Turning over clay soil in my garden the other day - hoping for frost to break it up - I uncovered some fragments of old, very old by the look of it, pottery. Putting the pieces together revealed an inscription in what appeared to be Latin, or something like it.
The inscription was:
ITI SAPIS SPO TSOITI SAN DABI GONE
Has anyone any idea what language this might be, and what it could mean?
My great-aunt's niece's second cousin's boy-friends ex father-in-law's daughter has a huge collection of these. If you turn the object over you will find the inscription: madeous inno japanus.
By googling the full inscription I came up with nothing, then I reduced it down to the first two words and discovered a referance to someone in lincolnshire in 1882 apparently digging up a large vase ( believed to be Roman ) Which had the similar inscription below-
iti sapis spotanditis ab igone.
You lot are too clever for me. It didn't occur to me that
someone might google it. I first saw this in a local newspaper in Hampshire many years ago, credited
to someone signing himself "I P Standing". So many readers fell for it. One answer appeared signed by an
"R Supwards", so I guess he wasn't fooled. Anyway, three stars to all of you. And thanks.