Korenine / Origin / Herkunft

THE INSCRIPTION PAULI No. 39

Ivan Tomažič¹, Giancarlo Tomezzoli²

¹ Bennogasse 21, A-1080 Wien, Austria

² Zeppelinstrasse 43, D-81669 Munich, Germany

Abstract

C. Pauli wrote concisely in German: "39. Inscription on a small dish, found near Verona." He provides the layout of the inscription, the spelling: KOLIVETU, but he does not provide a translation of the inscription.

J. Rhys in dealing with the inscription provides the spelling: KOLIUETU. He sets out that the first four signs from the right of the inscription would represent the word: KOLI which, on the basis of the English, and other Celtic languages would mean holly, and that the further signs would represent the word: UIEDU which on the basis of the Irish, the Welsh and the Breton means wood, tree. Rhys concludes that the idea conveyed by said words is a name or nickname of a man, who would be armed at every point, like the holly.

J. Wathmough provides for the inscription the spelling: KOLZI * ETU, and concludes that the alphabet of the inscription is mixed, and that the punctuation dot would indicate some connection of the inscription with the Magré group of inscriptions rather than a connection with the Lepontic inscriptions.

M. Bor observed that: 'Punctation was used in many cases to better differentiate two letters from one another, or simply as a form of decoration.' Bor used similarities with the Slovenian, old and modern other Slavic languages for translating Venetic, Etruscan and Rhaethian (Magré) inscriptions.

Interpretation of I. Tomažič:

Reading the inscription from right to left, considering the fourth, fifth and sixth sign, each representing the letter I, it is possible to arrive at the word KOLIIIETU, which can be interpreted as follows: KOLIJ JE TU and give: Plant the grapevines, the time is here (i.e., has arrived).

Interpretation of G. Tomezzoli:

Reading the inscription from right to left, considering the fourth and fifth signs II as forming the letter Y (yod) and observing that the sixth sign, because of its inclined top and bottom portions, represents the letter S, it is possible to arrive at the word: KOLYSETU, which can be interpreted as follows: KOLYS E TU and give: The pungency is here (i.e., connected with the substance inside the dish).

In the first case the inscription is an invitation to start an agricultural chore, in the second case the inscription is a warning informing the user about the kind of content inside the dish.

In any case, the writer of the inscription belonged to an ancient people whose language was closer to the Slavic languages rather than to the Latin, Italic, Celtic or Saxon languages.

1.       The inscription.

C. Pauli in ref. (1) on page 19 (cf. Annex A) laconically in German informs: “39. Inscription of one small vase found in the vicinity of Verona”. On table II of  (1) Pauli provides the layout of the inscription as shown in Fig. 1. He provides the reference to the work of  Poggi: Contribuzioni allo Studio della Epigrafia etrusca 90, no. 52. He provides for the inscription the following spelling: KOLIVETU. However, he does not provide a translation of the inscription.

Fig. 1: Inscription Pauli No. 39

It is observed that the inscription is written in continuo, i.e. without separation between the words, as normal in the inscriptions of the ancient Northen Italy, and Pauli is right in reading the inscription from right to left as clearly suggested by the orientation of the first sign on the right of the inscription, i.e. the letter: K. The shape of the first, third, fourth, seventh, eighth, ninth sign indicates that the inscription was written by using a local alphabet close to the Bolzano and Magrè alphabets (cf. Fig. 2). Said signs represent respectively the letters: K, L, I, E, T, U. The second sign from the right is clearly the letter O, not present in  the alphabets of Bolzano and Magré but clearly derived from the Este alphabet (cf. Fg. 2 and Annex D (3) Tableau des  Signes). The fifth and sixth signs from the right have a questionable meaning. Their actual separation and their elongated shapes, comprising also portions having different inclinations, indicate, in our opinion, either two equal or two different letters, rather than a single letter. Moreover, the confrontation of said signs with the alphabets in Fig. 2 permits to exclude that these signs together could represent the letter V as proposed by Pauli.

Fig. 2: Bolzano, Magrè, Este alphabets (ref. (1)).

J. Rhys in ref. (2) on pages 301-303 (cf. Annex C) in dealing with the inscription provides the spelling: KOLIUETU. He sets out that the first four signs from the right of the inscription represent the word KOLI which, according to the English, the old English, the French, the Celtic forms, the Irish and the Welsh, means: holly, and the further signs represent the word: UIEDU, which on the basis of  the Irish, the Welsh and the Breton means: wood, tree. Rhys concludes that the idea conveyed by said words is the name or nickname of a man armed at every point, like the holly.

It is observed that Rhys considers that said fifth and sixth signs represent the letter U. However, said fifth and sixth signs do not match the shape of the last sign in the inscription, which it too represents the letter U. This fact, in addition to said separation and shape of  these signs, is a further argument that these signs represent either two equal or two different separated letters rather than a single letter.

Rhys considers the sign attached on the left side of the letter O, the stright sign through the fourth and fifth signs and the dot as artifacts not belonging to the inscription. However, the dot after the sixth sign seems not to be an artifact but rather a dot introduced because of the punctuation, as common in many ancient Italic inscriptions.

J. Wathmough in ref. (3) on page 56 (cf. Annex B) comments about the possible Lepontic origin of the inscription. He observes  that the second sign in the inscription is O characteristically Venetic and that the fourth and the fifth signs crossed by said straight  sign represent the Venetic letter Z. He provides for the inscription the spelling: KOLZI * ETU. He concludes that the alphabet of the inscription is mixed, and that the dot recognized by Danielsson, but accidental  according to Pauli and Rhys, would indicate some connection with the Magré group of inscriptions rather than a connection with the Lepontic inscriptions.

Referring to said straight sign, we observe that it crosses not only the fourth and fifth signs but also the third sign, i.e. the letter L. Therefore, said straight sign seems more an artifact rather than a sign only associated with the fourth and fifth signs.

M. Bor in ref. (5) on pages 194-195, in dealing with the punctuation wrote: “E. Vetter has proposed a rule according to which the beginning vowel of syllables and words are to be designated by dots (also i and u with vowel meaning), and the consonants at the end of words (and the i and u by falling diphtongs)”, but he concludes that: “Vetter’s rule, as you can see, cannot hold up under close examination“ and also that: “Punctuation was used in many cases to better differentiate two letters from one another, or simply as a form of decoration”. Bor used similarities with the Slovenian, old and modern Slavic languages, for translating Venetic, Etruscan and Rhaethian (Magré) inscriptions (cf. ref. (5), pages 172-420).

Although many other rules have been proposed for explaining the punctuation dots, in the present inscription the dot could have been introduced for decorative reasons or for marking the letter E as the beginning vowel of a new syllab or word.
 

2.      Interpretation of I. Tomažič

Reading the inscription from right to left, considering the fourth, fifth and sixth sign each representing the letter I, it is possible to arrive to the expression KOLIIIETU, which can be interpreted as follows:

KOLIJ JE TU.

Explanation:

kolij:     imperative, second pers, singular of the Slovene verb koliti (synonym of količiti), English: to prop wine-trees;

je:        Slove.: je, Engl.: is;

tu:        Slove.: tu, Engl.: here.

Translation :

Prop the wine-trees, it is the time (the time is here, is arrived).

Explanation:

kolij:     substantive derived from the Slovenian verb koliti (synonym of količiti),

            English: 'pailing time' and/or 'staking time' derived from the verbs  'to pale' and/or 'to stake';

je:          Slove.: je, Engl.: is;

tu:          Slove.: tu, Engl.: here.

Translation :

Pale and stake (the vine ?), it is the time (the time is here, is arrived).

3.       Interpretation of G. Tomezzoli

Reading the inscription from right to left, considering the fourth and fifth signs II as forming, according to ref. (4) (Tableau des Signes) the letter Y and observing that the sixth sign, because of its inclined top and bottom portions, represents the letter S, it is possible to arrive to the expression: KOLYSETU, which can be interpreted as follows:

KOLYS E TU.

Explanation:

kolys: Slove.: košljivost; Russ.: колкость; Engl.: pungency, thorniness, causticity,

e:                 Slove: je, Russ: -, Engl.: is;

tu:                Slove.: tu; Russ.: ту; Engl.: here;

Translation: 

The pungency is here (i.e. connected to the substance inside the vase).

4. Conclusion.

In the first case the inscription is an invitation to start the country work of planting the wine-trees, in the second case the inscription is a warning informing the user about the kind of the content of the vase. In both the cases, the writer of the inscription appears to belong to an ancient people speaking a language more similar to the Slavic languages rather than to the Latin, other Italic languages or Celtic or Saxon languages.

Bibliography:

(1) C. Pauli, Altitalische Forschungen, Erster Band, Leipzig 1885, J. A. Barth;

(2) J. Rhys, Celtic inscription, reprint of the edition 1906-1913, Biblio Verlag – Osnabrück 1977;

(3) J. Whatmough, The Prae-Italic dialects of Italy, Vol. II, Part III, G. Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, Hildersheim, 1968;

(4) M. Lejeune, Manuel de la langue vénète, Heidelberg 1974, Carl Winter, Universitätverlag ;

(5) J. Šavli, M. Bor, I Tomažič, Veneti. First Builders of European Community, 1996, Editiones Veneti, ISBN 0-9681236-0-0.

Povzetek

Napis Pauli No. 39

C. Pauli je napisal na kratko po nemško: “39. Napis na posodici, najdeni blizu Verone.” Predstavil je napis, njegovo prečrkovanje: KOLIVETU, ni ga pa prevedel. Tomažič ga prečrkuje kot KOLIIIETU, bere kot KOLIJ JE TU in prevede v: PODPRI TRTO, ČAS JE. Tomezzoli ga prečrkuje kot KOLYSETU, bere kot KOLYS E TU in prevede kot: TU JE OSTRA ZAČIMBA. V prvem primeru bi napis vabil k delu, v drugem pa opozarjal na vsebino v posodici. Vsekakor je pisec napisa pripadal nekdanjemu ljudstvu, katerega jezik je bil bliže slovanskim jezikom kot latinščini, italskim, keltskim ali germanskim jezikom.   

Editor's remark

If in KOLIIIETU reading by I. Tomažič, the first word would be in the imperative form, it could stem also from another verb, inf. 'klati' (to slaughter, i.e. to kill by causing bleeding using a knife), imper. kolji!, and the translation would be approx. "Slaughter her (it) here". In such a case, the vase would be used to collect the blood. For religious purposes? If so, iron and nitrogen (possibly even ¹⁵N, as well as traces of porphyrin and/or its degradation products) enrichment in the interior surface of the vase might be detectable.

Annex A

Annex B

Annex C

Annex D