FERGUSON — On the Transcription of Ogham Legends. 60 



first 



ii 



of these, the stone at Emlagh East, near Dingle,. ^bearing the 



inscription Bnrsccos. 

 iiAQQT Caliaci, I have 

 to observe that Brus- 

 cus appears in the Book 

 of Armagh as the name 

 of a Presbyter, ordain- 

 ed by St. Patrick. 

 Cat.tacus, I feel sure, is 

 neither more nor less 

 than the Latinized 

 form of Ceallach, a 

 very common name. 



" I read the other 

 inscription as you do, 



Teia Magua aLazlagkni, 



and translate it as the 

 three sons of Huoilan. 

 Lf I am right, perhaps 

 we hare here ancient 

 plural forms. But the 

 philologists must be on 

 their guard against 

 being misled by the 

 pedantry or affectation 

 of the Ogham writer. 

 This interpretation is confirmed by the ap- 

 pearance on the monument of a cross, each 

 member of which is trifid. On the point of 

 Latinizing I might say a good deal ; and I 

 am prepared to find you more inclined to 

 agree with me than you were when you 

 entered upon this investigation. I adhere 

 to the views which I originally propounded 

 on this subject. 



" I. That the Ogham was not a primitive 

 alphabet intended for common use, but an 

 artificial and cryptic one, invented by per- 

 sons certainly acquainted with the Latin, 

 and probably with the Bunic alphabet. 



"II. That the Ogham inscriptions were 

 not intended to be easily read and understood, 

 even at the time when they were put upon 

 the monuments. A man's Ogham name was 

 not the name he commonly went by: but 

 formed from it according to certain rules and 

 methods. 



