132 NOTES ON LATIN INSCRIPTIONS 



received. But it is astonishing that he should have entertained the 

 interpretation of B.AETA that he has given scil " of Leicester." The 

 Latin term for Leicester is Ratce, not Rcetai. The word clearly desig- 

 nates the vroman as one of the people, called Raeti, who lived near the 

 Alps, about the region now called the Tyrol. 



We may, probably, find a reason for the presence of this female at 

 Netherby, castra exploratorum, when we recollect that at Birrens or 

 Middleby, Blatiim Bulgium, about 12 miles distant, there were Cives 

 RcBti, serving in the 2nd cohort of Tungrians stationed there. See 

 £)'it. Rom. Inscrip. p. 244. But there is another interesting point 

 in this epitaph, viz., the name of the woman — Titullinia Pussitta. 

 Pussitta seems to be a term of endearment— ''little pet" — perhaps, 

 derived from the Latin ^pusillus, pusa, to which also I would trace 

 the name Fusinna in the following inscription given in the Roman 



Wall, 3rd edn., p. 231 :— 



D M 



DAGVALD-MI 

 PAN-VIXIT-AN 

 PVSINNA 

 TITVL 



Dr. Bruce expands and translates it thus : — 



" D. 31. Ijaffvald\us'] m2[Zes] Fan'[nonioe'] vixit an\nos'\ Pusinna\_conju']z 

 titul\_um'] [^posuitl- 



" To the divine Manes. Dagualdus a soldier of Pannonia lived years — 

 Pusinna his wife placed this memorial." 



!N"o exception can justly be taken to the phrase titulumposuit, for, as 

 Dr. Bruce remarks, it is not uncommon in continental epitaphs. The 



resemblance, however, of Pusinna Titul to Titullinia Piossitta, 



suggests the suspicion that we have in the two epitaphs the same names, 

 with a slight variation in one of them. As some letters intervened 

 between Pusinna and Titul, and there seems to be on the stone the 

 relic of an X before the latter, Dr. Bruce suggests conjux. Even if we 

 accept this, Titul may be the beginning of Titullinia, the name of the 

 daughter, who united with her mother in the erection of the memorial. 

 Although I have thought it better to mention this interpretation, I am 

 inclined to prefer the obvious expansion — titulum posuit. 



* Thus we have in Christian inscriptions (De Eossi, nn. 556, h^2,) Pisinnus 

 and Pitinnus, and even Pitzinina (n. 404), the ancient form of Piccinina and 

 ^Pizzinina. Should we trace to the same root our use of Pnssie, as a pet name of 

 a little girl? 



