30 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



XL — Ox the Difficulties attendant ox the Teawscetjptiox of 

 Ogham Legends axd the Heaxs of Bemovlxg them. By Samuel 

 Ferguson, LL. D. 



[Read November 14, December 12, 1870 ; January 9, 23 ; and February 13, 1871.] 



The theory of Ogham writing is so simple that its authors probably 

 never contemplated any difficulties of mere transliteration, or even 

 of word-division, save such as they may have expressly designed should 

 accompany cryptic methods of arrangement. An alphabet consisting 

 of twenty letters, in four series of five groups each, each group con- 

 sisting of a definite number of digits not exceeding five, arranged in 

 certain predicaments, over, under, across, and on a given stem-line, 

 would at first sight appear as easy to be read as to be sculptured. I 

 speak of the Ogham alphabet as consisting of letters of known phonetic 

 value. We are familiar with the process by whieb, through the patient 

 investigations of an illustrious member of this Academy, their agree- ■ 

 ment with the corresponding Bonian characters has been established, 

 and the original keys, existing in the manuscript books of our native 

 antiquaries, have been verified and restored to their long-impeached but 

 well-merited credit. In this demonstration an important part must 

 be assigned to the bi-lingual and bilateral inscribed stones at St. 

 Dogmaels, Llanfechan, and Trallong, in South Wales. The names 

 Sagran, Cunotam, Trenacat, Cunocen, inscribed in Roman characters on 

 the faces of those monuments, are respectively reproduced in correspond- 

 ing Ogham groups arranged along their angles. The force of these 

 evidences has hitherto been impaired by the consideration, that the 

 traces of Ogham writing remaining on several other South Welsh and 

 South British " biliterals," did not, judging from the published draw- 

 ings of them, appear with equal clearness to reflect the associated 

 Bonian-inscribed names. In the spring of 1869, I examined three 

 of these supposed " uncomformables" — namely, the Twrpill stone at 

 Crickhowel, the Etterni stone at Clydai in Bembrokeshire, and the 

 " DoV (dobtaqeos) stone at Tycoed, in the same neighbourhood ; and 

 I am now enabled in effect to double the number of attesting monu- 

 ments of this class, by stating that what remains of the Ogham legend 

 in each case is a substantially literal reflection of the accompanying 

 Latin ; and that the want of conformity noticeable in the published 

 representations is the result in every instance of imperfect copying. 

 Another cogent confirmation is found in the occurrence within 

 my own observation, in three widely separated localities in Ireland — 

 namelv, at Killeen Cormaic, in Kildare ; at Grortnagullenagh, in Kerry, 

 now No. 6 in our Museum, and at Ballintaggart in the same county, 

 of Ogham inscriptions variously expressing the legend, maqi de- 

 cedda ; while at Benros in Anglesea, the same designation, Sic iacit 

 Maccudeceti, is found inscribed on a monumental flagstone in Bonian 

 characters. To thesa evidences, personally verified, I believe I am safe 



