An Umbrian mystery
In the walls of the Palazzo Bucelli in Montepulciano, Italy, which was built in the 17th century and remodelled in the 18th century by the antiquarian Pietro Bucelli, there are a number of inscriptions. These inscriptions are generally thought to be in Etruscan or Latin, but they look more like Umbrian to me.
Here is an example of one of the inscriptions:
This inscription, which reads from left to right, can be transliterated as something like: “AOTETINA ARNTNI TETINALISA”.
You can see more here.
What do you think?
Alex on 30 Oct 2006 at 6:20 pm #
Wasn’t there a personal name Arnth in Etruscan? (See, for example, .) This might be connected with the second word in this inscription, in which case it might indeed be Etruscan after all.
Joseph Staleknight on 31 Oct 2006 at 3:26 am #
Or it could mean something else in Umbrian.
David Marjanović on 04 Nov 2006 at 12:45 pm #
Well, it’s not Latin, and I don’t get the impression it’s Indo-European at all.
Anoneemooose on 07 Nov 2006 at 6:08 pm #
Fool! Let’s get things straight:
1. It’s Etruscan text. I’m sure of it, but I don’t know what it’s doing in the 17th century.
2. The first name ends in -a!! ***LOOK*** at your own picture for God’s sakes. Pathetically lazy of you to right “o” instead.
3. Are you sure this is really an “o” or is it a “theta”?
4. Etruscan -al-isa is a double genitive and typical in Etruscan names and since Arntni compares with “Arnth” as mentioned above by another poster, it’s probably just three names, two being the first and last name of the person, and the third, describing his family origins/ancestry.