Provenance
Discovery: Found during turf-cutting in 1927 three feet deep in a bog called Clounacilla (Raftery 1966, 30-31; McManus 1991, 132). The find site is near a possible trivallate ecclesiastical enclosure (KE021-051----), within which are possible foundations of a church (KE021-051002-) (Toal 1995, no. 838).
Findspot: Kilgulbin East (Cill Ghuilbin Thoir), Co. Kerry, Ireland (approximate)
Current repository: Ireland National Museum of Ireland (inv. no. 1945:80)
Last recorded location(s): On display at the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: KE021-051----
Object type: Hanging bowl
Material: Copper alloy
Dimensions: H 15 × W 25 cm
Condition: The three-sided bowl is beaten up from a single sheet of thin copper alloy and is triangular in shape at rim and base… When the vessel was discovered its three suspension chains were present, but these had disappeared by the time the bowl reached the Museum in 1945 (Raftery 1966, 30-31)
Inscription
Text field: Of the two inscriptions, the first is on one of the escutcheons (reading downwards) and the second runs along the upper surface of the rim.
Letters: In this inscription we find features that are generally regarded as late (i.e. from the reformed ogham period), such as stem-lines, feather-marks (᚛) and the use of the X-forfid for the vowel E.
Date: Ninth century AD (material context)
Edition
Ogham text: ᚛
Transcription: ᚛BLADNACH CUILEN ᚛BLADNACH COGRA.CEDENA
Critical apparatus:
- For the final word, Macalister (1945, 132) reads: COGRACETENA 2. There is possibly a further letter between the A and the C of the last name (COGRA?CEDENA) but the visible markings here (a couple of nicks) may be accidental rather than part of the inscription.
Translation
Blatnach, Cuilén Blatnach, C…?
Commentary
The language is Old Irish, but in unusual spelling: internal /d/ and /g/ are not written T/C but D/G like in the earlier ogham practice. BLADNACH is usually interpreted as a name, although there is no exact parallel in other sources. It is probably related to Blat, a name peculiar to the Dál Cais. Cuilén “pup, whelp” is a common name, especially in Munster. Regarding the final word, COGRA?CEDENA, if it is a single word and individual name, there is no known parallel. The final three letters ENA could be Middle Irish Énna (Old Irish Éndae). The basic principles of spelling throughout are old (or Middle) Irish, indicating a post eighth-century date.
References
- McManus 1991, 132
- Raftery 1966, 29-38
- Toal 1995, no. 838