Neg A I
| Transliteration | dubni banuabi |
|---|---|
| Object | bronze helmet |
| Script | Venetoid |
| Language | Gaulish |
| Writing direction | sinistroverse |
| Technique | embossed |
| Condition | non-fragmentary |
| Findspot | Ženjak |
| Archaeological context | to be inserted |
| Archaeological culture | to be inserted |
| Date | 4th-3rd c. BC |
Original text
Commentary
The inscription, about 6.5 cm in legth, was embossed with a pointed tool on the chamfer, upside-down when the helmet is worn. It immediately follows Neg A Ib. Marstrander's interpretation of the last element in Neg A Ib separating the two inscriptions implies that Neg A Ic is older than Neg A Ib. Nedoma (1995) argues the location indicates a profane function, as votive helmet inscriptions are normally applied prominently on the bowl. In contrast to the three other inscriptions on the helmet, it is the only one applied upside-down.
The first letter features two circles. While the bottom circle is as lopsided as the circles in the other letters, the top one is perfectly circular and made of more, but shallower and not easily visible indentations arranged around a single particularly deep one. Proposed interpretations of it as the Rhaetic (Magrè-specific) letter used for the dental affricate is unlikey, considering the tip-down upsilon would match the Sanzeno alphabet. If the letter is instead zeta, the inscription is best analysed as alphabetically Venetic (Este alphabet). Zeta for a dental stop does appear in Rhaetic inscriptions, but only as a sporadic feature which is best interpreted as due to Venetic influence.
The reading with one anlauting dental and three labials and Venetic orthography is the basis for Marstrander's (1925: 44–51) interpretation of the inscription as a Celtic bipartite personal name in the genitive dubnī banuabī "of Dubnos, son of Banuabios" (with zeta for d and phi for b), banuabī being a genitival patronym as known from Cisalpine Celtic, Gaulish and Ogam inscriptions. Considering the easterly find place of the inscription and its possible high dating, the names cannot be certainly identified as Cisalpine Celtic, but may belong to an Ambi-Danubian Celtic filum. While the names themselves are certainly Celtic, it cannot be entirely excluded, with regard to the alphabet used, that the ī-genitive is Venetic. If banuabī contains a -i̯o-suffix expressing the patronymic function, the genitive could be congruent with that in the individual name ("of Dubnos Banuabii̯os = son of Banuabios"). Like the ī-genitive, the use of patronymic -i̯o could hypothetically be Venetic as well as Celtic. A third option, that the form is congruent with the individual name but does not contain -i̯o, and functions as an epithet to dubnos ("Dubnos the pig-slayer"; Markey 2001), is formally possible, but unlikely, as a patronym is not expected. An alternative (but also Celtic) analysis was suggested by Heiner Eichner (according to Nedoma 1995: 20), who proposes to analyse -bi as a Celtic dative plural, with the entire sequence in the inscription dubnibanua- as a composite base, assuming the inscryption is votive.
Bibliography
Eska, Joseph Francis, Wallace, Rex E. (1999). The linguistic milieu of *Oderzo 7. Historische Sprachforschung 112, pp. 122-136.
Egg, Markus (1986). Italische Helme. Studien zu den ältereisenzeitlichen Helmen Italiens und der Alpen. Teil 1: Text, Teil 2: Tafeln, Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, pp. 614-620.
Prosdocimi, Aldo Luigi & Scardigli, Piergiuseppe (1976–1978). Negau, in: Vittore Pisani, Ciro Santoro (eds), Italia linguistica nuova ed antica. Studi linguistici in memoria di Oronzo Parlangèli, Gelatina: Congedo. (2 volumes), I, pp. 179–229.
Marstrander, Carl (1925). Les inscriptions des casques de Negau, Styrie. Symbolae Osloensis 3, pp. 37–64.
Corssen, Paul Wilhelm (1874–1875). Über die Sprache der Etrusker. Leipzig: Teubner, p. 949.
Giovanelli, Benedetto (1845). Le antichità rezio-etrusche scoperte presso Matrai nel Maggio 1845. Trento: Monauni, pp. 43 ff.
