Macalistkk — The "Dntuides" Inscription at Killeen Cormac. 233 



because it was about the middle of the alphabet), and going backwards 

 cyclically — 



AOUEI : HDTCQ : BLNSV : MG NG Z E. 



The last stage, so far as the first inventor was concerned, was to rearrange 

 the groups with the vowels last, and the rest in the alphabetical order of 

 their first letters — 



BLNSV : HDTCQ : MGngZE : AOUEI. 



At a later stage, but before the date of our earliest inscription, the first 

 group was rearranged, and the N and V changed places ; doubtless because it 

 was found convenient to represent vowel V and consonant V by the same 

 number of fingers, as they were represented in the normal Eoman letters in 

 use by the same character. This change was not, however, effected till after 

 the Ogham character had received its name Beith-Luis-Nion, which persisted 

 even after the third letter was no longer N. 



The most striking point about this alphabet is the absence of P and its 

 cognate spirant F, and the presence of Z. The former is not difficult to 

 understand : they were not required in writing the proto-Goidelic of the 

 druidic hymns, and so, if ever introduced with the rest of the borrowed Eoman 

 alphabet, speedily became obsolete. The latter is more difficult to account 

 for ; it likely is to be explained by the use of magical formulae, borrowed 

 probably from Greek, and perhaps through them ultimately from Egyptian 

 sources. Such meaningless words as were used by Gnostics and other 

 mystical sects, -inside and outside of Christianity, travel far, and reappear 

 unexpectedly from time to time. There is one such word in Ogham on the 

 amber bead from Ennis, now in the British Museum, and a similar formula 

 on the slab in our Museum found at Glenfahan, in Co. Kerry. For such 

 formulae both Z and NG might well be required, even though the former 

 sound, at least, has no legitimate place in the language that also re- 

 jected P. 



If then by some such reasoning as this we may suppose that the use of 

 the Eoman alphabet preceded the use of Ogham in this country, we need 

 not feel surprise at finding an epitaph in Eoman letters in an Irish cemetery. 

 Nor need we feel surprise if there is only one; for I think there is some reason 

 to believe that the reason why the missionaries introduced new methods of 

 writing and orthography was exactly on account of the Pagan associations, 

 among their Irish converts, of the Eoman character and of documents written 

 in that character. Pagan monuments in Eoman letters might then well 

 become the victims of iconoclastic zeal, and it mav be that this stone is the 



