Provenance
Discovery: Found in a churchyard in 1890 and presented to the National Antiquities Museum in 1892 by Alexander Laing.
Findspot: Abernethy, Perthshire, Scotland (National Grid Reference: NO 1900 1641)
Current repository: Scotland National Museums of Scotland (inv. no. IB98)
Last recorded location(s): The fragment was observed and recorded by the OG(H)AM team on the 15th of June 2022 at National Museums Scotland.
Support
Trove 27926
Object type: Cross-slab
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 360 × W 200-230 × D 70 mm
Decoration: The upper section of the fragment features the remains of a common Pictish sculpture motif, the high-stepping horse(s) (Forsyth 1996, 5).
Condition: This ogham-inscribed fragment of old red sandstone has been severely cut down and potentially represents only a small portion of the original cross slab and inscription. There are no signs which might indicate the original proportions of either. Three complete letters of the original inscription survive on the fragment, the ogham letters are very clear and well-preserved (Forsyth 1996, 4). The upper half of the fragment is especially damaged, obscuring the area containing the carving of a horse or deer of which only two legs, facing left, now survive. Similarly, a semi-circular portion of the bottom left corner of the fragment ‘has been deliberately defaced’ (Forsyth 1996, 5).
Inscription
Text field: The ogham text is positioned below the symbol carving on a raised band which is 90mm broad and occupies the full width of the fragment (Forsyth 1996, 5). The stem-line is 225mm in length and extends beyond the strokes of the outermost letters, indicating that the inscription ‘extended further in both directions’ (Forsyth 1996, 7). Forsyth (1996, 7) theorises that ‘if the Abernethy fragment was part of the upper face of a recumbent’ then an ogham inscription would have began in the bottom left-hand corner, rose vertically upwards and have continued across the top, down the right-hand side and conclude along the bottom with the portion under the horses hooves reading forward right-to-left.
Letters: The individual strokes are deep U-section grooves that have been initially pocked and rubbed. The vowel strokes are straight and occupy the full ogham band. The component strokes are equally and generously spaced. The spacing of the extant letters is irregular and uneven although, as Forsyth (1996, 8) cautions, it would be unwise to make an assesment on the spacing of the entire inscription on this basis as there is insufficient evidence surviving from the fragment. The first letter is comprised of five short oblique strokes to the left of the stem, with the individual strokes ranging from 35-40mm in length, and even spacing between strokes of 65mm in width. The second letter is one long stroke across the stem, 50mm in length, sloping forwards. The third letter consists of five long strokes, bound and perpendicular across the stem. The individual strokes measure 52mm in length, with even spacing amounting to a total width of 55mm.
Edition
Transcription: [---]QMI̱[---] ←
Critical apparatus:
- There is some debate regarding the direction in which the ogham text should be read due to the conflicting orientations of the text and the horses. Forsyth (1996, 6) is in favor of reading the ogham script right-to-left as based on the form of the recumbent Meigle 11. This allows ‘both horse and ogham to go forward in opposite directions simultaneously’ (ibid. 6). Moreover, this arrangement of the text facing in, is in alignment with other seventh century Scottish gravestones. Forsyth (1996, 6) points out that Rhys, Allen and Macalister favoured the interpretation that the ‘horses are walking in procession along the ogham band’ and read: Left to right: IMN 2. Due to the limited evidence from the surviving letters there is little that can be discerned from the Abernethy ogham fragment other than that it preserves valuable evidence for the use of ‘bind-strokes outside the Northern Isles’(Forsyth 1996, 8). The only other example is found nearby at Inchyra.
Translation
The extant portion of the inscription is insufficient for producing a translation.
Commentary
Unfortunately, the ogham fragment is too short to yield any meaningful linguistic analysis. However, Forsyth (1996, 9) highlights that the presence of the letter Q may suggest a variant of the formula word MAQQI. In this context, the letters MI, which follow the letter Q, could signify ‘a handful of Irish male and female personal names [that] begin Mi-’ such as Minchloth or Midgna (Forsyth 1996, 9).
Despite the fragmentary state of this text, Forsyth (1996, 9) notes that ‘it provides important evidence for the use of ogham at a major ecclesiastical site’.
References
- Forsyth 1996, 2-10