- Giancarlo Tomezzoli
THE “SPADA DI VERONA”- http://www.scribd.com/doc/13889602/THE-VENETIC-INSCRIPTION-Es-120
- PALINDROMCorrect in her transcription, to wit:ALKOMNOMETLONŚIKOSENOGENESVILKENISHORVIONTEDONASANerenownedVenetist,A.Marinetti[1],pp.181-182,asotherVenetistsoen,whenstumped for meaning, is cornered to having to resort to the artificeofselectingsomeveryoddnames for the portions of the inscription she cannot decrypt. She divides the wording of theinscription as follows:ALKOMNO METLON ŚIKOS ENOGENES VILKENIS HORVIONTE DONASANSOLUTION;(“from below upward twining”) clearly indicates the inscription to be a pictorial representationof what in due course will sprout from the covered seedlings. By starting the passage at thebottom, he may also have intended to outwit the devil by placing the letters backwards.Line OneDivisionNA SAN ODET NOI VROH SI NE KLI VSE NEG ON E S OKI SNOL TEMON MOK LAPresent-day literary Slovene word sequence and punctuationNA SEN ODET, NAJ VRAG SI NE KLIJ VSE,NEGO ON Z OČMI LE JE SNUL TEMEN MOK!English translationCOVERED FOR SLEEP, MAY THE DEVIL NOT HAVE EVERYTHING GERMINATE FORHIM, BUT LET HIM RATHER WITH THE EYES SUSPEND AS THREAD ON THE LOOMTHE DARK MOISTUREThis is a prayer against Vrag (slavic word for Devil)Which really is Virag, Virgo, Deva, Djeva, Div (giant), Magda---she have a lot of names.And in this case HORV is Vroh-Vrag, Vrygian, Brygian, Phrygian etc(this makes me lol a lot)
- Anthony Ambrozic, Pavel Serafimov, Giancarlo TomezzoliTHE VENETIC INSCRIPTION Es 120 ONTHE CUP OF “SCOLO DI LOZZO”AbstractReputedly the oldest Venetic inscription, Es 120 was found in 1931 in locality “Scolo di Lozzo”near Este (Veneto – Italy). The inscription dates to not later than the middle of the 6th centuryBC. A. Marinetti divides the wording of the inscription as follows: ALKOMNO METLONŚIKOS ENOGENES VILKENIS HORVIONTE DONASAN. According to her translation threeofferors named Sikos, Enogenes and Vilkenis are making a votive offering to the Dioscuri(Alkomno) at their temple, which allegedly was located near the locality of Lozzo. The inscriptionis in fact a palindrome starting at the bottom of the inscription. The palindrome’s first linecan be read as follows: NA SAN ODET NOI VROH SI NE KLI VSE NEG ON E S OKI SNOLTEMON MOK LA and is followed by its inverse counterpart running downward: AL KOMNOMETL ON ŚI KOS E NOGE NE SVIL K E NIS HOR VION T E DONASAN. The first linecan be translated as: COVERED FOR SLEEP, MAY THE DEVIL NOT HAVE EVERYTHINGGERMINATE FOR HIM, BUT LET HIM RATHER WITH THE EYES SUSPEND AS THREADON THE LOOM THE DARK MOISTURE; whereas the inverse counterpart can be looselytranslated as: BUT TO WHOM DID HE PILE UP A PIECE? MAY THE ONE OFFERED TOYOU, FROM BELOW UPWARD TWINING, NOT COME TO HARM! The palindrome inits first line is a hopeful admonition to the dark powers to keep a seed-containing basin freeof mold. In its second line it provides inside the message the indication of how the inscriptionshould be read, i.e. from below upward. The astounding close similarity of the words in thepalindrome with the words of contemporary literary Slovene language, Slovene dialects andother Slavic languages indicates that Slavic was incredibly uniform and undiversified in thepast, so that Venetic, Slavenetic, Old Early Slavic, Old Phrygian, Dura Europos Macedonian,and early Thracian were one and the same language.IntroductionReputedly the oldest Venetic inscription, Es 120 appears on a well-preserved bronze container.It was found in 1931 in locality “Scolo di Lozzo” above the regional road Montagnana– Este, approximately 200 meters from the Torre Bridge, at the depth of about 5 meters. It washidden by one of the workers for 30 years. Scholars now estimate that the inscription dates tonot later than the middle of the 6th century BC.The cup and the inscriptionThe cup and the inscription (cf. Fig. 1) are fully described in a paper by Locatelli andMarinetti [1], pp. 181-182. 167The two original handles of the cup disappeared. The inscription is engraved on one externalside of the cup. It was written in continuo without punctuation. The orientation of thecharacters appears to indicate that it should be read from above downward.TranscriptionCorrect in her transcription, to wit:ALKOMNOMETLONŚIKOSENOGENESVILKENISHORVIONTEDONASANThe renowned Venetist, A. Marinetti [1], pp. 181-182, as other Venetists often, whenstumped for meaning, is cornered to having to resort to the artifice of selecting some very oddnames for the portions of the inscription she cannot decrypt. She divides the wording of theinscription as follows:ALKOMNO METLON ŚIKOS ENOGENES VILKENIS HORVIONTE DONASANAccording to her translation [1], pp. 181-182, three offerors named Sikos, Enogenes andVilkenis are making a votive offering to the Dioscuri (Alkomno) at their temple, which allegedlywas located near Lozzo, cf. [1], p. 79.Some of the other transcriptions and interpretations are presented in [2]. Unfortunately,since the inscription is a palindrome starting at the bottom, the interpretation presented in [2],although struggling valiantly in varying degrees, offers no better results.The palindromeThe Greek word palindromos meant “running backward”. The palindrome format was intendedto contain a secret and have eternal potency. In the inscription at hand, an indispensabletool to successful decipherment will be grammar. It is astounding how faithfully the inscriberfollows its Guidelines. Even more astounding is the unyielding tenacity of the Slovene, buckingthe headwinds of 2,500 years of tidal erosion in every side.Starting at the bottom, the palindrome’s first line will be followed by its inverse counterpartrunning downward. Intending the twining plant as an offering, the inscriber in NIS HOR VIONFig. 1: the bronze cup from „Scolo di Lozzo“ with the Venetic inscription Es 120.168(“from below upward twining”) clearly indicates the inscription to be a pictorial representationof what in due course will sprout from the covered seedlings. By starting the passage at thebottom, he may also have intended to outwit the devil by placing the letters backwards.Line OneDivisionNA SAN ODET NOI VROH SI NE KLI VSE NEG ON E S OKI SNOL TEMON MOK LAPresent-day literary Slovene word sequence and punctuationNA SEN ODET, NAJ VRAG SI NE KLIJ VSE,NEGO ON Z OČMI LE JE SNUL TEMEN MOK!English translationCOVERED FOR SLEEP, MAY THE DEVIL NOT HAVE EVERYTHING GERMINATE FORHIM, BUT LET HIM RATHER WITH THE EYES SUSPEND AS THREAD ON THE LOOMTHE DARK MOISTURE.CommentaryComparing Slovene rendition to the Venetic, one is struck by how close the two languagesare. Were it not for the word: LA (the Sln.: LE of today) (for Sln. see the Abbreviations Table),even the word sequence and sentence structure of both are similar. Only the feature of okanje(the tendency to substitute letter O for A and other vowels), in the Venetic grudgingly givessome ground to the passage of about 2,500 years. And even there, this may have been dueto a dialectal peculiarity of the inscriber or the area where the cup was found. Seen in NOI(for Sln. “NAJ”), in VROH (for Sln.”VRAG”), in ŚNOL (for Sln.”SNUL”) and in TEMON (forSln.”TEMEN”), in Line One and again in NOMETL (for dial. Sln. NAMETәL) and VION(for Sln. “VIJEN) in the Reverse Line, only the feature of okanje can here lay claim to anysort of an individual Venetic identity (in juxta-position to the generally Slavic of the time)for the language of Es 120.Comparison and parsingNA: gsl. (see the Abbreviations Table) with meanings ranging from “to, on, upon,at, in, up, over”. A prep., it takes either the acc. or loc., here governings SANin the acc. Cf. inscriptions M-01b and P-04a in [3], pp. 32-35 and 48-50. Forcorresponding Slavic equivalents see [4].SAN: gsl. for “sleep” and “dream”, ranging from SC. “san”, to R. “son”, and Cz. andSln.“sen”. N., masc., sing., acc., governed for case by NA. For correspondingSlavic equivalents see [4].ODET: Sln. participle from infinitive ODETI – “to cover”; v., masc., sing. It appearsfrom the context that ODET relates to VSE. However, in lit. Sln. VSE is of neutergender, which would predicate the form to be ODETO. What comes to the rescue 169is dial Sln., which has ODET as the form for neuter nouns and pronouns. Beingan artificial creation of as recently 175 years ago, the lit. Sln. has to give priorityto dial. Sln. in all such cases of conflict. Contextually also, it is unlikely thatODET relates to VROH, which is masc. For the relating noun ODEJA - “cover”see corresponding Csl., SC., Chk., Mac., Blg., R. and Slk. equivalents in [4].NOI: gsl. part. and conj., NOJ and NEJ are dial. Sln. equivalents of lit. Sln. NAJ - “let,may, let it, may it”. See NEY in inscription W-010 in [3], pp. 8-10. For correspondingSlavic equivalents see [4].VROH: gsl., ranging from Sln. VRAG - “devil” to Cz. VRAH – “killer, enemy”, to R.VOROG – “enemy devil”. For corresponding Slavic equivalents see [5]. N., masc.,nom., sing., subject of KLI. See ARAG in ARAGAYUN in the inscription M-01bin [3], pp. 32-35.SI: gsl., prn., dat., sing. of the lit. Sln. shortened reflex. SEBI –“to himself, to oneself”.For corresponding Slavic equivalents see SE I in [4].NE: gsl., adv. and conj. – “no, not”, governing SI, KLI. Cf. inscriptions X and XL in[6], pp 17-20, 62-69. For corresponding Slavic equivalents see [4].KLI: lit. Sln. KLIJ from inf. KLITI – “to germinate, to sprout”. V. imp., sing., its subj.being VROH, and its obj. being VSE. For corresponding Csl., SC., Blg., P.,Kash.,Cz., Ll. equivalents see [4].VSE: gsl. with variations of VSE and SVE – “all, everything”. Prn., ntr., sing., acc., obj.of KLI. For corresponding Slavic equivalents see VES in [4].NEG: conj., lit. Sln. NEGO – “but, but rather”. For corresponding Ocsl., SC., Blg., R.,Ukr., Br., Cz., Slk., Ul. equivalents see [4].ON: sl. – “he”, prn., masc., sing., 3rd prs., nom. Subj. of E ŚNOL. See inscriptions IV,[6], pp. 7-11; XXV, [6], pp. 37-38; XXVI, [6], pp.39-43; XXVIII, [6], pp. 44-45,XXIX, [6], 45-46, and XXXV, [6], pp.55-57. For corresponding Slavic equivalentssee [5].E: gsl., lit. Sln. JE – “is”, v., 3rd prs. sing., pres. of BITI – “to be”, serving as aux. toŚNOL. Due to its frequent occurrence as aux. v., it can be found in every secondinscription in [3].S: together with Z – “with, from”; S and Z alternate depending on which letter the wordthey governs commences with. A prep. taking the instr. case it governs OKI. Seeinscription W-08, [3], pp. 38-42. For corresponding Slavic equivalents see Z in [5].OKI: an arch., pl., instr. form of OKO – “eye”. With an irregular declension, OKOnow appears only in the nom. and acc., sing. For other sing. cases the root nowchanges to OČES – and to OČ – and OČES – for pl. cases. For correspondingSC., Blg., Csl., R., Cz., P., Slk., Ul, Ll. equivalents see [4].ŚNOL: lit. Sln. part. SNUL, from inf. SNUTI - “to place the basic thread on a loom”. Itsaux. is E, its subj. ON and its obj.: TEMON MOK. V., part., sing., masc., nom..The only corresponding Slavic equivalents are Csl. SNUTI – “to place the basicthread on a loom” and old Cz. inf. SNOUT – “to plan, to warp, to knit”.TEMON: Sln. TEMEN – “dark”, adj. of TEMA – “darkness”. Adj., masc., sing., acc. agreeingin gender, number and case with MOK. For corresponding Ocsl., SC., R., Cz.,P. equivalents see [5]. 170MOK a root of a gsl. adj. MOKER – “wet, moist”. N., masc., sing., acc., obj. of E ŚNOL.Of infrequent usage, it appears idiomatically in adages like SONCE GRE NAMOK “it is getting ready to rain”. For MOKER see [4].LA: gsl., lit Sln. LE – “let, may it be, let it be that”. See inscriptions W-01b, M-01a[3], pp. 17-20, pp. 29-32. For corresponding Slavic equivalents see [4].Reverse LineDivisionAL KOM NOMETL ON ŚI KOS E NOGE NE SVIL K E NIS HOR VION T E DONASANPresent-day dialectal and literary Slovene for each word.AL(dial) KOM(dial) NOMETəL(dial) ON ŚI KOS JE NOGE NE ZVIL Kə (dial) E NIS GORVION Tə (dial) JE DONAŠANToday’s literary Slovene word sequence and punctuation.ALI KOMU NEMETEL ON SI KOS JE? NOGE NE ZVIL KI BI, NIZ GOR VIJEN, KI TI JEDONAŠAN!The humouring freedom of the chiding rhetorical question in the first sentence, where thedevil is depicted as almost childlike, is followed by the structures of the palindrome formatconstraining the inscriber in the last. Accordingly, a looser rendering for the word sequenceas well as interpretation in both Sln. and Eng. is called for. It should also be kept in mind thatthe letters are no longer running backwards and the devil can now read them.Looser literary Slovene rendition.ALI KOMU NAMETEL ON SI KOS JE? NAJ, NIZ GOR VIJEN, NOGE NE ZVIJE, KI TIJE DONAŠAN !Strained English rendition.BUT TO WHOM DID HE TROW TOGETHER A PIECE? MAY HE NOT TWIST A LEG,WHICH FROM BELOW UPWARD TWINING, IS BEING BROUGHT TO YOU.Looser English translation.BUT TO WHOM DID HE PILE UP A PIECE? MAY THE ONE OFFERED TO YOU, FROMBELOW UPWARD TWINING, NOT COME TO HARM!Comparison and parsing.AL: dial. Sln. for lit. Sln. ALI – “but, however, or”, conj. and adv. Cf. inscriptions W-09and W-08 in [3], pp. 37-38, 38-42. For corresponding SC. and dial. R equivalentssee [5].KOM: dial Sln. For lit. Sln. KOMU – “to whom”. It is a prn., dat., sing. of KDO – “who”,having no pl. form. For corresponding SC., Mac., Cz., R., Ukr., Br., P., Slk., Ll.equivalents see [4].171NOMETL: okanje for dial. Sln. participle NOMETL from lit. Sln. inf. NAMETATI – “tothrow in quantity, to fill up by throwing”. It is a combination of gsl. prefix NA– “to, on, upon, at in, up, over” and inf. METATI – “to throw”. For correspondingOcsl., SC., R., Cz. equivalents see [5]. Its aux. is E.ON: gsl. – “he”, prn., masc., sing., 3rd prs., nom. subject of SI E NOMETL. Cf. inscriptionsIV, [6], pp. 7-11; XXV, [6], pp. 37-38; XXVI, [6], pp.39-43; XXVIII, [6], pp.44-45, XXIX, [6], pp. 45-46, and XXXV, [6], pp.55-57, and W-010, [3], pp. 8-10.ŚI: gsl., reflex. prn. – “to himself, to oneself ”, 3rd prs., sing, masc., dat., relating to ON,being a shortened form of reflexive SEBI. For corresponding Slavic equivalentssee SE I in [4].KOS: gsl. – “piece, portion”, n., masc., sing., acc., obj. of SI E NOMETL. Cf. inscriptionsXLIX, [6], pp. 83-85 and IX, [6], p. 16. For corresponding Slavic equivalents see[4].E: gsl. JE – “is”, v., 3rd prs. sing., pres. of BITI – “to be”, serving as aux. toNOMETL.NOGE: gsl. NOGA – “foot, leg”, N., fem., sing., gen. The genitive case here is of signifi-cance. It singularizes NOGE. As obj., the noun NOGE would normally be in theacc. case. However, when a verb in the Sln. is governed by a negative, the rules ofgrammar call for a genitive case. Here, we have the negative NE governing ESVIL of which NOGE is the obj. Accordingly, NOGE is sing., because the pl. gen. isNOG, as it is also from the dual.NE: gsl., adv. and conj. – “no, not”, governing E SVIL. Cf. inscriptions X and XL in [6],pp 17-20, 62-69. For corresponding Slavic equivalents see [4].SVIL: ZVIL is part. of inf. ZVITI – “to twist, to contort”. In its relationship to NOGAit means “to twist one’s foot, to wrench one’s foot”. ZVITI is a completed actioncounterpart of imperfected inf. VITI. It is governed by NE and has the E betweenK and NIZ as aux. and NOGE as its obj.K: Kə - dial. Sln. for lit. Sln. KI – “who, which, that which, the one which”. The meaningdepends on the person or thing the word relates to and may vary dependingon the context. Here, it serves as the subj. of NE SVIL E, of E DONASAN andE VION. As a relative prn. it introduces the subordinate clauses K E NIS HORVION - “that which is from below upward twining” and K TE DONASAN – “thatwhich is being brought to you”. For corresponding Csl., SC., Chk., Mac., Blg., R.,Ukr., P., Slk., Ul., Ll. equivalents see [4]. E: gsl., JE – “is”, v., 3rd prs. sing., pres. ofBITI – “to be”, serving as aux. to SVIL and VION.NIS: lit. Sln., adv. NIZ – “down, alongside, below” is the root of the gsl. adj. NIZEK– “low”. Preceding HOR – “up, upwards”, it points to the starting point of thetwining palindrome. For corresponding Csl., SC., Mac., Blg., R., Ukr., P., Slk.equivalents see [4].HOR: dial. Sln. HOR – “up, upwards” is still in use in some dialects, but the lit. counterpartGOR has much wider currency. Cf. inscription G-105, [3], pp. 56-57. Forcorresponding Csl., SC., Mac., Blg., Cz., P., Ul., Ll. equivalents see [4].VION: an okanje form of dial. Sln. VIJAN and lit. Sln. VIJEN – “twining, twisting”. A v.,part., masc., sing., nom., agreeing in gender, number, case and person with K, its 172aux. being E. Cf. inscription M-01b, [3], pp. 32-35. Its inf. is VITI – “to twine, totwist”. For corresponding Csl., SC., R., Cz. equivalents see [5].T: dial. Sln. Tə for lit. Sln. TI – “to you”, a shortened form for TEBI is a pers. prn.,2nd pers., sing., dat.. Cf. inscriptions M-04 and B-01 in [3], pp. 27-29, 52-56. Forother corresponding Ocsl., SC., R., Cz. equivalents see [5].E: gsl., JE – “is”, v., 3rd prs. sing., pres. of BITI – “to be”, serving as aux. toDONASAN.DONASAN: the lit. Sln. DONAŠAN is a nonperfective, continuing-action participle ofinf. DONAŠATI – “to continue to bring, produce, or bear fruit”. Here the verbalconjugational inflection indicates an incomplete status of the action. As v., part.,masc., sing, nom., it agrees in gender, number, case and person with K. It iscomposed of prefix DO, much employed in idiomatic structures with meaning of“up to, as far as, until” depending on the context, and an imperfective, continuing-action form of the gsl., inf. NOSITI – “to carry, to bear”. For correspondingSlavic equivalents see [4].ConclusionA hopeful admonition to the dark powers to keep a seed-containing basin free of mould,the present inscription Es 120 has a parallel in the Old Phrygian, 5th century BC, bidding of:E STAT OIAV VUN – “infertility keep out “ – cf. inscription G-144 in [3], pp. 11-12. In fact,parallels with Old Phrygian and Slavenetic vocabulary, syntax and morphology generally stillecho in the preponderance of the wording in the inscription being gsl.Especially, the inscription Es 120 attests to the astounding state of linguistic preservationof the Slovene language. It is also clear confirmation of the claim by the noted Slovenian etymologistF. Bezlaj [7], pp. 88, that “in the 8th century AD Slavic was incredibly uniform andundiversified”. Hence, its decryption points to such a state of affairs having been even moreuniform 1,200 years earlier. It serves as a direct confirmation of the claim in [3], p. 122, thatwhether one appends the term of Venetic, Slavenetic, Old Early Slavic, Old Phrygian, DuraEuropos Macedonian [6], pp. 74-86, and early Thracian were one and the same language.Bibliography1. Este preromana: una città e i suoi santuari, a cura di Angela Ruta Serafini Ed. Canova,Treviso 2002, ISBN 88-8409-056-32. V Vodopivec, Študija prečrkovani in branj najstarejšega venetskega napisa, Proceedings ofthe Third International Topical Conference Ancient Settlers of Europe, Založništvo Jutro,Ljubljana, 2005, 121-1303. A Ambrozic, Gordian Knot Unbound, Cythera Press, Toronto 20024. F Bezlaj, Etimološki slovar slovenskega jezika, Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana 1971, 1982,19955. M Snoj, Slovenski etimološki slovar, Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana 19976. A Ambrozic, Adieu to Brittany, Cythera Press, Toronto 19997. F Bezlaj, Eseji o slovenskem jeziku, Mladinska knjiga, Ljubljana 1967173PovzetekVenetski napis Es 120 na čaši iz “Scolo di Lozzo”Najstarejši venetski napis Es 120 so našli leta 1931 v kraju “Scolo di Lozzo” pri Estah (Veneto– Italija). Nastal naj bi najkasneje kot sredi 6. stol. A. Marinetti ga razdeli v naslednje besede:ALKOMNO METLON ŚIKOS ENOGENES VILKENIS HORVIONTE DONASAN. Po njenemprevodu trije darovalci, Sikos, Enogenes in Vilkenis darujejo Dioskurom v njihovem templju,ki naj bi bil pri predelu Lozzo. Napis je v resnici palindrom, ki se začne spodaj. Od spodajnavzgor beremo kot: NA SAN ODET NOI VROH SI NE KLI VSE NEG ON E S OKI SNOLTEMON MOK LA, v nasprotni smeri pa AL KOM NOMETL ON ŚI KOS E NOGE NE SVILK E NIS HOR VION T E DONASAN. Prvi del lahko prevedemo kot NA SEN ODET, NAJVRAG SI NE KLIJ VSE, NEGO ON Z OČMI LE JE SNUL TEMEN MOK!, v nasprotno smerpa kot ALI KOMU NEMETEL ON SI KOS JE? NOGE NE ZVIL KI BI, NIZ GOR VIJEN, KITI JE DONAŠAN! Prvi del nadebudno opominja temne sile, naj pazijo, da seme v posodiostane brez plesnivosti. Drugi del pa je sporočilo, kako je treba brati ta napis, to je od spodajnavzgor. Presenetljiva podobnost besed v palindromu z besedami v knjižni slovenščini,slovenskih narečjih in drugih slovanskih jezikih kaže, da so bili slovanski jeziki v preteklostineverjetno enoviti, tako da so bile venetščina, slovenetščina, praslovanščina, stara frigijščina,makedonščina v Dura Europos in zgodnja tračanščina verjetno en in isti jezik.Table of AbbreviationsAcc. Accusative Mac. MacedonianAdj Adjective Masc. MasculineAdv. Adverb N. NounArch. Archaic Nom. NominativeAux. Auxiliary v. Ntr. NeuterBlg. Bulgarian Obj. ObjectBr. Belorussian Ocsl. Old Church SlavonicChk. Chakavian Croatian P. PolishConj. Conjunctive Part. ParticipleCr. Croatian Pl. PluralCsl. Church Slavonic Prep. PrepositionCz. Czech Pres. Present tenseDat. Dative Prn. PronounDial Dialectal Prs. PersonFem. Feminine R. RussianGen. Genitive Reflex. ReflexiveGsl. Generally Slavic SC. Serbo-CroatianImp Imperative Sing. SingularInf. Infinitive Subj. SubjectInstr. Instrumental case Slk. SlovakKash. Kashubian Sln. SloveneLit. Literary Ukr. UkranianLoc. Locative case Ul. Upper LusatianL. Lusatian V. VerbLl. Lower Lusatian
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