Haigh — Earliest Inscribed Monuments. 455 



(C) The recently discovered monument on S. Mnian's Isle, Shet- 

 land, has 



tepme<pi&n xsgoppepc. 



Sir S. Ferguson has recognized the diminutive of Lepmec], " step- 

 son," in tepmeqn&n ; and Agoppepc is the superlative, (of which 

 the only other trace, in the Irish language, is c&n&rpce, c&ntnpce, 

 "second"), of a root akin to the Greek dya7r. The meaning, there- 

 fore, is "little stepson dearest." 



This is a valuable addition to the list of Ogham words expressive 

 of family relationship, and it helps us to complete the inscription on 

 the Kenfig stone. The Latin there has two words, both in the nomi- 

 native, pvnpeivs the deceased, and caeantoeivs, probably the placer of 

 the monument. The Ogham has pompei in the genitive, on the left ; 

 and on the right (c&p&nc)op&L, corresponding to caeantoeivs, and 

 (te)pme<pi<yn setting forth his relationship to the deceased. 



Vlepmec|<j, without the diminutive suffix, occurs on the famous 

 Bressay monument : 



bennp ttepne<}<| T> , opoi&nn. 

 " B. stepson of D." 



"opoi&nn being patronymic of "open, " druid," it is intelligible 

 how Benir's daughter Hildegunna learned those arts which procured 

 for her the character of a sorceress. 



The other inscription on this monument, 



eppbop : cc : n&hhcpp'o'o&'o'op : "o&txpp : bn : 



gives us the Scandinavian T)&t:cp in place of its Celtic equivalent. 



The Burrian, Lunnasting, and Bressay inscriptions exhibit a grow- 

 ing taste for fanciful forms of writing, such as no Irish monuments 

 present, but of which the Book of Ballymote supplies a multitude of 

 examples. The reading of that at Burrian is easy. 



mL e t p b p o n n u njp p &cc p e y r c e& p o c c p. 



Uitetpbponn for mtepbpon (like cobotom&n for cotom&n), 

 a man's name, composed of iot&p, "an eagle," and bp&n, "black" • 

 ungpp&cc, probably composed of un 5, "healing," "anointing," and 

 pe&cc, "man"; pepp = be&b beb, "tomb"; ce&poccp, possibly 

 a fanciful spelling of cpux, or the signature of the placer of the 

 monument. 



"Iulerbron, physician, (his) grave-cross." 



This illustrates the Llangian inscription, and one at Llantwit, 

 Glamorganshire, beginning in nomine m pummi mcipic cpnx 



