TI·37

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	ṣụnaḷei : makọ[
Reading in original script:	]
Object:	TI·37 Viganello (stela)
Position:	front
Orientation:	270°
Frame:	?  (left: unknown, middle: top and bottom, right: feet)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	15 cm5.906 in <br />
Number of letters:	11
Number of words:	2
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	carved
Condition:	fragmentary
Archaeological culture:	La Tène B, La Tène C
Date of inscription:	4th–mid-2nd c. BC
Type:	prob. funerary
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'for Sunalis daughter of Mako° ...' (?)
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 270 Solinas 1995: 28 Morandi 2004: 35
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 540 f. no. 35

Images

Inscription TI·37 from Giussani

Inscription TI·37 from Oberziner

Commentary

First published in CII: Addenda et Corrigenda, c.2033.

Images in CII: tav. LVIII, 2 quater 2 (drawing based on a squeeze by Balestra = Oberziner 1883: 174 = Pauli 1885: Taf. I.12), Giussani 1902: 40, fig. 9 (drawing = Morandi 2004: 543, fig. 10.35).

The remains of the beginning of one line written between frame lines which end in anthropomorphic feet. Since Rhŷs (1913: 12–14, no. 2) failed to find it in the collapsing oratory in 1912, the inscription is only known from Fabretti's (CII) and Giussani's (1902: 39 f., no. 8) drawings and descriptions, which are dubious in many points. The first two letters, underdefined in Fabretti's drawing, appear in Giussani's as sigma and upsilon in shapes which are quite untypical in the Lepontic alphabet. As observed by Morandi 2004, the little circle at the bottom of sigma is most likely a spot of surface damage; the remaining line, which appears slightly curved in both drawings, may well reflect a more traditional sigma. Still, the reading of the first two letters must be considered highly doubtful, also considering that sunalei does not find good comparanda. The bars of alpha are suspiciously short in both drawings and were probably closer to those of the second alpha. Lambda was not legible anymore when Giussani saw the inscription. The identification of the remaining letters seems fairly reliable, including final omicron as per Pauli 1885: 7, no. 12.

sunalei could theoretically contain the patronymic suffix -al, but this would place the patronym irregularly before the individual name (e.g. emended makoni uel sim.); we would also expect an o-stem dat. sunalui (or feminine sunalai) rather than the i-stem in evidence. More probably, sunalei is the individual name and mako( the beginning of the patronym, e.g. maconalai uel sim. (cf. Tibiletti Bruno 1978: 139); see the word pages for details.

Dating according to De Marinis & Motta 1991: 206, who tentatively classify the document as their type C (with stylised feet, one of which is in evidence in Giussani's drawing).

See also Corssen 1874–1875 I: 947, Oberziner 1883: 174, Jacobsohn 1927: 31, no. 199, Motta 2000: 206.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

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 1943	Aldo Crivelli, Atlante preistorico e storico della Svizzera Italiana. Vol. 1: Dalle origini alla civiltà romana, Bellinzona: Istituto Editoriale Ticinese 1943.
Delamarre 2007	Xavier Delamarre, Noms de personnes celtiques dans l'épigraphie classique. Nomina Celtica Antiqua Selecta Inscriptionum, Paris: Errance 2007.
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.
Giussani 1902	A[ntonio] Giussani, "L' iscrizione nord-etrusca di Tesserete e le altre iscrizioni pre-romane del nostro territorio", Rivista Archeologica della Provincia e Antica Diocesi di Como 46 (1902), 25–67.