256 General Discussion of the Crosses 



Cynn and kynn then occur, along with other forms, until the 

 16th century.^ 



With -burug the case is even clearer. In the period covered by 

 Sweet's Oldest English Texts it does not occur, save for a very few 

 instances in the Namur manuscript of Bede's Ecclesiastical History, 

 written in a Continental hand, with many later corrections, and, 

 as Plummer^ tells us, quite worthless for the settlement of the text. 

 Burug, moreover, does not occur in the writings of Alfred. But 

 again in the Lindisfarne Gospels it is the predominant form, occur- 

 ring no fewer than 22 times. Afterward it continues, as burug and 

 buruh, to appear down the centuries till the 14th, and finally becomes 

 our modern borough. 



It is evident, then, that both cynn and burug are comparatively 

 late forms, which do not flourish till the 10th century, and persist 

 long after that. Hence the form Cynnburug could not be expected 

 till the 10th century at earhest, and then, if at all, in the North of 

 England rather than the South. 



2. LATIN 

 A. Forms of Letters. 

 If now we turn to the Latin inscriptions, we are to consider first 

 the forms of the letters. Only C, G, O, and S call for any particular 

 remark. 



In the Latin inscriptions on the front and back of the Ruthwell Cross 

 all the letters are capitals, with the exception of the G, which is of the 

 minuscule form. The letters C, O, and S are of the angular shape ; and 

 the M is of the double H pattern, which occurs on the crosses at Llant- 

 wit Major, Glamorganshire, and in the early Hiberno-Saxon MSS.^ 



The lozenge-shaped, or diamond-shaped, O has sometimes been 

 thought to indicate an early date. That it is found in manuscripts 

 at a comparatively early period cannot be denied^ ; but Dr. G. F. War- 

 ner, Keeper of the Manuscripts in the British Museum, refers me to 

 an instance in the Leabhar na hUidhre, or Book of the Dun Cow, 

 written by a man who died in 1106^ ; and other examples occur (the 



^ New Eng. Diet. 



^ Bcedce Opera Histcrica 1. Ixxxvii. 



3 Allen, Early Christ. Mon. of Scotland, p. 448. The Burlington Maga- 

 zine of June 15, 1912 has a plate (p. 145) of all the forms of Latin 

 letters occurring on the Ruthwell Cross. 



* See Lethaby's remarks in Burl. Mag., as above. 



» Cf. Nat. MSS. of Ireland, Part 1, No. xxxvii. 



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