Provenance
Discovery: The stone was found on Mt Brandon, possibly on an old pilgrims’ path. ‘From Hitchcock’s notebook we learn that he found this stone upright in the 1840’s, when he visited it, but buried, in peat, up to within 2” of the top: he caused it to be dug out’ (Macalister 1945, 141). It had fallen again by 1937 (Henry 1937, 276), and eventually became buried beneath an accumulation of hillwash and a thin sod cover. It was rediscovered and re-erected in 1982 and again following winter storms in 1995. At that time it was re-erected in a more secure location 4.4m to the NW (NMS/Archaeological Survey of Ireland record, SMR ID: KE025-002001-).
Findspot: Arraglen (Airghleann ), Co. Kerry, Ireland (ITM coordinates: 446495, 614181)
Last recorded location(s): The stone now stands in the elevated and exposed gap between Masatiompan and the steep N slopes of Brandon Mountain, and commands a dramatic view to both sides of the mountain range (NMS/Archaeological Survey of Ireland record, SMR ID: KE025-002001-). This stone was recorded in 3D in collaboration with the Discovery Programme in 2013 as part of the Ogham in 3D project.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: KE025-002001-
Object type: Cross-carved pillar
Material: Sandstone
Dimensions: H 1.91 (1.45 above ground level) × W 0.35 × D 0.20 m
Decoration: Both faces are carved with with crosses: the face surrounded by the inscriptions has a cross-of-arcs with a hook-like expansion to the right of the upper arm, which appears to be an example of a Tau-Rho or Staurogram (⳨) (Ó Ragáin, forthcoming IIAC, Cork 2025 Proceedings). Macalister (1945, 141) described it as ‘a degenerate form of the Chi-Rho (☧) symbol’. The second face has a similar cross-of-arcs but in this case enclosed in a circle. A short striaght stem has also been recorded (Cuppage 1986, 248) linking the lower arm to the circle, although this is difficult to identify and remains inconclusive. McManus (1991, 172) notes that this ogham stone is ‘discussed by Henry (1937, 276 and 1940, 29), where it is described an an imitation of the Brito-Roman type of funerary monument’.
Condition: The top of the stone is broken with some damage to letters and ‘there appears to have been some dressing of the stone to prepare surfaces for the carvings’ (Cuppage 1986, 248).
Inscription
Text field: The inscription is on the arris (up-top-down) surrounding the face with the un-encircled cross. Extra space has been left between the initial word (QRIMITIR) and the following name (RONAN), which may be taken as an example of word division in ogham. This phenomonen is found elsewhere in the ogham corpus (e.g. I-KER-069 Monataggart I, Co. Cork). However, in this case it could just as easily be an example of letter division, distinguishing the final R of QRIMITIR and the initial R of RONAN. The use of space in ogham to distinguish letters and words has been discussed by Moffat (2011, 290).
Letters: The inscription is pocked and worn, but vowel strokes appear to be wedge-shaped and cut with a flat chisel. On the downward arris, the orientation of the B and H aicme are confused.
Date: Second half of the sixth century (linguistic)
Edition
Ogham text: ᚊᚏᚔᚋᚔᚈᚔᚏ vac.
Transcription: QRIMITIR vac. RON[A]Ṇ⸢N⸣ MA ⸢Q⸣ ⸢C⸣OMOGA⸢NN⸣
Critical apparatus:
- The end of the inscription (after it turns downwards at the top and with the B and H aicmi confused) incorrectly reads: Q MAN SOMOGAQQ 2. Regarding the unclear penultimate N of RONANN, two (of a required five) strokes survive at the broken top of the stone.
Translation
of the priest Rónán son of Comgán
Commentary
This is one of the few ogham inscriptions (see also I-KER-123) to contain extra information, other than names and formula words, with the word QRIMITIR (Old Irish cruimther ‘priest’), a loan word from Latin presbiter.
Macalister’s (1954, 141) claims of evidence of Christianisation of this ogham stone are rightly argued against by McManus (1991, 56-57). McManus (1991, 91, 117) also points out that ‘genitive forms often have the appearance of nominatives and Macalister was mislead by this in the case of (this ogham stone), which he described as a (Christian) “signature” as opposed to a (pagan) “epitaph”. Here RONANN, MAQ and COMOGANN have the deceptive appearance of nominatives but QRIMITIR with -IR, not -ER, is quite clearly genitive’.
The personal names RONANN and COMOGANN come from rón ‘seal’ and com- `with’ + ag ‘leads’ (Gailsh Comagus) (McManus 1991, 107) and both ending with a late form of the diminutive suffix -AN(N) (earlier -AGNI).
In this inscription all endings are lost, including in the formula word (MAQ, earlier MAQ(Q)I) but syncope has not yet taken place. This linguistic evidnece suggests a date of approximately the second half of the sixth century (McManus 1991, 96-97).
References
- Bennett, Uí Shíthigh, Holden, and Ó Bric 1995, 29
- Cuppage 1986, 248-250
- Henry 1937, 276
- Henry 1940, 29
- Macalister 1945, 140-141
- McManus 1991, 56-57, 65, 78, 89, 90, 91, 96, 107, 117, 118
- Moffat 2011-2012, 290