aev

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Attestation:	CO·53 (aẹv[), CO·54 (]ạev[) (2)
Language:	unknown
Word Type:
Grammatical Categories:
Morphemic Analysis:	alphabetic character sequence
Phonemic Analysis:	/ā.ē.u̯au̯/ (?)
Meaning:	beginning of alphabet

Commentary

aev is the beginning of the Venetic model alphabet on a bronze plate from Este (Es 23), being thus equivalent to the modern expression ABC. The full alphabet in Es 23 runs a e v z h i θ k l m (n) p ś r s t u φ χ o (Pellegrini & Prosdocimi 1967: I, 102, 105-107). Although no model alphabet has been discovered so far from the Lepontic or Raetic areas, in view of the general similarities between the writing practices in these regions, and especially in view of the three Lepontic graffiti containing the first three letters of this sequence, there can be no doubt that the alphabet was organised in the same way as in Venetic. Gambari & Colonna 1986: 145, Prosdocimi 1990: 297, Morandi 1999: 177, Motta 2000: 209

Bibliography

Gambari & Colonna 1988	Filippo Maria Gambari, Giovanni Colonna, "Il bicchiere con iscrizione arcaica da Castelletto Ticino e l'adozione della scrittura nell'Italia nord-occidentale", Studi Etruschi 54 (1986 [1988]), 119–164.