Provenance
Discovery: The spindle whorl was found just outside the door of the main room of the large Pictish house at Buckquoy, Birsay during excavations in 1970. This was a rescue excavation, as the site was being lost to coastal erosion (Forsyth 1995).
Findspot: Birsay, Orkney, Scotland (National Grid Reference: HY 2436 2823)
Current repository: Scotland Orkney Museum (inv. no. 1976.056.84)
Last recorded location(s): Now in Orkney Museum (1976.056.84).
Support
Trove: 1802
Object type: Spindle whorl
Material: Limestone
Dimensions: H 0.36 × W 0.10 × D 0.11 m
Condition: The spindle whorl is intact and in good condition and the ogham inscription is complete and well-preserved.
Inscription
Text field: The ogham inscription is arranged in a circle round the face of the whorl. The stemline is ‘fairly haphazardly placed’ (Forsyth 1995, 680).
Letters: The ogham inscription was chiselled and described as ‘lightly, though clearly, incised with a fine sharp blade’ (Forsyth 1995, 680). The stemline measures 120 mm and the individual letter strokes are 3-4 mm in length except for the serifed A which is 5 mm and the M which is 12 mm. The letters were cut with one knife-score each and there appears to have been no re-cutting or augmentation of the strokes.
Date: Seventh, eighth or early ninth century
Edition
Ogham text: ᚕ
Transcription: ENDDACTAṆIMLB →
Critical apparatus:
- Though the letters are relatively clear, it is difficult to know where to start. Forsyth (1995, 684) takes the X forfid as the first letter and reads anti-clockwise: ENDDACTANIM(v/lb) or possibly bENDDACTANIMl. Proposed (Gaelic) readings include: VENDDACTANIM; or T’ANIM VENDDAC (Rodway 2017); or BENDDACTANIML (Forsyth 1995).
Translation
Possible translations of the text include VENDDACTANIM; or T’ANIM VENDDAC, meaning ‘(from) your dear Findach’ (Rodway 2017); or if the text is read as BENDDACTANIML or BENDDACT ANIM L ‘a blessing on the soul of L’ (Forsyth 1996, 176)
Commentary
Forsyth (1995, 688) confirms that there is slight doubt over the twelfth letter which is probably LB but could possibly be interpreted as F or V, but the rest ENDDACTANIM- is secure. Interpreting the text as BENDDACT ANIM L, BENDDACT is Old Irish bendacht, ‘a blessing’, from Latin benedictum, and ANIM, Old Irish anim ‘soul’. This word is not to be confused with Old Irish ainm ‘name’, which occurs in its older form ANM on a number of ogham pillars in Southern Ireland.
The formula bendacht for anim N., ‘a blessing on the soul of N.’, is well attested in the Irish epigraphic record, mainly on recumbent cross-slabs.
References
- Forsyth 1995, 677-696
- Forsyth 1996, 160-186
- Rodway 2017, 103-116