An Attempt to Decipher and Explain the Inscriptions On

298 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAY 10, 1886. AN ATTEMP DECIPHEO T EXPLAID AN R E INSCRIPTIONTH N N O S THE NEWTON STONE. BY THE RIGHT REV. CHARLES GRAVES, D.D., BISHO LlMEMCKS PO . In offering for the consideration of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotlan a fresd h attemp o deciphet t d explaian r e inscriptionth n n so the famous Newton Stoneconscioum a I , s tha I expost e mysele th o t f charg twofola f eo d presumption I appea thay t B ac to .pronounc t r e an unfavourable judgment on the previous essays of eminent scholars, and to intimate my belief that I have solved the problem which has baffled their learning and ingenuity. If I cannot altogether acquit myself of this charge, I may plead in extenuation that the great diversity of the methods employed, and of the results arrived at by those who have already dealt with this subject, suggest notioe sth n that they have been looking for truth in wrong directions, and that the field of inquiry is therefor t firsta s e . stilwa opes t i a l s na As regards my own attempt, I only claim for it the candid examina- tion of antiquaries. They will, I think, admit that my method of investigation proceeds on what look like common sense principles, and leads to results which are recommended for acceptance by their veri- similitude t I wil e observe.b l e characterd th tha f o t s which appear upof whic o e stonnth w hI hav fe e t attempte a ther no ee ar e n thii d s communicatio determinnto power explanatioethe My . inscripthe nof - tion s therefori s e confessedly incompleteincompleto s t no o t t s a eye , warran n withholdini e m t . it gShoul d circumstances o enablt e m e examine the monument, or good casts of it, I would endeavour to complete wha I havt e done. Meanwhil ventury ma hop o eI et e tha I havt e suc- ceeded in ascertaining the name of the person whom the monument was intende commemorateo dt actuae th , language ls death th yea hi d f ro an , e in which the mystic legend on the face of the stone is written. These points being settled, the few remaining steps of the investigation will made b e without much difficulty. This monument present inscriptions—ono stw Oghae th n ei m character INSCRIPTIONS ON THE NEWTON STONE. 299 which I shall call inscription A, running vertically down the side of e stone th thed an ,n turning upwards e otherth ; , consistin horix si -f go zontal lines of letters traced rather rudely and irregularly on its face. I call this inscription B. In dealing with the two, I set out with the following assumptions, which are no doubt arbitrary. But it will be admitted that they have mor r leseo s antecedent reasonableness. They wil justifiee b e l th n i d end if the results to which they lead are consistent with what we know from other sources to be quite or nearly certain. 1. That the Ogham characters in A are to be transliterated by the key ordinarily used in deciphering Irish and Welsh Oghams. 2. That the inscriptions A and B are to some extent equivalent in signification n supporI . f thio t s assumptio y refe o severalma t r e w n bilingual Ogham monuments in Wales. 3. That the characters in B are non-Semitic. It seems probable that they were suc s wera h e know n Scotlani n n earli d y time o Pictst s , Britons, Scots, Angle r Northmenso . 4. Tha charactere th t , whicB n si h resemble letterGreee th d n ksi an Latin alphabets takene b whar o t fo e t ,ar the y appea beo t r , ; 0 e.g., e th inscriptioe th f o , C T , stano nt thos r fo d e letterLatie th nn si alphabet, . X Greed e thstano th an t aileY r k dy dX fo 5. That the end of each line in B coincides with the end of a word or name. The irregularity in the length of the lines renders this highly probable. 6. That A commences with a proper name. This is the case in almost all the Irish Oghams. The significance of Ogham characters depends upon the position of each stroke with reference either to a medial line (fleasc) traced on the surface of the stone, or to an edge along which two of its faces meet. e cas f Iris th o Welsed n han I h Oghams I ,kno f onlwo yvera w yfe instance whicn si hmediaa l practice usedlins Th ewa . e seem o havst e been more frequen Scotlandn i tOghae th n thin mI o .s Newton monu- mens onl i e last i ytth t five characters whic e referre ar hfleasca o t d e t stoneupo th e cu e facgreatef th nth o ; e e rinscriptio th par f o t n being carried over a rough portion of the surface, where there was no 300 PROCEEDINGS OF THE SOCIETY, MAY 10, 1886. defined edg guido et e Ogham-gravereth . Some difficulty arises thun si the transliteration. But I think I have correctly determined the power of each character by considering its position with relation to those which immediately preced follod ean . wit Let us now undertake the process of deciphering. Beginning with Fig. 1. Ogham Inscription, Newton Stone. the Ogham, on the principle of proceeding from the less to the more obscure usind ordinare an ,g th y key reaI , t thudi s : — AIDDAI CUNNING OREKON [.....P NI ] KOSII. There may be reason to doubt whether this inscription begins with an A, that is, with a single short stroke before the group of five short ones which denote the vowel I. But I observe that antiquaries who appear to have examined casts and photographs of this monument with particular care, have expressed an. opinio favoun existence i th f o r thif eo stroke sA . It might escape observation, or it may have been from the first only faintly marked, as its place just coincides with a natural indentation in the stone. s whicD o hAbou tw follo e o questioth e raisedtn w b n n I .ca n Ogham inscriptions the practice of doubling consonants is not uncommon, particularl thosyin e foun Scotlanddin . This appears sometimebe to s done withou obviouy an t s reason t ther e Bu casear .e n whici s h such duplicatio e purpos th s useni r dfo f indicatin eo modificatioe th g e th f no soun consonant a THr , Bf dfo o E ,t CH r instanceCr pu O Fo fo s i . T T , for P. I regard DD here as equivalent to DEL Between the second AI and the Q or CU, there is a little space left, o attempn e separato t se t regulaa t af I si wordso t etw r Bu inter. - punctuation, showsucs Bressai e s th h a n ni y Ogham. The doubling of N is common, particularly at the end of words or INSCRIPTIONS ON THE NEWTON STONE. 801 names. Afte Ne Nth r comes what a thirappeara e t b d o Bu Nt s . straight line drawn throug e righth h t hand extremitie e stroketh f o ss formin e d firsseconth gan t d Ns seem o past s s throug e middlth h e points of the next group of five strokes. I therefore read it as I. A vowe diphthonr o l requires gi d here. The symbol standing for NG, three oblique strokes, is of rare occurrence. frequentls i R y doubled. Afte comeR R r s /},Oghan a modifie, mG d by a curved line connecting the tops of the two oblique strokes which stand for it. I take this modified G to denote the closely related K, symboo whicn d represeno hOghae t ha l th n i m t i talphabet . remainine Th ge Ogha parth f o tm inscription, includin blanga k space between brackets ill-definedo s s i , r representeo , o variousls d e th n i y drawings or photographs which I have had access to, that I abstain for the present from offering my reading of it. However, I have carried transliteratioe th e Oghath f no m inscriptio r enougfa n o warrant h e m t in asserting tha e namt i givetth f AIDs o eu s D (Aedh), CUNNING, Kin Orkneyse r Earth go f o l . (Not) eA. Helped by what we have learned from the Ogham, we may now pro- e transliteratioceeth o dt e inscriptioth f o n e observn W B. e thas it t first f , o lineconsisti. o B , tw f foue o kinsd on ran df letterso o tw , another. As a matter of probability, the decipherer would say that the characte secone th third n i rdan d place mors si e consonana likel e b o yt t than a vowel or a diphthong. As it is like T and D, and as we have in this inscription other Ts, I take it to be D. And this conjecture is supported by comparison with the Ogham which begins with a vowel or diphthong followed certainly by two Ds.

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