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XIV. 



THE " DRUULDES " INSCRIPTION AT KILLEEN COEMAC, 

 COUNTY KILDAEE. 



By E. A. S. MACALISTER, MA. 



Plate XXII. 



Bead Novembek 9. Published December 30, 1914. 



The purpose of this paper is, primarily, to offer for the criticism of 

 scholars a novel attempt at interpreting the well-known " Druuides " 

 inscription ; and, secondarily, to indicate in outline certain deductions which 

 it appears to the author may be legitimately drawn from this remarkable 

 monument. 



I. 



Since its discovery some fifty years ago, the two-fold inscription lying in 

 the ancient cemetery called Killeen Cormac has been the subject of numerous 

 disquisitions, and of almost as many theories. So far as the inscription in 

 Ogham letters is concerned, it is unnecessary to recapitulate these. The 

 exposition of this part of the writing on the stone may be said to be closed 

 by the discussion to which Sir John Ehys has submitted it, in his paper 

 entitled Studies in Early Irish History, published in the first volume of 

 the Proceedings of the British Academy. The only question still open is, 

 whether we are to read the first letter as an or a U ; there are the three 

 marks requisite for U ; but one of these is fainter than the rest, and may be 

 a small accidental fracture on the edge of the stone, and not intended by the 

 engraver of the inscription. Sir John Ehys inclines to read ; and though 

 I thought that the letter was U, I have recently examined the stone twice, 

 and have come round to the conclusion that in this he is probably right. It 

 is likely that this point will never be settled with complete certainty ; 

 fortunately it is of minor importance, for whether we read the inscription 

 OVANOS or UVANOS AVI 1VACATTOS the identification or analysis 

 of the names will not be affected. 



The case is, however, very different with the associated epitaph, in Roman 



B. I. A. PEOC, VOL. XXXII, SECT. C. [85] 



