Graves—On Monuments bearing Ogam Inscriptions. 285 
For aprr, I can suggest no other explanation than what I have 
already mentioned. The whole inscription would thus receive the 
following interpretation :— 
Anima or Nomen Maccorbii Sapientis . . Abbatis. 
I have no proof that Maccorb was an Abbot, but as he was pro- 
bably the head of the body of learned men assembled at Cork in the 
time of St. Finnbarr, it is not unlikely that he was the Abbot of a 
Monastery in the neighbourhood. St. Finnbarr died about the year 
623. The death of his preceptor, who we may assume was his senior, 
may therefore be placed about a.p. 600, and this, no doubt, is the date 
of the inscription. 
But it may be asked, Why was the name of this distinguished 
ecclesiastic written in a cryptic character? We know almost nothing 
of his character or history. It is possible that some stain of discredit 
rested on his conduct or birth. It is true that pilgrimages were 
frequently undertaken as exercises of religious devotion, but they 
were also enjoined in the way of penalty for sins committed.* 
Kolang may have made his pilgrimage to Rome for a reason of this 
nature. St. Columbkille and St. Brendan, much more distinguished 
saints, went into pilgrimage in expiation of sins or crimes brought 
about by their acts or influence. Or, again, there may have rested 
upon his origin some blot, such as disgraced the birth of the saint on 
whose history I shall have to touch in my description of the other 
monument to be noticed in this Paper. Allusion to this may have 
been made in the name Maccorb, or Corbmac. The celebrated king 
and bishop who bore that name tells us in his Glossary that it was 
properly spelt with a b, and meant the son of a Chariot, that is to say, 
a person born in achariot. The King’s derivations were not unfre- 
quently incorrect ; and in this particular case we may imagine that he 
was disposed to give a favourable rather than an unfavourable interpre- 
tation to his own name. I cannot help suspecting that the other mode 
of spelling, viz., with a p, suggested the true etymology, with a refe- 
rence to sin. The name Cormac is said to have been equivalent to 
Aithgen; and I can adduce passages in which the idea of something 
abominable or sinful is connected with the name Corbmac or Coirpthi. 
[See Colgan 4A. SS., pp. 221, 607; DMartyrology of Donegal, at 
Sept.5; Lanigan’s History, vol. ii. p. 8318-815; Ussher, Zndea Chronol. 
ad Ann., 630. | 
101 
At Cynffic, near Margam, in Glamorganshire, there used to stand 
a monument bearing a nearly defaced Ogam inscription, which I 
examined in the year 1849. The Ogam characters are not so 
3 See the Canons of St. Patrick in Ware, and Canones Hibern., lib. 28, cap. 6. 
