Provenance
Discovery: It was found lying prostrate on the summit of the promontory called Dunmore Head (Macalister 1945, 170) in the townland of Coumeenole and barony of Corkaguiney. It was then ‘discovered by the Cork antiquaries Windele, Abell, and Horgan, in 1838; and was re-erected in the following year by a local priest, Rev. J. Casey’ (Macalister 1945, 170). The ogham stone stands (leaning to one side) on the summit. Macalister (1899, 279-80) was informed that a souterrain, containing bones and a cross-inscribed stone, had once been uncovered on the headland. Concerning Dunmore promontory fort, Cuppage (1986, 89) noted ‘This large headland, rising 328 feet/100m OD, projects W into the Blasket Sound at the extreme W tip of the Dingle Peninsula. A bank and external fosse, with a low outer bank run N-S across the headland for about 500m… an area of about 80 acres is enclosed by the defences’.
Findspot: Coumeenoole North (Com Dhíneol Thuaidh); Dunmore Head (An Dún Mór), Co. Kerry, Ireland (ITM coordinates: 430623, 598263)
Last recorded location(s): At or close to find site on Dún Mór promontory fort.
Support
National Monuments Service SMR ID: KE052-059002-
Object type: Pillar
Material: Grit
Dimensions: H 2.00 × W 0.45 × D 0.30 m
Inscription
Text field: Inscription up-up.
Letters: Pocked and rubbed, though quite weathered.
Edition
Transcription: ERC MAQI MAQI-ERCIAṢ ṂỤ DOVIṆIẠ
Critical apparatus:
- According to Cuppage (1986, 90), ‘the 2nd last word, as recorded by Macalister, is now unclear. The final A is not visible either’. 2. McManus (1991, 56-57) agrees with regard to MU but had difficulty with the N, rather than the final A of DOVINIA. He was also unsure of the final S of MAQI-ERCIAS.
Translation
of Erc son of Mac-Erce descendant? of Duibne
Commentary
The preservation of the -S in MAQI-ERCIAS in combination with its loss in DOVINIA and the loss of -I in ERC suggests dating this inscription to the first half of the sixth century (McManus 1991, 95, 97).
MAQ(Q)I- (gen. of MAQQAS), as a first element meaning ‘devotee’ or the like, rather than ‘son’, and Erc? (a divine name) ‘heaven’ or ‘cow’? (McManus 1991, 107, 108-109).
cp. CIIC 125. Rooves More II, Cork (MAQI-ERCIAS MAQI VALAMNI); CIIC 169. Ballyeightragh, Kerry (MAQI-LIAG MAQI-ERCA); CIIC 175 Burnham West, Kerry (MAQI-ERCCIA MAQQI MUCOI DOVINIA); CIIC 205. Derrygariff, Kerry (S … BNAG M[AQQ]I-RC̣IA ); CIIC 262. Seemochuda, Waterford (ERCAGNI MAQ[I-ERCIAS]).
All but one of the inscriptions containing the tribal name DOVINIAS (‘of Duibne’) have been found on the Dingle peninsula, barony of Corkaguiney (Corcu Duibne), which got its name from that tribe or sept (McManus 1991, 111).
References
- Bennett, Uí Shíthigh, Holden, and Ó Bric 1995, 11
- Cuppage 1986, 89-90
- Macalister 1899, 279-280
- Macalister 1945, 170-171
- McManus 1991, 66, 88, 95, 97, 101-102, 107-109