Folia archeologica 25.

János Harmatta: Two inscriptions scratched on fragments of pottery from Pannónia

INSCRIPTIONS ON POTTERY 103 *awa0 (cf. Amatius, ambni

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2) and the suffic -ira was added to this. It is possible that the Lepontic form of name amui

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A — in case its reading is correct — can also be placed here. Whichever of these possibilities of explanation may prove to be correct, there cannot be any doubt about the fact that the form of name amattral belongs in the circle of the Raetic and Lepontic linguistic records of Northern Italy. We can see the significance of the inscription in the circumstance that it clearly proves the survival of the use of the North Italian Lepontic (less likely Sondrio) alphabet in the 1st century A.D. and at the same time also its spreading from Northern Italy to distant territories. According to an earlier general opinion the use of the North Italian alphabets did not last longer than the end of the 2nd century B.C.

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4 It was convincingly pointed out however already by P. Reinecke that the helmet find of Negau, on the pieces of which inscriptions written in North Italian alphabets were scratched, originates from the end of the 1st century B.C.

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5 Thus on this basis the use of the North Italian alphabets could be presumed up to the end of the 1st century B.C. Now the inscription of Tokod shows that the use of the Lepontic alphabet continued also during the 1st century A.D., and thus the chronological gap separating the North Italian alphabets from the Germanic runic script originating from them has become even smaller. At the same time the find of Tokod has also shown that the monuments written in North Italian alphabets could also come to Pannónia or if the pot of Tokod is a local product, they could come into being also there, and thus these alphabets could also become known directly to the Germanic tribes adjacent to Pannónia during the 1st century A.D. Finally, it is worth while to point out that the names found on the two fragments of pottery from Tokod belong to the Etrusco-Latin (Raeto-Latin) group of names. It had been striking also earlier that such names occur in a comparatively high percentage among the names of the scratched inscriptions of Tokod.

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6 Now the percentage of names to be ranged with this group becomes even higher, and it clearly shows the significance of the Romanized Etruscan, Raetic and Lepontic ethnic elements in 1st century Pannónia. 1

2 Schulde, W., ZGLE 121. 1

3 PID II. 76 (no. 256), cf. PID III. 4. 1

4 PID II. 520. 1

5 Reinecke, P., Der Negauer Helmfund. BRGK 32(1942) 187. 1

C Harmatta, ]., Acta Arch. Hung. 20(1968) 271f.