CO·12
| Inscription | |
|---|---|
| Reading in transliteration: | na?[ / ot?[ |
| Reading in original script: | ]?  ]?  
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| Object: | CO·12 Rondineto (bowl) |
| Position: | foot, outside |
| Frame: | ? (left: unknown, middle: all, right: none)
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| Direction of writing: | sinistroverse |
| Script: | North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet) |
| Letter height: | 1.1–1.4 cm0.433 in <br />0.551 in <br /> |
| Number of letters: | 6 |
| Number of words: | 2 |
| Number of lines: | 2 |
| Workmanship: | scratched after firing |
| Condition: | damaged, fragmentary |
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| Archaeological culture: | Golasecca III A [from object] |
| Date of inscription: | 5th–early 4th c. BC [from object] |
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| Type: | unknown |
| Language: | perhaps Celtic |
| Meaning: | unknown |
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| Alternative sigla: | Whatmough 1933 (PID): 294 Solinas 1995: 85 Morandi 2004: 159 |
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| Sources: | Morandi 2004: 627–629 |
Images
 Potsherd CO·12 Rondineto with inscription CO·12 from Morandi 2004
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 Drawing of inscription CO·12 from Solinas 1995
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 Potsherd CO·12 Rondineto with inscription CO·12 from Tibiletti Bruno 1969b
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 Inscription CO·12 from Tibiletti Bruno 1969b
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Commentary
First published in Barelli 1877/Garovaglio 1877. Examined for LexLep on 2nd April 2025.
Images in Barelli 1877/Garovaglio 1877: tav. I.18 (drawing), Oberziner 1883: tav. XVIII.6 (drawing copied from Garovaglio), Tibiletti Bruno 1969b: 280, tav. VIII.13a and b (photos), Solinas 1995: 354 (drawing), Morandi 2004: 800, tav. XXIII.159 (photo).
Written in two lines on the outside foot of the vessel, between and separated by frame lines; only ca. 2.8 cm of each line are preserved. The orientation of the letters is clear in line 1, in which nu and alpha are clearly identifiable despite a line below the bars of nu (probably unintentional). Of a third letter in this line, only the very bottom tip of the hasta is left after a small piece near the breaking edge splintered off some time after the 1960s. More of the letter is visible in TB's photo, but it is not readily identifiable, as a bar seems to extend midway from the hasta. Tibiletti Bruno 1969b: 193 f., no. 13, tentatively reads mu, while Whatmough PID: 102, no. 294, took it for some kind of separator (]pạ.[). In line 2, the completely preserved letters are and , read by Whatmough as sinistroverse oṭ[ with the same orientation as the first line. The remains of an oblique line touch one of the hastae of . TB argues that "certi appoggi dello stilo e certe ondulazioni delle linee" indicate that this line should be read with the opposite orientation as line 1, the small trace being the remains of alpha, or possibly epsilon or sigma. This results in a reading as sinistroverse false boustrophedon ]ạto | ṇaṃ[ (similarly Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 147 and 1990b: 109 with opposite order of lines nam[ | ]to; theoretically, a word run across the line break). As per Whatmough with the two lines in the same orientation Solinas 1995: 353, no. 85 nap[ | ot?[ (also Morandi). While TB's reading is certainly possible, the ductus of the second line does not necessarily indicate its orientation; the trace of a letter after (or before?) 
may well be of upsilon. We prefer the reading with the same orientation and writing direction in both lines, though it is by no means certain.
Bibliography
| Barelli 1877 | Vincenzo Barelli, "Villaggio preromano di Rondineto", Rivista Archeologica della Provincia di Como 11 (1877), 1–32. |
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