Provenance
Discovery: Found by Brash in 1868 reused as a support stone in a souterrain (SMR No. CO122-049002-) where two other ogham stones (I-COR-017 and I-COR-018) had previously been discovered used as lintels. The inscription was not accessible until the stone had been removed from the souterrain. All three stones were ‘taken out of the cave sometime toward the end of the nineteenth century, by the proprietor, the late Mr. R. Bence Jones, and placed on a rockery in his garden: but afterwards acquired from him by the Royal Irish Academy’ (Macalister 1945, 73).
Findspot: Ahalisky (Achadh Loiscthe), Co. Cork, Ireland (ITM Coordinates: 541423, 547985)
Current repository: Ireland National Museum of Ireland (inv. no. RIA1927:3)
Last recorded location(s): Now in the National Museum of Ireland, where it was examined and recorded by the Ogham in 3D project in 2010, with assistance from the Irish Inscribed Stones Project (Moore Institute, Galway).
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: CO122-049005-
Object type: Pillar
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 0.97 × W 0.30 × D 0.13 m
Condition: Reused in the construction of a souterrain. The stone is widest at the middle and narrowest at the top, where it appears to be flaked away on one side, possibly resulting in the loss of most of the last word of the inscription.
Inscription
Text field: The inscription reads up on the left-hand angle of one of the faces. It commences at 26cm from the visible lower extent of the stone and is not evident after approximately 18cm from the top.
Letters: The strokes are small, finely scored, tightly spaced, and increasingly reduce in size towards the end. However, unlike the other two inscriptions from the same (secondary) location, the vowel strokes here are distinctly shorter and notch or wedge-shaped. They appear to have been done executed using a percussive technique with a flat chisel. This may be due to the acute angle used as a stem-line, which is suitable for this common type of vowel stroke in the earlier inscriptions.
Date: Mid sixth century (linguistic)
Edition
Ogham text: ᚉᚑᚔ̣ᚋᚐᚌᚅᚔ ᚋᚐᚊᚔ ᚋᚑᚉᚑᚔ̣ ᚌ[---
Transcription: COỊMAGNI MAQI MOCOỊ G[---]
Translation
of Cóemán (*Coimagnas) son of the kin-group of G…
Commentary
COIMAGNI corresponds to the OIr. name Cóemán. It consists of the adjective OIr. cóem ‘dear, beloved, fair’ < PC *koi̯mo- < PIE *k̑oi̯mo- ‘belonging to the home’ and the individualising and hypocoristic suffix -án < *-agno-, i.e. ‘dear one’. The name is also attested in I-KER-034 (= CIIC 166; Ballinvoher, Co. Kerry). The name of the kin-group remains unclear. Endings and the *g of the suffix *-agnī are preserved, but the lowering of the first vowel in MOCOI points to the middle of the 6th century.
References
- Brash 1879, 145-148
- Macalister 1945, 75, no. 71
- Power, Byrne, Egan, Lane, and Sleeman 1992, 124, no. 1030
- Ziegler 1994, 152