270 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



I should, like to take, but I kesitate as oiu' inscriptions have not 

 hitkerto been known to carry ns back to suck an early stratum of 

 Goiclelic speech. I must now give tke tkree references wkick I have 

 to Cell : tkey belong to tke pedigrees at tke end. of tke Book of Leinster, 

 namely folios 327"^, 38P, 336''. Tkey occiu' in versions of tke pedigi'ee 

 of tke great IJlster kero, Fergus Mae' Eoig : tke last, 336', contains- 

 tke following sequence : M. Deatka, M. Ceu, M. Celebair, wkick at 

 33P is M. Defkatka, M. Ceu, M. Celebair, wkile at 327'^ it is M. Deatka,. 

 M. Ercfkatka, M. Ceu, M, Ilebuir. So tkere seems to be no reason tO' 

 suppose tkat tke c of Ceu belongs to tke preceding maic. 



" Skould tkis kypotkesis be rejected, tkere are several otkers wkick 

 migkt be tried. I will mention one — tke full genitive may be Esceu- 

 sas, formed from ceusas witk tke aid. of tke prefix es = e.v, and tken we 

 skould kave left for tke initial word, tora, wkick may perkaps be taken 

 as standing for torra, of tke same meaning and. origin as tke Welsk 

 word tivr, ' a keap,' pku'al fi/rrau, tkougk io)Y( looks feminine, and 

 tivr is masculine. Tke rendering would tken be Tumulus Esceusis JiJii 

 Generis Meutini. I must confess tkat I prefer tke previous view, but 

 I wisk it to be clearly understood tkat it is brougkt forward merely as 

 a kypotkesis, and in tke kope tkat somebody else will offer sometking 

 more satisfactory. Till tken also it is useless to guess tke age of tke 

 inscription : it looks to me as tkougk it migkt be one of tke earliest 

 we kave, but I cannot say tkat tkis belief is independent of tke kypo- 

 tketical explanations wkick I kave just indicated. 



" Tke otker inscription is even more difficult to read, but Dr. Buick 

 kas given it tkus : — 



T EGX A IMAQr I AVA E AT I 

 CMS C 



E 



My first guesses of tke first name were T e d a n o x e : tken I jotted 



? s ?G 

 down tke scorings as making Tutcmote ; but I kad to give it up 

 in despair'. However, we were more successful witk tke second 

 name, wkick was attacked by Mr. Kermode, wko was tke first to 

 perceive tkat it was 



-iiii- 



Vohraci. Tkis seems to me quite certain, except tke first vowel^ 

 wkick may possibly kave been not o but a, but I kardly tkink so. 



