I.

NOTES ON THE INSCRIPTION ON THE . BY FORBES SKENE ,. SCOT A ESQ. S . P. , (PLATE XX.)1

I propos commenco et observationy em shora y sb t accoun Oghaf o t m writing in general. In the Book of Ballimote, an Irish MS. of the fourteenth century, but containing tract muca f so older Oghae date a tracth s n i , o mt writing,

1 This plate contains—first, The main inscription on the face of the stone secondly, The on the edge of the stone, with the stem line restored I conceive s a , , after repeated careful examination t placee oughi , b o t dt and thirdly, The Ogham inscription arranged in lines to correspond with the main inscription. It has been lithographed from a tracing made from the stone with great care, and repeatedly compared, and its accuracy may, I think, be depended on. 0 29 PROCEEDING SSOCIETYE OFTH , MARCH 1864.

of which about eighty different forms are given. The first and the oldest is what is called the Ogham craobh, or branch Ogham ; the others are more of the nature of ciphers or modes of secret writing. e OghaTh m craobh consist numbea f so linef ro s draw t righna t angles from one stem line on each side, or drawn across it. They are grouped in cluster f fivso e letters, each being distinguishe numbee y df b o lines fiveo ,t froe . mon Ther s firsei a grout f fivpo e letters drawn from stee th m line downwards, representing J, l,f, n; s the , ngroua fivf po e similar characters drawn upwards from the stem line, representing h, d, t, , q ; then five similar characters drawn obliquely across, represent- ing m,, ng, st,r;thed an n five drawn straight across, representine gth five vowel o,, . a s i u, , There e thuar e s twenty letter l formeal n si y db these lines, and their position to the stem line. There were afterwards added five arbitrary characters representing , but these were of much late s onli rt yi date necessard an ; mentioo yt n onedrawx a , n acros linee sth , representin diphthone gth g ea. Mr G-raves justly observe s papehi n ri s upon , thae th t peculiar form of this shows that it does not belong to the period antecedent to the introduction of the language and Christianity, e e worth th f ybu o ks grammariansi t e mod Th n whici .e e th h letter e classedar s e fivth ,e vowels being grouped togethere th d an , broad vowels separated fro e smalmth l vowels, shows this. Ther e numerouar e s stone n Irelani s d bearing inscriptione th n i s Ogham character. It was at first the opinion of Irish antiquaries that no satisfactory of these inscriptions had been obtained by means of the key given in the Book of Ballimote for the Ogham craobh. Mr Graves therefore proposed to construct a key from the monuments themselves. For this purpose he obtained drawings of all the known Ogham inscriptions in . The principle upon which Mr Graves proceeded was, " that in any given language, or group of cognate languages, thera preferenc s i e r particulafo e r sound d particulaan s r sequences of sounds." In order to determine what are the favourite sound languagea n si necessars i t i , analyso yt e considerable portionf so it in such a way as to exhibit its tendencies to repeat and combine the several letter f trio s e alphabet o construct d an , tabla t e showinw gho often, on an average, each letter is followed by each of the remaining THE OGHAM INSCRIPTIO THN NO E NEWTON1 STONE29 .

a passagone n i s f somo e e determined length, containin a gspecifi c numhe f letterso r . With suc htahle a s thei t i n, eas reao yt dciphea r in the same language. It is necessary merely to tabulate the sequences of the ciphers; and by comparing their tendencies to repetition and com- bination with those of the known letters, we at once arrive at a knowledge of their respective powers. r GraveM s proceede foro dt mtahla f thieo s nature fro analysie mth s of passage e Iristh hn i s language containe e Booth f o kn i d , written in the end of the eighth and beginning of the ninth centuries. thee H n subjecte Oghae dth m inscription similaa o st r analysise th d an , result was, that when the table constructed from the Ogham inscriptions was compared with the table constructed from the Book of Armagh, the Ogham characters corresponded wit alphabee hth Oghae th f mo t craobh given in the Book of Ballimote, with one exception, that where the Ogham table had G, the Irish table showed the letter C. The Ogham inscriptions on the Irish stones are all read from left to right, and from the bottom of the stone upwards ; and the line of characters is frequently carried on over the top of the stone, and then down along anothe s anglesit f o r . Walesn I , ther a clas s f estonei o s s containing Ogham inscriptions, whicthes a peculiare r yhar fa als o stone s o face th n ,havn i f th ea eo n eo inscription in debased Eoman letters. Of these stones, eight have been described; and one of them at once showed tha Welse th t same reahth e b ey Ogham db alphabeo t e ar s s a t Irise th h Oghams. e stonThith s ei s calle Sagranue dth s Stonet S t a , Dogmael's, inscriptioe stonee Th th face . f th n o e i , n no Eomano-British capitals, read bottoso t fro p mto m thus,— Sagrani fili Cunotami. The Ogham was sent to Mr G-raves, who stated that he could read the inscription, provided the mark for Ogham A could be found in a particular place, which appeared to be wanting. On re-examining the stone, it was found tha a cract taked ha k n place wher Graver M e s suspecten da A would be found ; and on using a magnifying glass, the existence of a small circular depression, cut in twain by the crack, was observed. This was communicate r GravesM o dt , who, without having seee Latith n n 292 PROCEEDINGS OF 1'JIE SOCIETY, MARCH 1864.

inscription, read the Ogham as " Sagramiii maqi Cunatami; " the maqi, or Irish " mac," coming in place of the Latin fili. This remarkable corroboration established—1st, Tha e Welsth t h Oghams are read by the same key; and 2d, That the inscriptions are bilingua correspondd an l o otheTw r. inscriptions have also been read, and found to correspond with the inscription on the face of the stone. Fardee Th l Stone Devonshiren ,i , however, present Oghan sa m inscrip- tion which, to all appearance, will not read by this key with the inscription e stone e th faco f nth o e. In these Welsh stones the inscriptions on the face of the stone are not written across the stone, but along it, either from top to bottom or from bottom to top; and the Oghams are marked upon the edge of the stone, which serves the purpose of a stem line, and are always to be read opposite inth e direction fro e maimth n inscription mosn I . t casese th , main inscription read sbottome Oghao t fro th p d mto m an , from bottom to top; but in one case, that of the Trallong Stone, the Ogham reads from top to bottom. There can be no doubt that these Welsh inscriptions belong to the post-Eoman period. The main inscription on the Newton Stone reads not along but across the stone. It was not at first observed that there was an Ogham in- scription upon it. The first cast got of it was one only of the face of the stone, and showed of course only one-half of the Oghams. It was, I believe, only whe e ston s th morn wa e e carefully examiner M r fo d Stuart's splendid work on the Sculptured Stones, that it was observed tha completa t e Ogham inscription existed s placei t I d. exactly like the Welsh Oghams, on the edge of the stone ; but the edge is so irregular as to make it a task of some difficulty to ascertain precisely where the stem line crosse letterse sth . Mere drawing Oghame th f o s , therefore, wer f littlo e t eshowin no use s s onl a ,stee gwa th ym t i whe lined nan , the present accurate cast of the whole stone was got, that an opportunity was afforde f examinino d e Oghagth m inscriptio e stonth n eo nitself , and-studying the inequalities of the edge, in order to determine the position of the stem line. A comparison of the Newton Stone with the Welsh stones, will, I think, lead us to the following inferences:— THE OGHAM INSCRIPTION ON THE NEWTON STONE. 293

1st, That the Newton Stone most probably belongs to the same class of monuments, and is therefore post-Roman in date. 2d, That as the main inscription is written in a character to which we keya hav mose t th ,e no t probable mod f explainineo inscriptioe gth s ni begio t n wit Oghae hth m inscription, wher have ew knowa e n alphabet and a known mode of writing to deal with. 3d, That in all probability the inscription on the face of the stone should correspond wit e Ogharnth h , allowin r sucgfo h differences a s appear in the Welsh stones. The Ogham inscription is obviously the ordinary Ogham craobh, and the only difficulties we have to contend with are, first o ascertait , reae nb whethedbottomo o t t fros p i mto r t i o r, from bottom to top; and, secondly, to fix the precise position of the stem linstonee edge eth th f wher eo n . o e Ogham t eth cu e sar "With regarfirste th t wili ,o dobservet e b l d bottoe thate th th t f a ,m o stone, the stem line appears to make a bend, and then runs parallel to the edge with a second Ogham, which rather indicates that the inscrip- tion is to be read from top to bottom, as it is more likely that in cutting the Ogham the engraver should begin on the edge at the top of the stone thend t lengtan , no , findind h ha enough e , brin t gi roun n o d stonee th face f th ,eo than tha shoule h t e middle d th th begi n f i o e t ni stone thid confirmes an s;i circulaa y db r indentatioe th f o ne closon o et letters, which apparently marks the end of a word. With regard to the second e ston e Ogha face th e par th f th eth f ,o n o tmpresent o diffio sn - e stecultyth m s a ,lin s distinctli e e th e res f yth o t marked o t s A . inscription I hav, e determine e positio stee th d th m f comno a lin y eb - parison with the other part, and by a repeated study of the cast of the minutstonea d an ,e examinatio inequalitiee th I f t edgno e bu th e ; f so am thaboun y readine sa lettertth e entirelt l caseo dt th al no f gn s o si i y free from doubt. The numbe lettermaie e th th nf n i so rinscriptio forty-fives ni ; that e Oghath n mi inscription only thirty. The noto yd , therefore thin i , s respect correspond severan WelsI e . th f ho l stones, however bees ha n t i , found tha Oghae tth m only correspond maie para th f no st o t inscription, usuall e firsyth tt i wilobserveparte b d l an , d tha maie th t n inscription Newtoe th n o n Stone varielengte e lines th th falld n f than si an h,o i s t respect intpartsfirse o otw Th t lin. e consist onlf so y four letters. There 4 29 PROCEEDING SOCIETYE TH F SO , MARCH 1864.

then follow three lines, consisting of nine letters each. There is then lina fivf eo e letters, followe a lin f niny o eb d e letters. There seems, therefore havo t , e bee a systen f regularitmo y accordin whico gt e hth letters are arranged, and which appears to separate the last two lines from the first four. In the first part of the inscription, however, consisting of four lines, there are just thirty-one letters, which corresponds so closely with the number in the Ogham, as to raise the strongest presumption that it cor- responds with that part of the inscription. If the Ogham is read from top to bottom, it will be observed that there is a point after the first two e cornee stonlettersth th t f eo rbu ,nea r wher e Oghath e m commences bees ha n broken offthao s , t ther lettero havy tw ema r e so beehere non e which have disappeared. Assuming, then, thae Oghath t m read bottomso t fro p thad mto an ,t the letters followed by a point represent the first short word of four maie letterth nn o sinscription I ,hav e arrange Oghae dth m inscription in corresponding lines for the purpose of comparison. firse Th t point which struc afte e correspondence km th rs doinwa , gso e t 'S e oth f s fourte Crosth n hsi line wit peculiaha r e letteth n i r fourt maie h th lin nf eo inscription . This lette Eunea s appeard ri an , s e Eunith f co e inscriptionoon n s figure y Goranssonb d s Bautilhi n i , , t appearI No. 25 . s a,ls n severa oi Eunie th f o cl alphabet varieta s a s y t Andrew'simple S oOghamr e th f o th ex n I s valu,s . Crossit G d s ei an , e fivth ethi f arbitraro s e letteon s ri y signs adde latea t da e r th dat o t e Ogham alphabet, and represents the EA ; but it can hardly have that previouvaluo tw ee hereth s s letters a ,shale w s l a , afterward see, read EA, and it would involve a repetition of the same letters, and mak wore eth d entirely consis f vowelso t t I appear .tha e m t o whatst - ever the signification may be, these two signs were apparently intended to expres same th s e thing aiFord an , t leasda connectina t o tw g e pointh n i t inscriptions eacn O e e hlettemai. th th sid n f i re o inscriptio- ob s i n viousl same yth e eacn lettero Oghamhe e letted th th sidan , f n i reo s i same th e letter, though separate side anothey on eb n o d r letter. These letters read in the Ogham E. There is also, in the ninth letter of this line, t wili anothe seee d b l nan , thaE r t correspondi t s wit letteha f nearlo r y same th e e maishapth n i e inscription lase Th t lette. thin i r s lins ei THE OGHAM INSCRIPTION ON THE NEWTON STONE. 295 in the main inscription obviously /, and in the Ogham is a correspond- othee Th rinlef e lette . gth OghaI croste n d a sidn th ran o s f s i e, o m A this should correspond wit firse hth e mai t th e - linlette nth in n i e n i r scription. This lette s repeatei r secone th thir d n di an d d e lineth f o s main inscription correspondine th n i d an , g positio botn i h e linesth n i , Ogham inscription have w , e alsOghae oth . mA Next the Ogham A in the third line is Ogham 0, and in the main in- scriptio have secone nw eTh alsd . olette0 thin i r sOghame lineth n i , , is also Ogham 0, and the third letter in the main inscription is an 0. The first lette thin ri Oghase linth n e i mnasa s i l Gf,— vieweG N that, is d as one letter, and this letter opens a clue to the character of the main inscription. Nasal G as an initial letter is peculiar to the Celtic lan- guages, and by the phonetic laws of the Celtic requires that the previous word should terminat e. N witAccordingl n a h e Ogha th fin e n yi w dm that the last letter of the previous line is an N. Now the first letter in the third line in the main inscription is the Gothic Eune for nasal Q , whic overa NG r s hi y remarkable coincidence showd an , s that bot- hin scriptions have a Celtic character. We already remarked that the third letter in the fourth line was also a Eune. We have therefore two of the letters in the main inscription formed from Eunes. On the other hand the 0 and the J are Bornan letters, which seems to point to the alphabet as being one of those not uncommon among the early Germans, which are partly base Eunesn o d , partl Eoman yo Greed an n k letterse th s a , Mseso-Gothic for instance, which contains twenty-four letters, sixteen of which are based on Greek and Eonian letters, and eight on Eunes. I now proceeded to construct an alphabet of debased Eoman letters from Welse th h inscription e stonesth n o s , which have alsOghame oth d an , placed alongside of it the remarkable Eoman alphabet on the Irish stone at Kilmalkedar, in Kerry, for future reference. The third letter of this line in the Ogham is an E, and the correspond- ing maie letteth nn i r inscriptio debasenI y foun m n di d Eoman alphabet secone Th d . letteE an f thisa o r se mai linth n ei inscriptiot no s i n represente a debaseOghame s th i t n i dd bu , thaEomad an t , thinF s si a correct reading appears from its being repeated in the second line, and the corresponding letter in the Ogham is a U. The first syllable of this Oghae linth n ei thereforms i maie eth Gor. nn I inscriptio Guor,s i t ni a 6 29 PROCEEDING THJF SO E SOCIETY, MAHCH 1864. known variety of that syllable. In the Ogham the It is repeated, and then follows M. The corresponding letter in the main inscription is 0, anrepresentedt dno Is fi . Afte folloOghae O A th rN's. n o I wn i m tw maie th n inscriptio e correspondinth n g letteturneN n a r dseeme b o t s sideways, not an uncommon mistake on inscriptions, and a letter repre- senting TH or D : MD and N are in Celtic convertible in terminations ; e worth d reads therefore oghae th n mi , Gorrmaonn, maie th - nin n i d an scription Guoroaonth. e nexTh t e beginninwordth t e fourta , th f go h line botn i , eage.s hi In the Ogham the word that follows is on that part of the inscription paralle e restfred th e an , o frot l m doubt t I read. s I08A, r Josa,o e th e nammai th r Jesus fo enn I inscriptio. n ther s obviousli e y here a capital letter, and I take it to be a double letter, an E formed upon a J. The next is an S, followed by what nearly corresponds to one of the forms of U in my alphabet,—Jcsu, In both inscriptions followed by El. secone th n dI line three th , e lasOghae tth lettern mi e e th nun, sar d an corresponding letter in the main inscription are an N, a , and what may represent a final N. The next letter to the left is a debased Eoman T, and corresponding . Oghae havT Betwee w a e A s mi e nth thisd an , alread maie Oghae th ynth n i readinscriptio n , i m 0 s i , , Eomana U r nFo with a letter on each side, one of which has in the corresponding place - in the Ogham E, and is probably a form for E. After the A in the Ogham twicD a es i repeated correspondine Th . g lette thn ri e main inscription knowy doe t represenan no sn n i alphabetD a t Kuna s a t ,erepresent i s 0 or A, as a Koman letter F and K ; but it will be observed that the same letter occurs at the end of the preceding word, and in the Ogham there is here also a D. I cannot explain this. In the Ogham the letter next the D in the first word is U. The rest of the word is wanting. The Ogham inscription, therefore, reads thus :—

UD DDARON TNU NGO.REMAONN EAGE JOSA El

e maiTh n inscription, assuming thae lasth t t firse letteth t f woro r d THE OGHAM INSCRIPTION ON THE NEWTON STONE. ' 297

and first letter of the second word is intended to represent D, reads thus;— DUUD DARURTNUN NGUOROAONTH AEGB JESU El This the whas ni I thav eI havoghae madd th ean f me thougho ; t i t would he satisfactory to the Society to shew, at the expense of being a little tedious, the exact process through which I have gone in bringing out this result. It will be seen how closely the Ogham corresponds with the main inscription. The language is nearly the same. The word Josa is a Gaelic form. Jesw, the corresponding Welsh and also Latin form. Gaelie Goth s ri c e forth f m ; o Guor d earle en th ye th Wels t the a th h; line rather Saxon looking. Wels a beginnine s th delha e t hsecone a n th look th d nu f go de an , Th lin Welshs ei . shortn I t seemi , consiso st f mixeo t d Gaeli Welsd can h forms. Ther Oghao n s ei m inscriptio correspono nt d wit lineo e lasth htw t s of the main inscription ; and as I am dealing at present mainly with thmaie eth nt Ogham inscriptionno d t attemp,an no o ented o t ,I r upon the consideration of that part of the inscription. I have no doubt, how- ever, should my present attempt stand the test of further sifting, that a comparison of these letters with Eunic forms, and a more enlarged list of debased Eoman forms than I have made, will tend to its being de- ciphered. Neither do I attempt at present to interpret the inscription which has been read t beforbu ; e closing I shal, befory la lSociete th e speculatioya n meanine th whicinscriptione o t th occurres s f a g ho ha e m o dt , premising that, in the meantime, it must be taken solely as a speculation. wordo tw foundes i se t Gorrmaonnth I n do ogham e d Josath an n i . Geoffre Monmouthf o y s extravaganhi n i , t histore Britonsth f y- o de , tails the actions of a certain G-ormund, who was called over from to the assistance of the in their wars with the Welsh, in the end of the sixth century. He drove the native inhabitants into Cumberland and , besiege Britise dth h kin Cirencestern gi established an , e dth Saxons in full of the country. He then espoused the cause of VOL . PARV . . TII U 298 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAECH 1864. Frenca h Isembard wend an , t ove Franceo rt , wher foughe eh t with Louis, king of , after which we hear no more of him. History knows nothin f thio g s G-ormun e sixtth hn i d centuryt bu ; Lappenber s mosgha t conclusively shewn that these event realle ar s y historical, and belong to a certain Danish chief, G-uthrun, in the ninth century, who fought with King Alfred, but was converted to Christianity, made peace with him s baptise e nam,wa th f Athelstany o eb d d an , established wit s Danehhi Easn i s t Anglia f whico , e becamh e king. Now, it is remarkable that our early historians all call this Danish king Gormund whicy b , h nam seeme eh havo st e been generally known. Willia Malmsburyf mo describinn i , s baptismghi , says ' Thei' , r king, Gudrun, whom our people call Gurmund, with thirty nobles, and almost commonaltye th l al baptiseds wa , , Alfred standing sponso him.r fo r " Alberic calls him G-uormundus ; the chronicle of S. Eicharius, Guara- mund; another chronicle, G-ormont. Her e havw e e bot forme hth f o s Guor and GOT; and the third form has Guara, corresponding to the Guoro of the main inscription, and nd in the termination. Simeon of Durham, and all our chroniclers, place his in 891, but they do not give the place of his death ; but the Saxon MS. life of t NeotS , quote Turnery db , says that befor d returnes deatha hi e e hh d to his own country. From this it is plain he did not die in East Anglia, somn kingo s whert ewa bu ,expedition e eh thid san , may very possibly have bee Scotlandn i e juxta-positioTh . e wor th Jesur f dfo no s with the name G-orrmaonn looks very like the Dane G-ormund, who had become discipla Jesusf yeae o woul1 Th 89 r .reige d th falDonald f nn o i l n ,so of Constantine dieo dwh , in 900reigned an , d eleven years, which would plac s commencemeneit 889n i t . Now the Pictish Chronicle has this statement:—" Donivaldus filius Constantini tenuit regnum undecim annis. In hujus regno bellum autem factum in Vifid Collan inter Danarios et Scottos. Scotti habu- erunt victoriam. knot no wo d whethe I " rplac y ther thian f eo s e si name neighbourhooe inth Newtoe th f do firse n th Ston tname t parth bu f e; eto ha resemblancsa neighbourine th o et g paris Fyvief ho . If this conj'ecture should prove well founded, it would place the date of the Stone in the year 891. VOL.V.PLATE

MAIN INSCRIPTION

OGHAM INSCRIPTION.

w/ d Jl

II I I ///// II Ml ///// IlllI IlllII l l //f \\ ///// ////7 / / // ii /////////// Illll Illll X = = Illl IX Illl Illll II °w

OGHAM ALPHABET It, ct/ £ < a m< a ru I II Ill I I l I ll HIM / II ill I II III Illl Illll V f6 # /Z- OC HAM DIPHTH ON C S oi^ m ia^ A •6——cr

READING F INSCRIPTIOO S N NEWTUO N N STONE

ABERDEENSHIRE.