Una nuova etimologia del venetico śainati-

The article deals with the etymology of a word occurring in several Venetic inscriptions, śainati-, which has never been conclusively clarified so far, both phonologically and semantically. Marinetti’s and Prosdocimi’s inves- tigations pointed out that śainati- must be considered an epithet of three theonyms, Reitia (Este), Trumusiati (Làgole) and Altinum (Altino). The two scholars made an attempt to explain the entry, by tracing it back to I.E. *tkē(i̯ )- ‘to settle, to inhabit, to dwell’. Yet, given the contexts and functions of the term, the proposal is not fully adequate. Thus, a new etymology is proposed, by leading the religious term back to I.E. *tkē(i̯ )- ‘to possess, to rule’. After a description of the etymological issues which raise from a comparative perspec- tive, the correct meaning of the term is reconstructed as respect epithet of the deity: Ven. śainati- ‘lord, lady’, cf. Lat. dominus/domina, Gr. δέσποινα/ δεσπότης as divine epiclesis.