[Papers read for the Royal Irish Academy]

1909·22.7 MB·English

by  MacNeill, John, 1867-1945

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[ 329 ](cid:13)
XV.(cid:13)
NOTES ON THE DISTRIBUTION, HISTORY, GRAMMAR, AND(cid:13)
IMPORT OF THE IRISH OGHAM INSCRIPTIONS.(cid:13)
BY JOHN MACNEILL.(cid:13)
Read APRIL 20 ; Ordered for Publication APRIL 28 ; Published JULY 24, 1909.(cid:13)
CONTENTS.(cid:13)
I. Geographical Distribution, VI. Examples Classified and Discussed :-(cid:13)
A. Relations of Ogham and MS.(cid:13)
II. Nori-Christian Character, . . 331(cid:13)
Orthography and Word-for-
III. Orthography 334 mation, .... 344(cid:13)
B. Declensions 354(cid:13)
IV. Accidence, .... 31'2(cid:13)
C. Exceptional Casesa nd Forms, 361(cid:13)
V. Syntax, 344 D. Customary Terms aud Formulae, 365(cid:13)
NOTE.- Ogham words are printed in clarendon type, thus: mucoi. The accompanying numbers(cid:13)
are those in Macalister's collection. " J " with year refers to the annual volumes of the Journal of(cid:13)
the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. "Holder" denotes his Altkeltischer Sprachschatz(cid:13)
(where words cited are in dictionary order). " L. Arm." = Book of Armagh, Hogan's Glossary.(cid:13)
" Onomaslicon " Goedelicnm, by Rev. E. Hogan, S..T., about to be published by the Royal Irish(cid:13)
Academy. In many instances, I have not found it possible to insert references to Irish texts and(cid:13)
MSS.(cid:13)
THE publication of Mr. R. A. Stewart Macalister's Studiesi n Irish(cid:13)
(vol. i, 1897, vol. ii, 1902, vol. iii, 1907), containing his own and previous(cid:13)
readings of about five-sixths of the Ogham inscriptions known to exist in(cid:13)
Ireland, has rendered it not only possible but imperative that systematic(cid:13)
study should be brought to bear upon this material. A considerablen umber(cid:13)
of Irish inscriptions not as yet dealt with by Macalister, but subjected to(cid:13)
revision by the late Rev. Edmond Barry, M.R.I.A.a, nd Sir John Rhys, will(cid:13)
be found in the volumes of the Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries(cid:13)
of Ireland for the last twenty years. The records of Ogham inscriptions in(cid:13)
Great Britain appear to be scattered in a number of publications, and the(cid:13)
time at my disposal has not been sufficient to trace them up. The following(cid:13)
paperi s an initial effort to analysea nd interpret the availablef acts.(cid:13)
I.- GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION.(cid:13)
Oghami,n scriptionsh ave been found only in Ireland, the Isle of Man,(cid:13)
Scotland, Wales, and the south-west of England. More than five-sixths of(cid:13)
E. I. A. PEOC.,V OL. XXVII., SECT.C . [49](cid:13)
330 Proceedinogfs th eR oyaIlr ish Academy.(cid:13)
thek nowinns criptihoanvsbe e efno unidn [relandT.h eto tanl umboefr(cid:13)
knowni nscriptionas ppeartso be about3 60.(cid:13)
Of the Irish inscriptions,n umbering about(cid:13)
foundi n the countieso f Kerry, Cork,a nd Waterford.(cid:13)
Kerry hasa bout1 20,o r one-thirdo f the total.(cid:13)
60a rec ongregainte thde s maalln dm ountainobuasro noyf(cid:13)
westeernx tremiotyf Irelanadn, dm oreth an2 0i n thea djoininbga roncy(cid:13)
North Dunkerron.(cid:13)
Cork countyh as about NOo. f whirl, moret han :(cid:13)
barony of East Muskerry.(cid:13)
Waterforcdo untyh asa bou4t 0,a ndo f theseth ree-fourtahrse i n t(cid:13)
baronyo f Decies-without-Drimi.(cid:13)
Thusm oret hano ne-thirdo f the knownI rish oghamhsa veb eenfo und(cid:13)
in four baronies.(cid:13)
A smalln umbera re foundi n Ossorya nd EastM eath. Throughoutth e(cid:13)
rest of Ireland,i nstanceasr e only sporadic.N onea re knowni n the(cid:13)
countieosf DonegaDl,o wn,G alwayS, ligoL, ongfordW, estmeatahn, d(cid:13)
Queen's County.(cid:13)
Scotlandh as 1 in the island <>f( ii-ha in the SouthernH ebrides,a nd(cid:13)
15 in Pictland,t he north-easterrne gion,i ncludingO rkneya nd Shetland;(cid:13)
none in the West Highlands,t he Northern Hebrides,A rgyll, or the(cid:13)
Lowlands.(cid:13)
The Isle of Man has 6.(cid:13)
Wales has about 26, of which 13 are in Pembrokeshire1, 2 in the(cid:13)
remainder of South Wales, only 1 in North Wales.(cid:13)
In Devon and Cornwall there are 5 ; in Hampshire 1, on the site of the(cid:13)
Eoinan town of Calleva,n ow Silchester; in the rest of England none.1(cid:13)
None have been found on the Continent, but at Biere in Saxony there(cid:13)
are stone tablets bearing unintelligible syllables traced in Oghmne harueteis(cid:13)
possiblyt he work of somew anderingG ael who knew just a little of the(cid:13)
craft.(cid:13)
All the inscriptions that have been deciphereda nd interpreted belong to(cid:13)
the same language-an early form of Irish-except a few in North-eastern(cid:13)
Scotland, which are said to be in the Pictish language.(cid:13)
The distribution of the inscriptions clearly correspondst o the region of(cid:13)
Gaelic,o r, as it was then called, Scottic, influence in the period that followed(cid:13)
the withdrawal of the Roman legions from Britain. The frequency of(cid:13)
oghamsin SouthM unster and Pembrokeshirea,n d their rare yet very wide(cid:13)
1 The British figures are those given by Rhys, J, 1902, p. 1.(cid:13)
-Notes on Irish OghamIn scriptions. 331(cid:13)
distribution outsideo f thesea reasm, anifestlyi ndicatea n arrestedc ustomo r(cid:13)
cult. This was not the custom of Oghamw riting, which may have been(cid:13)
widespreada mongt he paganI rish, but the customo f Oghami nscriptions(cid:13)
on stone monuments commemorative of the dead.(cid:13)
Two hypothesesm ay be regarded. Either the epigraphicc ult was(cid:13)
widespreadin its early period,a nd died out rapidly excepti n the districts(cid:13)
in which oghamsa re now numerous;o r the cult originatedin thesed istricts(cid:13)
and becameg enerali n them,b ut had not time to becomeg enerale lsewhere(cid:13)
beforet he causesc amei nto operationw hich broughta bouti ts abandonment.(cid:13)
The latter hypothesisis the more satisfactory. If we supposea widespread(cid:13)
customa t an early stage,w e must expectt o find the earlyl inguistic forms(cid:13)
characterizingt he scatteredi nscriptions,a nd the late forms chiefly in the(cid:13)
areaso f frequencyi,. e. of persistence. This is not the case. Both early and(cid:13)
late forms are found promiscuouslyt hroughout the whole Irish region.(cid:13)
I cannot speak for the I'.ritish oghams,t he records of which are scatteredi n(cid:13)
a great variety of publications covering half a century.(cid:13)
II.-NON-CHRISTIAN CHARACTER(cid:13)
The arresting causes, it can hardly be doubted, were the spread of(cid:13)
Christianity and the concomitant spread of Latin learning and the Latin(cid:13)
alphabet. The use of Latin letters is not in itself sufficient to explain the(cid:13)
discontinuance of Ogham epigraphy. The Ogham inscriptions were not(cid:13)
replaced,a t all eventsi n Ireland, by literal inscriptions. The Oghami n-
scriptionss eemto commemoratme eno f the world. The literal inscriptionso f(cid:13)
ancient Ireland commemoratec hiefly ecclesiastics. There are few inscriptions(cid:13)
in Roman or Irish-IJoman characters in memory of kings, princes, nobles,(cid:13)
warriors, or poets, Literal inscriptions did not take the place of the(cid:13)
numerouso ghamso f Corcaguiny,M uskerry, and the Desi. The ancient(cid:13)
cult was abandoned, not altered.(cid:13)
The bulk of the Oghamin scriptionsm ay perhapsb e ascribedt o the fifth(cid:13)
and sixth centuries; and 1 think the cult must have chiefly flourished in the(cid:13)
fifth century. The latest word-formsa nd inflexionsa rea s old as the oldest(cid:13)
in MS.I rish, and the wordsw hich,a ccordingt o the Oghamo rthographya, re(cid:13)
the direct equivalent of Old-Irish forms are comparativelyfe w in number.(cid:13)
The characteristic Christian nomenclature and vocabulary of ancient Ireland(cid:13)
are absent from all but half a dozen at the most of the known inscriptions.(cid:13)
The wordq rimitir, 0. I. cruimtherb, orrowedt hrough Cymric from the Latin(cid:13)
presbyteor,c curso nce. Rhys,b y readinga n oghamb ackwardhs,a sf oundt he(cid:13)
Latin word Sangti( Sancti),b ut the final vowel,w hich should be i, is u in(cid:13)
[49*](cid:13)
332 Proceedingosf the Royal Irish Academy.(cid:13)
Macalisterre'sa dinga,n dt hea ccompanyninagm edso n ot admito f identifi-
cation. The nameC olmano r Columbanusw, hich is undoubtedlyC hristian(cid:13)
in origin,o ccurst wice; but both Columba nd Colmanw erev ery frequent(cid:13)
namese ven before the time of St. Columba. The namesM ariani and Sagittari,(cid:13)
whicho ccura, reL atin wordsb, ut it is by no meansc ertain that they are(cid:13)
not alsoC elticw ords. Thesea ret he only traceso f Christianityt hat I have(cid:13)
beena blet o find in nearly3 00 inscriptions.N o knownO ghami nscription(cid:13)
" contains anything expressiveo f Christian religious sentiment. It seems(cid:13)
thereforep robablet hat Oghame pigraphyw, hile it lasted,r emainedin pauan(cid:13)
hands. Two only of the known oghamsc ontain namesb elonging to the(cid:13)
^^ historicalr ecord. Oneo f thesei s the Breastagho gham( 47), commemorating(cid:13)
Kolaiug (gen. lulenge) son of Coirpre son of Aiimln^-ml. As this ogham(cid:13)
stands in Tirawley (Tir Amolngado)E, olaing was presumablyg randson< >!'(cid:13)
the king from whomt hat territory wasn amed,A molngaidk inu "I Connacht,(cid:13)
who died between4 40 and 450. His son Coirpre, according to the genealogies(cid:13)
(151.107/315w),a s ancestoro f St. Tlgvrnan.1 In the pedigreeso f saints(cid:13)
(BB 217/3"'-!'S) t. Tigdriuini s descendeId'm ma notherC oirpre,s ono f another(cid:13)
Amolngaid, of the same generation us king Amolngaid, and related to him.(cid:13)
If we add two gmnal ions, the death of Knlaing should luive occurred early(cid:13)
in the sixth century at latest. The late Ogham form maq occurs twice on(cid:13)
this monument.(cid:13)
No. 44 commemorates " the name of Colman Ailither."2 In the saints'(cid:13)
pedigrees in the Leabhar Breac, Colman Oilither is son of Grilline son of(cid:13)
Diarmait son of Fergus Cerrbeoil; and a note is added: " From him is named(cid:13)
Eoss Oilithir," i.e. Eosscarbery, Co. Cork. The death of Diarmait occurred(cid:13)
either in 565 or 572 (he was king of Ireland). His grandson'sd eath should(cid:13)
have occurred within the first half of the seventh century. But I cannot(cid:13)
find elsewhereG rilline nameda mongt he sons of Diarmait, who wasa very(cid:13)
famous ruler ; nor is it clear why St. Colman Ailither of Eoss should have a(cid:13)
monument in Corcaguiny. Possibly there was more than one
" pilgrim(cid:13)
Colman." I find two saints called Colman Iinrama, where the epithet has a(cid:13)
similar meaning to Ailither ; but 1 do not know their dates. The forms in this(cid:13)
ogham are also of the latest.(cid:13)
Though I should hesitate to place the date of any known oghame arlier(cid:13)
thant hef ifth century,m anyi nscriptioncso ntainf ormsw hich mayb eq uite(cid:13)
a centuryo lder. Therec an be no doubtt hat the recordefdo rmso f early(cid:13)
MSn. amesre achb ackt o theb eginningo f the seventhc entury,t he time of(cid:13)
1W hosree liquaryM, iasT igernainlo, ngp reserveind T irawleyh, asb ecomteh e propertoyf a(cid:13)
family named Knox.(cid:13)
" AnmC olombaga(no rC olombaagAnl)i ltir, with a deletings cored rawnt hrought he last1 .(cid:13)