TI·54

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Inscription
Reading in transliteration:	]uikalai
Reading in original script:	[
Object:	TI·54 Dino (stela)
Position:	front
Orientation:	270°
Direction of writing:	sinistroverse
Script:	North Italic script (Lepontic alphabet)
Letter height:	4.5–6 cm1.772 in <br />2.362 in <br />
Number of letters:	7
Number of words:	1
Number of lines:	1
Workmanship:	carved
Condition:	fragmentary
Archaeological culture:	unknown [from object]
Date of inscription:	unknown [from object]
Type:	funerary
Language:	Lepontic
Meaning:	'to the daughter of Uikos'
Alternative sigla:	none
Sources:	Dell'Era 2018: 152–155

Commentary

First published in Dell'Era 2018.

Images in Dell'Era 2018: 153, fig. 1 (photo) and fig. 2 (drawing).

Written from bottom to top on the fragmentary stela; length of the remains ca. 27 cm. The lines are about 0.5 cm broad, and the letters are well legible. The breaking edge before upsilon crosses the line diagonally, so that it is hard to judge whether a letter was written before it; Dell'Era points out that the distance between the break and upsilon, with 3.5 cm, is wider than the widest distance between the other letters (2.5 cm), and gives a reading with a space before upsilon. No traces of a word separator are visible. In any case, the sequence is likely to represent a complete word, as compound names are not common in Lepontic. The text can be identified a a funerary inscription containing the name of the deceased in the dative, with only the patronym left.

Corinna Salomon

Bibliography

Dell'Era 2018	Romeo Dell'Era, "Una stele con iscrizione celtica individuata a Dino (Lugano, Canton Ticino)", Quaderni Ticinesi di Numismatica e Antichità Classiche 47 (2018), 151–157.