zv

From Lexicon Leponticum

Attestation:	CO·62 (zv ośoris) (1)
Language:	unknown
Word Type:	undeterminable
Morphemic Analysis:	unknown
Phonemic Analysis:	unknown
Meaning:	unknown

Commentary

Attention, needs to be checked!
The two letters do not form a proper word. Instead, they may represent an attempt at 'abecedarial' writing (cp. aev) in which only the first two consonantal letters of the Lepontic alphabet are written, albeit in the wrong order! A cognate of this sequence is the Venet. acc. vdan (graphically 〈vza.n.〉 in inscriptions from Este, which probably is an artificial fem. ā-stem built on the first two consonantal letters V and Z (Pellegrini & Prosdocimi 1967).

Alternatively, the two letters may represent an abbreviation comparable to e.g. Venet. z a = zoto/zonasto aisun/aisus or Latin v s = votum solvit (Tibiletti Bruno 1981: 183). Morandi (1999: 155) suggests the interpretation as a trader mark (cf. the isolated sign on the beaker of Castelletto Ticino).

Bibliography

Morandi 1999	Alessandro Morandi, "Epigrafia vascolare celtica fra Ticino e Como", Revue Belge de Philologie et d'Histoire 77 (1999), 151-204.
Pellegrini & Prosdocimi 1967	Giovan Battista Pellegrini, Aldo Luigi Prosdocimi, La Lingua Venetica, Padova-Firenze: Istituto di Glottologia dell'Università di Padova, Circolo Lingvistico Fiorentino 1967. (2 volumes)
Tibiletti Bruno 1981	Maria Grazia Tibiletti Bruno, "Le iscrizioni celtiche d'Italia", in: Enrico Campanile (Ed.), I Celti d'Italia, Pisa: Giardini 1981, 157-207.