We return to this inscription, the stone on which it was once etched had apparently been incorporated into a local cathedral wall.

The meaning of the inscription is not entirely understood. Specifically, there is the confusing Ladae. Several theories have been proposed:

• it’s the name of the wife of Titus Puniceus who along with the hubby donated this altar to Minerva (unusual to have the wife’s name first but, hey, maybe she was the one with the dough); the CVR. is in that case referencing cūrāre, in the sense of “donating”; presumably then it would not be Ladae T.Puniceus but rather Lada et Puniceus;
• it refers to a curia, a rada (“wheel” (?) because, well, they sat in a circle…) a body of local officials (like the Chruch curia) and Mr. Titus;
• it refers to Ladas the ancient Greek Olympic runner (cursor);
• it refers to a Morin or Breton word for a “causeway” over a marsh;

The first of these would be of interest to us since it would be an attestation of the name Lada in the ancient world (third century?). The other three are also of interest but we will not discuss them now.

Incidentally, the Latin cūrāre may mean any of procure, heal, look after or govern. But CVR., as noted above, usually referred to the act of donation.

Other possibilities include curator as in “caretaker” (in which case Lada would be the protector of Minerva or vice versa?). But the noun’s case does not work; presumably, again you would have to say that this should be read “et” rather than “Ladae T.”

From myself, I can add the word curis which refers to a “spear”.  This is interesting since there is another inscription P. VAL. LADAE which features a thyrsus (a pine-coned spear) above the inscription and a caduceus (a messenger’s wand) below. Noteworthy is the fact that the Polish coat of arms lada features two arrows/bolts/spears (?).

The Morini were, of course, based in Tarvana (Czerwona? 🙂 ) and rebelled against the Romans right about the same time as the Bretagne Veneti.

I will note also that the arrows above can also be interpreted as “up” and “down” signs as shown in the second version of the coat of arms. I’ve already mentioned that the rune *jēra- contains the same symbols albeit arranged differently. It’s worth asking whether these rune portions, rather than just referring to the harvest, could have referred to the entire “year”. Specifically, note that for half the year the Sun is ascending and for the other half descending. The “trees” featured on ancient pots could then be viewed as simply showing a count of years. Hence in this context, the tree of life on an urn could mean the age of the deceased. All of this is a topic for another discussion.

Finally, Janssen suggested that it could refer also to Lada, the Suavic Goddess about Whom he first learned from Grimm. Schneider, noted that Lada was a spouse of the”Lycian” Jupiter. Whether he really meant Leto, the mother of Apollo and Artemis is unclear (more on that below and we will explore the topic in more detail later). In this respect, we also note that Giovanni Villani made the following statement in 1903:

“It seems that the name Lada ought to refer to an epithet of Minerva hiding the name of a local divinity.”

Now, as for this “local” divinity, it is worth noting also that this was found in 1427 in the area of Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

Also from the northwest of Continental Europe comes the following inscription:

(LUTATIIS SVEBIS was found at the foot of the Hunerberg in 1541)

Sed Liutici redeuntes irati dedecus deae suimet illatum queruntur. Nam haec, in vexillis formata, a quodam Herimanni marchionis socio lapide uno traiecta est 

Liutici were earlier known as the Vuilzi, perhaps referring to wolves (wilk meaning “wolf”). If the above connection to Leto is accurate then this may be another connection given that Leto was apparently given help by wolves (indeed, some argue that Lycia’s name comes from a reference to wolves or, alternatively, means “illuminated” – referring to Leto’s son – Apollo).

ON the other hand, maybe this is just a name of some Lutatius or Lutatia. An earlier mention talks of LVTATIAS SVEBAS.

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