CO·8

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	]p̣ẹṛ[
Reading in original script:	][
Variant reading:	]ṇẹṛ[ ][
Object:	CO·8 Rondineto (unidentifiable)
Position:	unknown
Frame:	??  (left: unknown, middle: top and bottom, right: unknown)
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	1.9 cm0.748 in <br />
Number of letters:	3
Number of words:	1
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	scratched after firing
Condition:	damaged, fragmentary
Archaeological culture:	Golasecca III A [from object]
Date of inscription:	5th–early 4th c. BC [from object]
Type:	unknown
Language:	perhaps Celtic
Meaning:	unknown
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 291 Solinas 1995: 82 Morandi 2004: 155
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 626

Images

Drawing of inscription CO·8 from Solinas 1995

Garovaglio's drawing of CO·8 Rondineto with inscription CO·8 from Tibiletti Bruno 1969b

Potsherd CO·8 Rondineto with inscription CO·8 from Tibiletti Bruno 1969b

Commentary

First published in Barelli 1877: 14/Garovaglio 1877. Currently untraceable.

Images in Barelli 1878b/Garovaglio 1878: tav. III.17 (drawing [mirrored] = Tibiletti Bruno 1969b: 277, tav. V.5a [corrected]), Barelli 1878b: tav. XII.11 (drawing), Tibiletti Bruno 1969b: 277, tav. V.5b (photo), Solinas 1995: 352 (drawing).

Place of application unclear; the upper parts of all preserved letters are missing, but part of a frame line is preserved below the letters. Originally read ]ial[ (Poggi 1879: 311, no. 47, Pauli 1885: 9 f., no. 18 g, Giussani 1902: 45, Rhŷs 1913: 39, III.1.1g, Rhŷs 1914: 8 (uncertain), Whatmough PID: 101, no. 291); more plausible are Tibiletti Bruno 1969b: 186 f., no. 5 ]p̣eṛ[ or ]ṇeṛ[ (also Morandi). Pi or nu is clear from the trace of a bar between first and second letter; epsilon can be inferred from the height of the first letter and the dating (at which we would not expect upright alpha), though only two bars are preserved (pace Solinas 1995: 352, no. 82 ]ṇaṛ[). The third letter, whose bar reaches the hasta a little above the bottom line, could possibly be lambda as well as rho, but TB considers rho fairly certain.

Both reading options )per( and )ner( may be the beginnings or parts of Celtic personal names; see the word pages.

The "second piece" mentioned by Whatmough (sinistroverse) is the present one, seen by him in the museum; the dextroverse inscription is a chimera based on Garovaglio's mirrored drawing (see Tibiletti Bruno).

See also Barelli 1878b: 210.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Barelli 1877	Vincenzo Barelli, "Villaggio preromano di Rondineto", Rivista Archeologica della Provincia di Como 11 (1877), 1–32.
Barelli 1878b	Vincenzo Barelli, "IV. Rondineto", Notizie degli Scavi di Antichità (1878), 201–224.