--- In
cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Piotr Gasiorowski <gpiotr@...> wrote:
>
> W dniu 2010-01-20 00:48, Torsten pisze:
>
> > It's the best one around, it seems.
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negau
> > Markey seems to think it's bad Germanic, influenced by Rhetic.
>
> It's "the most recent", which is not necessarily synonymous with
> "the best around" or with "correct", "convincing", etc. Douglas has
> already mentioned a few problems with it. Let me just add that a
> cogent interpretation of the Negau inscription should account for
> the <\\\ip> part as well. Mind you, I'm sympathetic to the idea
> that we might have the earliest attestation of a Grimm-shifted
> Germanic name there, but the evidence is far from conclusive.
I agree. But I'll venture speculation anyway.
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/60404
'We can only speculate whether or not Harigasti or his descendants or
retinue spread an awareness or knowledge of literacy, although this is
certainly possible. He could have been but one of many such links that
prompted evolution of a Runic alphabet between Negau B (ca. 55 BC) and
the Meldorf fibula (ca. 25 AD). What does seem certain, however, is
that Harigasti enjoyed relatively high socio-political standing.'
Not unsimilar to the legend that Wodan invented the runes. And of the runes, according to Markey, the closest relation is the Rhetian alphabet of Camunic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camunic_language
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valcamonica
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valtellina
whereas for the Negau B helmet
p 121
'But we must conclude, as did Molinari (1974), that Negau B reflects the Magrè alphabet during that sanctuary's final decades (70-50 BC) prior to destruction in the wake of the Roman conquest.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margreid_an_der_Weinstra%C3%9Fe
According to Caesar's De Bello Gallico 5,29 (54 BCE)
http://enlightenment.narechk.net/DeBelloGallico/liber_5.html
'Non hostem auctorem, sed rem spectare: subesse Rhenum; magno esse Germanis dolori Ariovisti mortem et superiores nostras victorias;'
http://enlightenment.narechk.net/DeBelloGallico/book_5.html
'that he did not regard the enemy, but the fact, as the authority; that the Rhine was near; that the death of Ariovistus and our previous victories were subjects of great indignation to the Germans'
[should be 'sorrow' or 'pain', as far as I can see, but that doesn't seem to fit with the English translator's idea of the character of the Germans; 'indignation' is directed, it has an object, and its would imply that the death of Ariovistus was caused by the same agent as that of the victories, viz. the Romans]
Markey's
'Such conjectures notwithstanding, the epigraphic evidence points to probable visitation and/or training at the Magrè sanctuary, where Harigasti (as a goði) might well have familiarized himself with attributes of Rhetic ritual.', see
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/cybalist/message/65634
I'll have to modify to this scenario:
After his defeat to Caesar in 58 BCE, Ariovistus sought refuge with his brother-in-law, king Voccio of Noricum, who sent him to Magrè to study the finer points of priesthood, and on his return he became high priest in Noricum. His name was inscribed on his processional helmet by a native Rhetian (the ex-priest?). The Boii, Taurisci and Norici went to war against Burebista and A. perished in that war.
Torsten