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Can any reading be tested without new documents?

Asked 26 Oct 2026 by ·Part of What do the letters OUOSVAVV stand for?·3 answers·0·0 following
Most likely: comparison with 18th-century English Latin inscriptions can rank readings by how normal their abbreviations…Ahead on the evidence, not yet confirmed. It needs two reviews to be accepted.

Where it stands

Three answers have been proposed. Comparison with 18th-century English Latin inscriptions can rank readings by how normal their abbreviations… leads, with evidence 1 for: partly supported by its tests. Two are still possible.

Why it matters

Eight letters allow many expansions. Grammar and epigraphic convention prune them, but cannot choose among the survivors⁠[1]⁠[2].

Answers 3

Evidence: 1 for
Most likely
Evidence: 1 for
Most likely
None of these.
Not tested enough to call either way
Evidence: none yet
Still possible

History

  1. Fishwick puts forward: comparison with 18th-century English Latin inscriptions can rank readings by how normal their abbreviations…
  2. Fishwick: fishwick rejects Stonor's reading on grammar and abbreviation practice.For: Comparison with 18th-century English Latin inscriptions can rank readings by how normal their abbreviations…
  3. Mitchell puts forward: no internal test can separate the grammatical readings; only documents can.
  4. Mitchell: mitchell concedes his own reading cannot be proven from the stone.For: No internal test can separate the grammatical readings; only documents can.
  5. Asked on this site
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