Brash — Kilcutten Ogham Inscription. 305 



The legend is 5 ft. 10 in. long, and finished within 3 in. of the 

 top. It consists of bnt 17 characters, which shows how boldly cut, 

 and broadly spaced, they were, to occupy that length of the angle. 

 It runs : — 



-rf*fr u "hi MN/» ■ ! !! ■ m i t/f ""I ,,, , , n Ni l 



LUGTrDUCMAQ, IMA 0. I C 



LITGUDUC MAQJ MAQI OC 



The last three characters of the legend are much injured ; the three 

 last digits of the I are lost, and there is a weather fissure through the 

 C, which leaves a part of each score at one side and a part at the 

 other. 



We have here, in the first place, a familiar name which we find 

 in our annals and indices in the forms of Lughaidh, Lugudj Lugdech, 

 Lugdeach. On an Ogam-inscribed stone at Ardmore, we find Lugu- 

 deccas ; on one from Kilgravane, Lugudeca. This is evidently the form 

 found in the Annals of Ulster, at a. d. 506 and 533, namely, Lug- 

 dach. 



The patronymic is Mac Oc. This is a proper name, and also ex- 

 presses a profession. Oc signifies a bard, a poet, and the name is 

 equivalent to one frequently met with in our Annals as Mac-an-Bhaird, 

 i.e., the son of the Bard. In 0' Curry's " Lectures on the Manners 

 and Customs of the Ancient Irish," in note 874 of the introductory 

 volume, by Dr. Sullivan, I find the very name in question in an 

 extract from a tract known as the flight of Etain, taken from the 

 well-known MS., Lebhar na h-Uidhri, p. 129, col. 2, as follows: — 



" The Mac Occ went forth on the track of Fuaman, and overtook her on 

 Oenach Bodbgnuai at the House of Breasal, between the arms of the druid. The 

 Mac Occ struck her and beheaded her, and he brought away her head and placed it 

 on the Bru of the Brog." 



In the Martyrology of Donegal, we find Octide, and on one of the 

 Kilcolaght group we have the identical name, Occ, " Occ Maqi 

 Llarit " (Gaulish forms : Oecus, — Stein, 2054 ; Occauns. — Gruter, 

 889.) 



' As regards construction, the inscription is in exactly the same 

 formula as that on the stone from Deelish or Leades : — 



0T MAQI MAQI RETT. 



A second visit made to Kilcullen enabled me to glean further in- 

 formation respecting the locality. Mr. Charles Lynch informs me 

 that the tradition of the country is, that this LeacM is the burial 

 place of a great chieftain who met his death in the following 

 manner. He ruled over a large district of the country, including 

 this locality, the inhabitants of which refusing to pay him tribute 

 or obedience, he marched against and overcame them, taking a large 



