Macalister — On Some Recently Discovered Ogham Inscriptions. 143 



occurring on this monument ; the brilliant observation of Professor MacNeill 

 that oghams and ogham orthography represent an ancient pagan tradition 

 has thrown a flood of illumination on many dark corners of their study. It 

 explains how the rath-builders were so lacking in reverence for them. It- 

 explains how the medieval grammatical speculators, though constantly 

 muddling over ogham-writing, never once referred to an actual example 

 to illustrate their theories — for the stone:; themselves were heathen and 

 unclean. It may even be, as Prof. MacXeill once suggested to me in con- 

 versation, that they were sought for building-material by the rath-builders 

 just because of their demoniac associations— on the similia similibus curantur 

 principle they may have been expected to ward off the evil influences of 

 the unseen world. 



What are we to make of Micanavvos and Veqikamos ? It is nothing more 

 than a coincidence that these two names curiously correspond, beginning 

 with a labial, a slender vowel, and a guttural, and ending in -os, preceded by 

 a and a labial. It was this coincidence that led me to look for and to find 

 the faint initial M of the first name ; otherwise it would scarcely be 

 worth mentioning. But there is enough general resemblance between 

 the two names to justify us in seeing a uniform taste in nomenclature 

 at work, and to confirm us in regarding these as the monuments of two 

 brothers. 



When the time is ripe for producing that great desideratum, an onomas- 

 ticon of Irish personal names, it may be possible to find precedents for the 

 two remarkable and unusual names which Lugunos bestowed on his sons. 

 1 have not had time to do more than hunt up such of our texts as have been 

 indexed, and have failed to light on anything comparable. Micanavvi may 

 possibly be a compound of Mica, a name appearing two or three times in the 

 Martyrologies, and another name which we find in St Columba's pedigree, in 

 the form Mac Naue. But till the onomasticon is produced, very little can be 

 said about the names on these stones. 



At any rate, they have supplied solid evidence as to the interpretation of 

 the long misunderstood abbreviation wag, and further welcome light on 

 the x symbol. 



(3) The second lintel: a very rough flag of slate, 1 foot 10 inches broad, 

 6 inches thick. It was broken into two fragments, respectively 6 feet and 

 3 feet 4 inches long, supported by the stone last described at the fracture. 

 We found, however, that it was impossible to fit the two fragments together, 

 so that the fraeture must have been made by the rath-builders, probably to 

 make this very heavy stone easier to transport. The middle piece was lostas 

 also the original top, so the inscription is imperfect in two.- places. . .;. 



