 549–551, Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 218 f., Tibiletti Bruno 1992
• Gaulish/Celtic: Thurneysen 1923: 8 f., Koch 1985, Meid 1989: 17–26, Eska 1989, Hamp 1989

Thurneysen 1923: 8 f. (followed by Meid 1989: 17–26, Eska 1989: 106 f., Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 218 f.) read tomezeclai obalzanatina, segmented by Eska & Weiss 1996 (cf. Eska & Evans 2009: 35) to=me=declai obalda natina 'Obalda, (their) dear daughter, set me up'; for discussion of the syntax see Zavaroni 2008: 23 f., Eska 1989, Koch 1983: 200 f., Koch 1985: 24 f., Thurneysen 1923: 8–10). Zavaroni 2008: 23–31 and Schürr 2007: 341–345 suggest that the text records the same two name formulae as BS·3.1 (Gaulish/Latinised = Camunic/Euganeic: tetumus = θome, sanadis = sanaθina). For Etruscan parallels see Zavaroni 2008: 23, CIE: 1416, CIE: 890, CIE: 1048. Regarding the Camunic/Euganeic language see Schürr 2007: 341 f., 345.

• Weisgerber 1931: 154 f. (old reading tomedeclai obalda natina)
• Lejeune 1971: 64, n. 220
• Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 175, 218 f.
• Eska & Weiss 1996: 289 f.
• Eska 1998c: 26
• Markey & Mees 2004: 74
• Eska & Wallace 2011

Bibliography

CIE	Carl Pauli, Olof August Danielsson et al. (eds.), Corpus Inscriptionum Etruscarum. (3 volumes, various parts)
CIL	Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. (17 volumes, various supplements)
De Marinis 1992	Raffaele C. De Marinis, "Il territorio prealpino e alpino tra i Laghi di Como e di Garda dal Bronzo recente alla fine dell'età del Ferro", in: Ingrid R. Metzger, Paul Gleirscher (eds), Die Räter / I Reti, Bozen: Athesia 1992, 145–174.
Eska & Evans 2009	Joseph F. Eska, David Ellis Evans, "Continental Celtic", in: Martin J. Ball, Nicole Müller (eds), The Celtic Languages, 2nd edition, London – New York: Routledge 2009, 28–53.
Eska & Wallace 2011	Joseph F. Eska, Rex E. Wallace, "Script and language at ancient Voltino", Alessandria 5 (2011), 93–113.
Eska & Weiss 1996	Joseph Francis Eska, Michael Weiss, "Segmenting Gaul. tomedeclai", Studia Celtica 30 (1996), 289-292.
Eska 1989	Joseph Francis Eska, "Interpreting the Gaulish inscription of Voltino", Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies 36 (1989), 106-107.
Eska 1998c	Josef Francis Eska, "PIE *p (doesn't become) Ø in proto Celtic", Münchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 58 (1998), 63-80.