Omniglot Blog

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?