198 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



here given it is consistent with the other letters forming the word or 

 prefix. The rest of the letters of this legend are perfectly legible. The 

 entire reads — 



MAQI EECCEDDA SAEI TOEANIAS. 



We have here names and forms familiar to us. 



Deccedd has been found on several of our Ogham -inscribed monu- 

 ments, and almost invariably preceded by maqi. Thus, at Ballintag- 

 gart, Co. Kerry, we find one which gives us maqi nECCEDA. On the 

 monument from Gortnagullanagh, in the same county, now in the 

 lapidary collection of our museum, we have itaqoj decceda. On one 

 of two inscribed pillars, found in the rath of Dunbell, Co. Kilkenny, 

 by the Rev. James Graves and J. G. Prim, decqedda. In this instance 

 a q is used in place of the second c — a course sometimes adopted by 

 the engravers of these inscriptions ; and, lastly, this familiar name is 

 to be found on a pillar-stone at Killeen-Cormac, an ancient cemetery 

 of the Keel type, on the borders of the Co. Kildare, adjoining "Wicklow. 

 (See R. I. A. Proceedings, Vol. IX. p. 253). But, stranger still, the 

 identical name and form now under notice is to be seen in the old 

 churchyard of Penrhos Lygwy, in Anglesea, cut on a monumental 

 stone in Roman capitals of an ancient type, which reads as follows : — 



HTC IACIT MACCTJ DECETI. 



Toeani is the son of Deccedd, named in our legend. Tor, in Irish, 

 signifies " a prince or sovereign chief." It enters into the composi- 

 tion of many old names, as Torbenn, Torbach, Tordelvac. I may 

 say the identical name is to be found in the Martyrology of Donegal, 

 as Toranan, an abbot of Bangor, who died a.d. 634, and whose festival 

 is the 12th June. The Gaulish form is Turrani (Orel. 6699) ; the 

 Etruscan, Turonia (Lanzi, v. ii., p. 351). 



In this example we have the genitive termination as, one of several 

 unusual case-endings found in Ogham inscriptions, and which have 

 yet to be considered by Irish scholars. This form we find in cassittas, 

 on a stone from Gurranes, Co. Cork; inEECiAS, on a monumental pillar 

 at Dunmore, Co. Kerry, and on one from Roovesmore, Co. Cork ; and 

 in beannittas, on a stone from Dunbell, Co. Kilkenny. 



The term safi gives us, I think, a clue to the profession of Torani. 

 I consider it to be an archaic form of Saoi = a sage, wise man, 

 Brehon. It appears on the " Druides" stone at Killeen-Cormac, as 

 saeei ; on a stone from the rath-cave of Burnfort, Co. Cork, as sagi; 

 as also on a pillar-stone at Cahernagat, Co. Kerry. These forms are 

 worthy the attention of our philologists : particularly sagi ; Gaulish 

 form, Safveia (Orel. 3031). 



Several copies of this legend, now under consideration, some of 

 which have been published, are in my hands. The original discoverer 

 of the monument was the late Mr. John Windele, in September, 1849. 



