Ferguson and Graves — Monataggart Oghams. 295 



XL VI. — Additional Note on Ogham Inscriptions at Monataggart, 

 Co. Cork (with a communication from the Right Rev. Dr. Grates, 

 M. R I. A., Lord Bishop of Limerick, &c.) By Samuel Ferguson, 

 LL. D., Q. C, V. P. 



[Head 25th. of January, 1875.] 



It will be in the recollection of the Academy that a particular group, 

 coming next after the name " Broinienas," in the last of these 

 Monataggart legends (see previous papers), attracted special attention, 

 from its having been observed elsewhere so segregated from the con- 

 text as to suggest its being either the whole, or the initial part, of an 

 independent word. The collocation ^- +•—•«+«- which I referred to 

 as suggesting the first conclusion, had already attracted the notice of 

 the Bishop of Limerick ; and his Lordship, in reference to it, favours 

 me with the following communication dated — ''The Palace, Henry- 

 street, Limerick, January 22, 1875" : — 



" My rear Ferguson, — As you propose to make some further com- 

 munications to the Academy on the Monataggart Oghams, I send you 

 the following hastily written notes. Illness has rendered me unable 

 to give to the subject that careful study which it deserves, but I make 

 bold to offer my contribution, such as it is, towards the illustration of 

 these remarkable monuments. 



"I have long been in possession of the knowledge that the group 

 A£ -n-.-1-t+H-, occurring in Ogham inscriptions, is to be read as poi, and 

 translated as fuit, or qui fuit. It is neither more nor less than the 

 third person singular of the perfect tense of the verb substantive. 

 In Irish MSS., this word is sometimes spelt poi, and sometimes hoi. 

 The Book of Armagh supplies an instance of its use as meaning qui 

 fuit : 



ep]xop Aco boi iSleibui, &c. 



' Bishop Aed, who was in Sletty,' &c. 



"Examples of the same construction are, I believe, not uncommon 

 in more modern texts. 



" There are two instances in which this group of characters occurs in 

 inscriptions long known to us. One is the Ballyboden stone in the 

 county of Kilkenny ; the other is one of the Ballintaggart Oghams 

 near Dingle. In both cases, the word poi precedes macui ; and I am 

 not ashamed to confess that I was for a long time perplexed by the 

 grammatical difficulty which was thus presented. 



"Two solutions suggested themselves to me. The first was, that 

 macui was an old indeclinable form. And in favour of this view it 

 might be urged that the word mactvi (= puer) is given in Welsh 



SER. II., VOL. I., POL. LIT. AND ANTIQ. 2 T 



