BG·1

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	]?ume
Reading in original script:	?[
Object:	BG·1 Bergamo (pot)
Position:	shoulder, outside
Orientation:	0°
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Script:	North Italic script
Letter height:	1.7 cm0.669 in <br />
Number of letters:	4
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	scratched after firing
Condition:	fragmentary
Archaeological culture:	unknown [from object]
Date of inscription:	5th–3rd c. BC (?) [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	unknown
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	Solinas 1995: 33 Morandi 2004: 211
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 657 f. no. 211

Images

Potsherd BG·1 Bergamo with inscription BG·1 from Morandi

Potsherd BG·1 Bergamo with inscription BG·1 from Solinas

Commentary

First published in Solinas 1995: 333, no. 33.

Images in Solinas 1995: tav. LXV c (photo), Morandi 2004: 656, fig. 24.211 (drawing), Morandi 2007: 290, fig. 282 (photo), Casini & Motta 2018: 119, fig. 2.2 (photo and drawings).

Incised on the shoulder just below the neck; well legible. Upsilon, only damaged at the bottom, mu and epsilon are unambiguous; of the letter before upsilon, only an oblique line in the upper area is left – Morandi (2004 and 2007: 290, no. 1) suggests , but it could as well be kappa , nu or sigma (cf. Casini & Motta 2018: 118, no. 2). The distance between epsilon and the breaking edge is slightly larger than that between upsilon and mu and between mu and epsilon, but it cannot absolutely be excluded that more letters followed.

As observed by Morandi 2004, the shape of mu with three instead of four bars is not that of the Lepontic, but that of the Raetic alphabets. With regard to the position of Bergamo as connecting point between the central Padan plain and the eastern Alpine area, interference from Raetic writing (Sanzeno alphabet) may be considered.

Linguistically, no analysis can be offered. Morandi compares VR·3 and emends to a personal name artume, which is morphologically implausible and unattested. As observed by Casini & Motta 2018: 119 f., e does not make a good Celtic auslaut (outside of a dental suffix) and assume an abbreviation, but as said above the text may be incomplete at the end. In Raetic, e is a common auslaut of masculine personal names; a sequence ]ume[ occurs in VN-2 and VN-3.

Further literature: Poggiani Keller & Brogiolo 1986: 69 (non vidi).

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Casini & Motta 2018	Stefania Casini, Filippo Motta, "Iscrizioni vascolari celtiche a Bergamo", Notizie Archeologiche Bergomensi 26 (2018), 115–128.