Provenance
Discovery: One of a pair of stones standing 3m apart in a field on an east-west aligned low ridge, with the ogham-inscribed stone to the east. First mentioned in ‘Irish Independant’ 26th Nov 1910 by McDonnell, P. (Macalister 1945, 19).
Findspot: Rathglass (An Ráth Ghlas), Co. Carlow, Ireland (ITM Coordinates: 686333, 671194 )
Last recorded location(s): In situ, where it was examined and recorded in 3d for the Ogham in 3D project in 2017.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: CW013-018001-
Object type: Standing stone pair
Material: Granite
Dimensions: H 1.30 × W 0.62 × D 0.82 m
Condition: One of a pair of coarse-grained granite stones in good condition apart from some weathering. The ogham-inscribed stone to the east tapers to a point. It’s companion to the W is a little larger at H 1.50m x W 0.80m x D 0.50m. Chocking stones of both sockets exposed (Brindley and Kilfeather 1993, 14).
Inscription
Text field: On two angles (up-up) of the eastern stone facing its companion (Macalister 1945, 19).
Letters: The inscription appears to have been pocked. The strokes are of average length and quite tighly spaced, taking up most of each angle.
Edition
Ogham text: ᚇᚒᚅᚐᚔᚇᚑᚅᚐᚄ ᚋᚐᚊᚔ ᚋᚐᚏᚔᚐᚅᚔ
Transcription: DUNAIDONAS MAQI MARIANI
Translation
of Donnáed son of Marianus
Commentary
The personal name DUNAIDONAS contains the elements DUN(A)- (probably don(n) ‘dun, brown’; cf. DOVAIDONA[S], Dubáed with dub ‘black’) and one of the most frequently occurring elements in final position, -AIDONAS (áed ‘fire’), with the composition vowel ‘a’ elided before the initial vowel of -AIDONAS (McManus 1991, 103, 117).
MARIANI is an example of a genitive form of a Latin name, Marianus, also found in an ogham inscription (I-KER-056) from Kinard East, Co. Kerry (McManus 1991, 113).
Both of these namse display pre-apocope endings suggesting that the inscription is pre-6th century (McManus 1991, 103, 116).
References
- Brindley and Kilfeather 1993, 14-15
- Macalister 1910, 349
- Macalister 1945, 19, no.16
- McManus 1991, 103, 113, 116, 117