Graves—Remarks on an Ogam Monument. 219 
XLIV.—Remarks on An Ocam Monument By THE Ricut Rey. CHarizs 
Graves, D.D., Lord Bishop of Limerick, wir somz Inrropuctory 
Remarks By Sir 8. Fereuson, President. 
[Read, May 26, 1884.] 
Tue Bishop of Limerick has done me the honour of making me the 
medium of several valuable communications to the Academy on the 
subject of Ogam interpretation. He is good enough to continue the 
use of my services in this way, and to-night enables me to make 
public his views on a matter which, up to the present, has much per- 
plexed the study of Ogam legends. I refer to the Greekish aspect 
of many of the names, and to the seeming want of distinction between 
the nominative and the genitive. I may observe that I have long 
regarded Magi, the recognized equivalent of fir, as having an equally 
good claim in some of these enigmatical epigraphs to stand for filvus. 
Besides his observations on the -os termination, Bishop Graves issues 
two new propositions to the eye of Archeological curiosity in disclos- 
ing resemblances between the form of the Celtic cross, as well as the 
style of Irish decorative work in manuscript, and other examples of 
both kinds seen by him in a quarter of the world hitherto little taken 
into account in these investigations. 
“* May 12, 1884. 
‘¢ My pear Sir Sauvet Frrevson, 
“‘T am about to present to the Royal Irish Academy an Ogam 
monument which will, I trust, be regarded as a valuable acquisition 
to our lapidary collection. It.was found in 1877, near Killorglin, by 
an intelligent young man named Fitzgerald, whom I had imbuedjwith 
a taste for antiquities, and thus fitted him to explore that part of the 
country in search of Ogam and other ancient remains. 
“‘The inscription which this monument bears is complete and 
perfect. Not the slightest doubt can be entertained as to any single 
character included in it. 
‘‘Tt reads as catroros. Now as to this name, I observe first that 
Galea, a galley, was used in medieval Latin to denote a long, low- 
built ship, genus navigit velocissimi, navis longa, navis rostrata, liburna, 
&c., employed as a privateer or piratical craft, and the men who 
formed its crew were called Galeott or Galiote. They were held in 
very low estimation, and classed along with pirates and robbers. 
Viles erant Galeoti, nulliusque nominis. Alfred the Great had a fleet 
of such galleys built, and manned them with pirate. 
‘“¢So much for the meaning of the name Galeotos. 
‘‘Next, I shall have something to say respecting the final -os, which 
has been supposed by philologists to be-the termination of a Celtic 
genitive. If it had really been one, might we not haye expected to 
find examples of such forms in the Irish of the Book of Armagh and 
R.I.A. PROC., VOL. Il. SER. II1.—POL. LIT. AND ANTIQ. 22 
