Negau helmet
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Negau helmet refers to one of 28 bronze helmets (23 of which are preserved) dating to ca. 400 BC, found in 1811 in a cache in Zenjak, near Negau, now Negova, Slovenia. The helmets are of typical Etruscan 'vetulonic' shape, sometimes described as of the Negau type. They were buried in ca. 50 BC, shortly before the Roman invasion of the area.
On one of the helmets ("Negau B"), there is an inscription in a northern Etruscan alphabet. Note that the inscription need not date to 400 BC, but was probably added by a later owner in ca. the 2nd century BC or later. It is read as
///
- harigastiteiva///ip,
maybe "to Harigast the god (or, the priest?)", but another suggestion by Åke Ström reads it as "Harigasti Tei V A III Il" interpreted as "property of Harigast, son of Teus, third auxiliary Illyrian company", while Jost Gippert reads harigastiz fefakit "Harigast made (it)" (This would be intriguing since the name Harigast is clearly Germanic, while the verb is Italic; if the helmets were already aged two centuries when the inscription was added, the "Harigast made it" claim is either a lie, or an attribution to a mythical artisan (Harigast may be used as a name for the god that would later be known as Woden, see List of names of Odin). The most recent interpretation is by T.L. Markey (Journal of Indo-European Studies 2001) who reads the inscription as 'Harigast the priest', as another inscribed helmet also found at the site bears several names (mostly Celtic) followed by religious titles.
In any case, the Germanic name Harigast is 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, and precedes the formation of the Runic alphabet. Harigast constitutes an attestation of the Germanic sound shift, probably the earliest preserved, preceding Tacitus perhaps by some two centuries.
The four discrete inscriptions on the helmet usually called "Negau A" are read by Markey as: Dubni banuabi 'of Dubnos the pig-slayer'; sirago turbi 'astral priest of the troop'; Iars'e esvii 'Iarsus the divine'; and Kerup, probably an abbreviation for a Celtic name like Cerubogios
Helmets of the Negau type were typically worn by priests at the time of deposition of these helmets, so they seem to have been left at the Zenjak site for ceremonial reasons. The village of Zenjak was of great interest to Nazi archaeologists and was briefly renamed Harigast during World War II. The site has never been excavated properly.
