Ptuj
| Transliteration | artebudʣ brogdui |
|---|---|
| Object | ceramic pot |
| Script | idiosyncratic North Italic script |
| Language | Gaulish |
| Writing direction | sinistroverse |
| Technique | scratched post cocturam |
| Condition | non-fragmentary |
| Findspot | Spodnja Hajdina |
| Archaeological context | to be inserted |
| Archaeological culture | Roman imperial period |
| Date | 2nd-3rd c. AD |
Original text
Commentary
The pot is 8,3 cm in height and 8,1 cm in width. The surface is rough. There are a few larger holes and remains of a poorly preserved brown-red coating. Where the coating is missing, the surface is stained. The container is very similar to the most common local pottery in Poetovio, but it differs from it in that there are holes on the surface. The Inscription was scratched on the surface after firing. The pot shows no traces of secondary burning. Because of the simple shape of the pot it is difficult to accurately date it by itself. It does, however, clearly belong to the Roman-provincial ceramics. The ceramics show the peculiarities of the local fired Poetovian ceramics. In the same grave as the pot an oil lamp, which was dated with certainty to the second and third centuries AD, was found. Based on this the pot was also dated to the second and third centuries AD.
The alphabet used in the inscription shows a combination of letter forms and orthographic features which is not known from any other alphabet. Upsilon is well-known in archaic Greek and Italic alphabets, but marginal in the North Italic ones. Identification of theta is based on the presence of beta and phonotactic reasons. The letter , which Eichner identifies as zeta, occurs in the Raetic inscription PU-1, where it probably denotes a media or lenis. The letters beta, epsilon and alpha are Latin. The alphabet is latinized, which makes sense given the late dating of the object. The spelling of obstruents does not follow any rules in North Italic alphabets. Pi and kappa are absent. Latin beta is used for /b/, but chi still denotes /g/ as in Venetic. Since all Venetic alphabets have switched the dental letters, the use of tau for /t/ and theta for /d/ indicates that we are not concerned with a latinized Venetic alphabet. Zeta appears to be used for a dental affricate as in Etruscan. It is surprising to find Old Italic/North Italic letter forms this late, as the vernacular writing traditions of Northern Italy are considered to have ceased in the late 1st century BC. Eichner (p. 137 f.) assumes that this alphabet was formed around the middle of the 1st millennium BC (with reference to archaic upsilon) and that the present inscription is the solitary witness of an independent script province in the Eastern Alps.
Eichner interpretes the text as two bipartite Celtic names. There are three possible analyses of the second name:
brogdui as patronymic genitive brogdu-'ī''' → 'Artebuds son of Brogduos'
brogdui''' as benefactive genitive brogdu-'''ī → 'Artebuds for Brogduos'
brogdui as dative brogd-'ūy → 'Artebuds for Brogdos'
Bibliography
Stifter, David et al. (eds.), Lexicon leponticum. https://lexlep.univie.ac.at/ <February 15th, 2024>
Eichner, Heiner, Istenič, Janka & Lovenjak, Milan (1994). Ein römerzeitliches Keramikgefäß aus Ptuj (Pettau, Poetovio) in Slowenien mit Inschrift in unbekanntem Alphabet und epichorischer (vermutlich keltischer) Sprache. Arheološki vestnik 45, pp. 131–142.
