Cunningsburgh 2 (S-SHE-003)

Provenance

Discovery: Found in 1874 or 1875 ‘close-by the burial-ground’ at Mail. It was presented to the museum in Edinburgh in 1883.

Findspot: Dunrossness, Shetland, Scotland (National Grid Reference: HU 4330 2790)

Current repository: Scotland National Museums of Scotland (inv. no. IB115)

Last recorded location(s): Now in the collection of the National Museums of Scotland. Currently on loan to Shetland museum.

Support

Mail Cemetery Trove: 938

Object type: Slab

Material: Sandstone

Dimensions: H 0.3 × W 0.19 × D 0.65 m

Condition: A fragment of a larger monument, with two fragments of an ogham inscription. The stone has been severely trimmed. The ogham on the face is well-preserved but the ogham on the arris is badly damaged. It is impossible to determine how much has been lost beyond the fracture.

Inscription

Text field: One ogham inscription fragment is along an edge of the stone and the other fragement is across the broad face of the slab on an artificial stemline parallel to the edge of the stone. If the slab had stood upright then the two ogham fragments would have read vertically upwards.

Letters: Both ogham fragments are written in the same hand and form a single text. The script consists of long, thin strokes. The component strokes of letters are evenly, though closely, spaced but the letters are very tightly packed.

Edition

Transcription: [---]EHTECONMOṚ S[---] [---]ḌỤV[.]DDRṢ[.---]

Critical apparatus:

The slope of the consonants indicate that both fragments are to be read in the same direction. However, whether the ogham fragments are to be taken separately or sequentially, and if the latter, in which order, is hard to determine.

Translation

A translation cannnot be provided.

Commentary

Forsyth (1996, 218) suggests that the second line, ‘EHTECONMOR[S]’, may represent Pictish ette-conmor-s ‘this is as great as’ (cf. ‘ETTECUHETTS’ ette-cuhett-s ‘this is far as’ of LTING/1), where ette means ‘this is’, conmor means ‘big’, and s is an affixed demonstrative. On the other hand, ‘EHTE’ is reminiscent of the supposed Pictish personal names ‘NEHTETRI’ of Ackergill, ‘NEHHTV’ of Formaston, ‘NAHHTVVDDADDS’ of Bressay, and ‘NEHHTON[N]’ of Lunnasting (West 2013).

References

Allen and Anderson 1903, Fig. 11
Forsyth 1996, 213-218
West 2013-06-08

Visiting the Cunningsburgh 2 (S-SHE-003) Ogham Stone

The Cunningsburgh 2 (S-SHE-003) stone is one of Scotland's finest early medieval monuments — and well worth the journey. Whether you're a dedicated epigrapher, a history enthusiast, or simply someone who loves exploring ancient places, seeing a 1,500-year-old inscription in person is an experience unlike any other.