1899.] on Runic and Ogam Characters, etc. 179 



Sir S. Ferguson reads anmc instead of ancm, .but bis account 

 makes me think tbat be bad not really examined tbe stone and that 

 he accidentally transposed tbe c and the m ; certainly my own per- 

 sonal inspection puts the c before tbe m. Further, he reads doligeinn 

 where I read culigeinn, and he translates maqi do ligeinn as ' son of 

 reading,' i.e. scholar, or learned man. This would be a stretch of 

 imagination far beyond the reach of the ogam cutters. Mr. Brash reads 

 culig . . . .enn ; I, like Sir S. Ferguson, felt fairly clear that there are 

 nine vowel dots, divided into four and five, that is, e i. 



In tbe Museum of tbe Science and Art Department in Dublin, 

 among the collections of the Eoyal Irish Academy, is a stone (Fig. 13) 

 from a rude ancient clochan at Gortnagullanagh, co. Kerry. It 

 has two inscriptions on the two edges of tbe same face, both to be 

 read the same way ; probably both visible to persons entering the 

 clochan. The stone is about 4 feet 6 inches long, and 11 inches 

 broad. It has a Latin cross 8 inches by 6 inches, inscribed on the 

 face. 



One of tbe inscriptions is very clear. It reads, as all agree, 

 maqqi decedda. The other is in most of its letters clear ; all agree 

 that it was maqqi catuf, except that Sir S. Ferguson prints cattuf, 

 no doubt by accidental confusion with a stone at Corkaboy. The 

 remaining scores I think read ici or perhaps ice ; Mr. Brash reads 

 them ucuc ; Sir S. Ferguson, ic. My reading gives either 14 or 

 13 scores ; Mr. Brash's gives 14 ; Sir S, Ferguson's 9. I incline to 

 Catuficc, for at Corkaboy in this same county there is an Ogam stone 

 which I have not seen, where Mr. Brash and Sir S. Ferguson agree in 

 reading Cattuffiq maqi Ritte. Mr. Brash, reading maqqi Catuf uc uc, 

 translates ' son of Catuf, alas, alas.' But that translation is out of 

 the question. 



In each of these cases the inscription would seem to be incomplete, 

 tbe name of the person not being given, only the name of his father 

 or some descriptive word standing in the place of a father's name or 

 the name of a race. But there are curious evidences which go to 

 show that tbe Ogam inscriptions are in Ireland usually — it is said 

 almost or quite always — found in proximity to cilleens, said to bo the 

 remains of pagan cemeteries, used afterwards for the burial of unbap- 

 tised children. It is quite conceivable that an Ogam inscription 

 should name tbe race or family whose general burial place it was, 

 and not name any particular member of the race. We speak of " the 

 Percy vault " in Westminster Abbey, and we aro familiar with the 

 appearance of a family name on a stone in the floor of a church indi- 

 cating the entrance to a burial place. There is nothing distinctively 

 Christian in this practice. 



The inscription Maqqi Decedda has very wide relations. The 

 Clan Degadi or Degaid was a famous clan in very early times ; and 

 though other explanations are given, it may probably be taken that 

 the numerous inscriptions with this name in one form or another 

 have to do with members of this clan. In that case the maqqi is 



n 2 



