TI·41

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	alkouinos / aśkoneti
Reading in original script:
Object:	TI·41 Stabio (stela)
Position:	front, centre
Orientation:	270°
Direction of writing:	dextroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	5–9 cm1.969 in <br />3.543 in <br />
Number of letters:	17
Number of words:	2
Number of lines:	2
Workmanship:	carved
Condition:	complete
Archaeological culture:	La Tène D 1 [from object]
Date of inscription:	late 2nd–early 1st c. BC [from object]
Type:	funerary
Language:	Celtic
Meaning:	'Alkouinos (son) of Aśkonet(i)os'
Alternative sigla:	Whatmough 1933 (PID): 274 Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 9 Solinas 1995: 21 Motta 2000: 10 Morandi 2004: 38
Sources:	Morandi 2004: 542 no. 38

Images

Inscription TI·41 from Giussani

Inscription TI·41 from Morandi 2004

Stela from Stabio with inscription TI·41 from Solinas

Stela from Stabio with inscription TI·41

Commentary

First published in Lavizzari 1857. Examined for LexLep on 28^th September 2021.

Images in Lavizzari 1857 (drawing = Keller & Meyer 1865: 205, no. 1 = (copied) CII: tab. I, fig. 2 bis a), Monti 1860: 59 (retrograde drawing = CII: tab. I, fig. 2.bis b), CII: tab. LVIII, fig. 2 bis (drawing = Pauli 1885: Taf. I.15), Ghirardini 1869 II: 97 (drawing), Oberziner 1883: 172 (drawing), Giussani 1902: 35, fig. 5 (drawing = Simonett 1941: 35, Abb. 7.2), Rhŷs 1913: pl. II (photo), Crivelli 1973b: tav. 8, fig. 21 (drawing), Risch 1984: 27, Abb. 6 (drawing = Risch 1989: 1585, fig. 4) and 35, Abb. 16 (photo = De Marinis & Motta 1991: 209, fig. 5 = Risch 1992: 683, Abb. 4.1 = Solinas 1995: Tav. LXIII c), Tibiletti Bruno 1990b: 81 (drawing), Morandi 2004: 543, fig. 10.38 (drawing = Butti Ronchetti 2006: 56, fig. 4).

The inscription is applied in two lines (length 53 cm and 46 cm respectively, distance 2–3 cm) down the centre of the stela. Despite some erosion, the letters are well legible, including san in the second line, which has caused some confusion in the past due to the way its oblique lines do not form acute angles with the straight ones, but are connected to them with slight curves, resulting in an unusually large letter.

The inscription was first mentioned in a notice by Luigi Lavizzari in the newspaper Gazzetta Ticinese, repeated apud Keller & Meyer 1865: 205, no. 1. The correct reading was first given by Pauli 1885: 8 f., no. 15 (also p. 70, 92). See also Monti 1860: 59, CII: iii, 2 bis, Ghirardini 1869 II: 97, Corssen 1874–1875 I: 948, n., Giussani 1902: 35 f., no. 4, Danielsson 1909: 25 f., Rhŷs 1913: 19 f., no. 5 (3), Hirt 1917: 212, Jacobsohn 1927: 31, no. 193, PID: 93 f., no. 274, Pisani 1964: 282 f., no. 119 D, Lejeune 1971: 73, n. 254, Tibiletti Bruno 1975b: 53, Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 162, no. 9, Risch 1984: 26–29, Risch 1989: 1582, Risch 1992: 681, Solinas 1995: 328, no. 21, Motta 2000: 204 f., no. 10.

The text is a name formula with individual name in the nominative alkouinos and genitival patronym aśkoneti. Both the names (see the word pages) and the formation with the patronym in -ī are characteristic of Gaulish rather than Lepontic; the inscription may be evidence either for Gaulish influence on Lepontic in late La Tène, or for the presence of Gaulish individuals in the Lepontic area.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Butti Ronchetti 2006	Fulvia Butti Ronchetti, "Stabio in età romana", in: Rossana Cardani Vergani, Sergio Pescia (eds), Stabio antica. Dal reperto alla storia. Testimonianze archeologiche scelte illustrano il suggestivo percorso di Stabio e delle terre del Sottoceneri dalle età più remote al Medioevo, Stabio: Armando Dadò 2006, 53–82.
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 1973b	Aldo Crivelli, "Cronologia protostorica della Valpadana dal IV al I sec. a.C.", Rivista Archeologica dell'Antica Provincia e Diocesi di Como 152–155 (1970–1973), 427–474.
Danielsson 1909	Olof August Danielsson, Zu den venetischen und lepontischen Inschriften [= Skrifter utgivna av Kungliga Humanistiska Vetenskaps-Samfundet i Uppsala 13.1], Uppsala – Leipzig: 1909.
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.