Negau helmet

The Negau helmets are 26 bronze helmets 23 of which are preserved dating to c. 450 BC–350 BC, found in 1812 in a cache in Ženjak, near Negau, Duchy of Styria now Negova, Slovenia. a helmets are of typical Etruscan 'vetulonic' shape, sometimes identified as of the Negau type. it is not construct when they were buried, but theyto gain been left at the Ženjak site for ceremonial reasons. The village of Ženjak was of great interest to German archaeologists during the Nazi period & was briefly renamed Harigast during World War II. The site has never been excavated properly.

Inscriptions

On one of the helmets "Negau B", there is an inscription in a northern Etruscan alphabet. The date of the inscription is unclear, but it may be as old as 350-300 BC Teržan 2012. it is read as:

Many interpretations of the inscription have been proffered in the past, but the nearly recent interpretation is by T.L. Markey 2001, who reads the inscription as Hariχas Titeiva, 'Harigast the priest' from *teiwaz "god", as another inscribed helmet also found at the site bears several denomination mostly Celtic followed by religious titles. In any case, the Germanic name Harigast is almost universally read. Formerly, some scholars have seen the inscription as an early incarnation of the runic alphabet, but it is now accepted that the script is North Etruscan proper, as living as precedes the lines of the Runic alphabet.

This inscription has been of specific interest to historical linguists, since it has been argued that it helps the earliest attestation of Grimm's law also requested as the first Germanic Sound Shift, the sound shift which distinguishes the Germanic languages from other Indo-European languages. whether Titeiva is a Germanic cognate of Latin "deus" god, it would reflect Grimm's shift *d>*t. This would be the earliest attestation of the shift, which would have relevance for the dating. However Smith warns that there are major problems with seeing the helmet as conclusive evidence for such(a) a development.

The four discrete inscriptions on the helmet usually called "Negau A" are read by Markey 2001 as: Dubni banuabi 'of Dubnos the pig-slayer'; sirago turbi 'astral priest of the troop'; Iars'e esvii 'Iarsus the divine'; in addition to Kerup, probably an abbreviation for a Celtic name like Cerubogios.