MaOaliS'I'ER — Notes on Certain Iriih Inscriptions. 



89 



legend contains two names connected with the letter F, doubtless an abl.nevia- 

 tion for filius. As the scribe seems to have thought he was writing Latin, 

 he has not ventured to provide the father's name with a genitive inflexion. 



The first name looks more like cocman than anything else. A flaw 

 running across the stone interferes with the third letter. It might possibly, 

 though less probably, be a t: but neither cocman nor cotman is a name 

 which is to be found elsewhere. On the other hand, colman is one of the 

 commonest names in Early Christian literature, and it is not impossible 



Fig. 1. — Inscription at Drogheda. 



that the damaged letter is really an eccentric form of l, the top of the 

 apparent c being only one side of the bifid serif at the top of the letter, 

 and the other half being lost in the flaw. The curvature of the letter, which 

 is carefully reproduced in the drawing, weighs heavily against this easy 

 escape from the difficulty. Nor is there any trace of the cross-stroke which 

 would give us an equally well-known name, coeman. The father's name is 

 TNUDACH : this name is found in Four Masters, a.d. 709. 



11. Delgany, Co. Wicklow. 



In the old churchyard of Delgany there stands the stump of a cross. 

 It is 6 feet high by 1 foot 6J inches by 11 inches. The northern face of the 

 stone is quite plain. On each of the two sides there is a sunk panel, con- 

 taining no design. The south face has at the top a panel containing a key- 



R.I.A. PKOC, VOL. XXXIII., SECT. C. 



[14] 



