340 Proceedings of the Roijal Irish Academy. 



Comparing the Ogham and Latin spellings of the name, it will be seen 

 that : 



1. In the oghams, the consonants are written single or double, apparently 

 at random. 



2. The tenuis q of maqi is represented by the double tenuis cc in the 

 Latin spelling. 



3. The aspirate ch is represented by e and cc in the oghams, by ch in the 

 Buckland inscription. In the second Latin inscription, the letters here seem 

 to be doubtful. 



4. The media d in the final syllable of the Ogham form becomes t in the 

 Latin spelling. 



5. The aspirate d following Maqi is represented by d, dd, in the oghams. 

 The treatment of this consonant in the Latin inscriptions is not altogether 

 certain. Apparently the name-form Maqa(s) Lechedas was regarded as 

 un-Latinlike, and was altered into the single word Maccocleclietas,^hich presented 

 the usual ending of an Irish o-stem. and was then declined as a Latin o-stem, 

 Since d and t in the latinized form must stand for different values, d can only 

 represent the aspirate, for t has been shown to represent the stopped media. 

 The aspirate ^'alue would have become familiar in the genitive, dative, and 

 vocative usage. Possibly, however, the Latinist may have treated the 

 consonant as initial, as it is in the Irish name. In this position, d can 

 denote either the stop or the aspirate. 



The consonants of the British Latin spelling are precisely those of the 

 Irish early MS. spelling, nom. Mace Decliet, gen. Maicc Dechet. The treatment 

 of the consonants here and their treatment in the Oghams exhibit the main 

 distinctive features of the two orthographical systems. The a priori argument 

 as to the origin of the peculiar consonant-usage in early Irish Mss. is thus 

 strongly corroborated. 



I have regarded Maccudec\c'\eti of the Auglesea inscription as a genitive, 

 though the Latin C(jnstruction demands a nominative. In fact, liic iacet is 

 employed either as a noun or as an extra-syntactical phrase, the equivalent 

 of anm or of xoi in the Ogham inscriptions. The same construction occurs 

 in other inscriptions, e.g. at Llandysilio, VenihYokeshive, Uvoleiu/gi Jili Litogeni 

 hie iacit. 



Doubling of consonants in Ogham spelling has no phonetic significance. 

 It does not denote aspiration or the absence of aspiration. It has no con- 

 nexion with vowel quantity or with vocalic influence. Many examples like 

 Decedas could be adduced to prove that the same consonant without change 

 of value may l)e expressed either by a single or a double symbol. In short, 

 we have here to deal with a mere fashion in orthography. 



