Ferguson — On Further Monataggart Oghams. 293 



transliteration (with one questionable digit only — making it doubtful 

 whether we should read tt or td) : — 



BROINIEN-AS X OINETAT[ J RENALUGOS 



The portion preceding the cross is plainly the same proper name 

 found in the form Broinionas, on the Lough monument near Dingle. 

 "Whether the name is significant, and whether it do not illustrate 

 what I have said elsewhere, as to names of humiliation among earlv 

 Christian ascetics, I must submit to the judgment of those who are 

 better qualified to speak with certainty of the vowel changes 

 necessary to bring it into assimilation with words having such signifi- 

 cations. Whatever be its meaning, it exhibits a form of termination 

 which may be compared with other endings (genitives?) in as, as 

 Branittas (Dunbel), Lugudeccas (Ardmore), and, as I believe, 

 ECumeledonas in the legend lately discovered by Mr. Rhys at 

 Landawke in Carmarthenshire ; and it deserves to be considered 

 whether there be a reason for the diversity of the as here, as 

 compared with other seeming genitives in ias, as Ercias and Flamattias 

 from Roovesmore, Cork, and Ercias at Dumore, Kerry. 



Beyond this name, the rest of the line presents difficulties which 

 we probably shall not finally get over until after much further 

 comparison among new materials. The principal source of difficulty 

 lies in the cross followed by the vowels oi. I have seen the cast 

 of an Ogham inscription in which, to my eye, this combination of 

 characters is severed, by distinct divisions, from the preceding and 

 following groups, so that it must yield some sound and make a 

 meaning by itself. It cannot do so, if the power ea, usually ascribed 

 to X i n the books, be here given to it; but can only be treated 

 either as p, or as a conventional symbol for some independent expres- 

 sion terminating in oi ; and if, in the present case, such were to be 

 assigned as its conjectural value, it would leave a residue, commenc- 

 ing with groups not unfamiliar as initial elements or predicates of 

 names in other examples. 



Thus, in the Castletimon legend we have Netacarinetacagi ; at 

 Ballintaggart, Dingle, Nettalami, &c. ; and at Bridell in Pembrokeshire, 

 Nettasagr, &c. Netattrenalugos might then appear one of those 

 exaggerated disguises under which, if I be not mistaken, Ogham 

 inscribers have wrapped up proper names elsewhere, as in the case 

 of Lamitaidagni in the Kilbonane legend, under which I would 

 imagine, with a good deal of confidence, the modest name Lamidan 

 lies concealed. 



But. the elements of the groups before us cannot with equal ease 

 be reduced to a proper name, although some such name as Trenloc 

 may possibly be intended ; so that, however attractive the Neta by 

 itself might appear, the more I consider the text the less probability 

 I see of educing, at least more than partially, the real meaning by 

 this process. 



