INSCRIBED STONES OF WALES.

Archaeologia Cambrensis, London, 1873-07-01, p.286

Summary

Unsigned letter to the editor of Archaeologia Cambrensis (the journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association) by an Irish antiquarian, replying to and against J. Rhys, in a running debate on the origin and language of inscribed stones of Wales. The correspondent argues that "Vinnemagli" and "Senemagli" on Welsh monuments are Irish, not Welsh, names — built from the Irish prefixes Finne ("whiteness, fairness") and Sen ("ancestor, senior") with the Irish suffix Magli, from Mael ("a shaved person devoted to some religious order"). The letter cites the Annals of the Four Masters and O'Reilly's Irish Dictionary. The Beara-relevant passage is on page 286: in support of the Gaedhelic reading of the Welsh Peurhos Llugwy stone, the correspondent adduces "an Ogham-inscribed stone standing 17 feet 6 inches above ground, at Ballyrovane Bay, in the extreme south- west of the county of Cork, and which commences with MACUI DECCEDDA." This is the Coomatloukane / Ballycrovane ogham stone on the Beara peninsula — the tallest known ogham stone in Ireland. The letter also discusses the Clydai (Carmarthenshire) bilingual ogham-and-Latin stone (ETTERNI MACUI FECTOR / ETTERN FILI VICTOR) and the Lougher Stone, of which only "IC" remained legible at the date of inspection. The letter is unsigned at the close of page 286; the writer's identification ("I, as an Irishman") and his stance against Rhys' Welsh-nationalist reading place him in the small mid-Victorian circle of Irish ogham specialists — most plausibly Richard Rolt Brash, whom Rhys names in the second paragraph of page 286 ("'lle' (Mr. Brash) 'tries to show that it commemorates a person belonging to the Gaedhelic race'"), and whose posthumous OGHAM-INSCRIBED MONUMENTS OF THE GAEDHIL was published in 1879. Authorship not established here; flagged as an open question.

Also mentioned

  • Mr. J. Rhys · scholarly_antagonist

    Sir John Rhys (1840–1915), Welsh Celticist, then a young schoolmaster and later the first Professor of Celtic at Oxford (1877). The correspondent is replying to a paper or letter by Rhys earlier in the same volume. National scholarly figure; not local Beara material; not promoted to people.yaml.

  • Mr. Brash · scholarly_ally_cited_by_opponent

    Richard Rolt Brash (1817–1876), Irish architect and antiquarian, the leading mid-19th-century Irish authority on ogham inscriptions. Rhys cites Brash on the Peurhos Llugwy stone. Brash's posthumous OGHAM-INSCRIBED MONUMENTS OF THE GAEDHIL appeared in 1879. Plausibly the unsigned author of the present letter (see summary). Logged here as namesake- style mention only; not promoted to people.yaml.

Places

Themes

Story threads

Tags

  • context_setting
  • evidence_supporting

Source type

letter_to_editor, correspondent_report

Transcription
transcription: complete · confidence high
# INSCRIBED STONES OF WALES. *Archaeologia Cambrensis, 4th Series, Vol. IV, No. 15 (July 1873), pp. 285–286. Correspondence section. Letter unsigned.* ## TO THE EDITOR OF THE ARCHAEOLOGIA CAMBRENSIS. SIR,—Mr. J. Rhys may assure himself that the names on the Bridell Stone have no connexion whatever with the "Naton Leod of Ethelwerd's Chronicle," or the "Noethan and Nwython of the Iolo MSS." I have already shown, beyond doubt, that there is no such form as Netta in the inscription; the language, formula, and characters of which are purely Gaedhelic. It is, therefore, a pure waste of time to spend further criticism on it. Mr. Rhys has also sought to find the names *Vinnemagli* and *Senemagli* in Welsh records, and conceives that the former "has survived in the form of Gwenfael, which occurs in the Iolo MSS., p. 144"; but that he has in vain "looked out for a representative of Senemagli in the form of Henfael". Both of the names in question are Irish, as are most, if not all, the names found on those monuments hitherto known as Romano-British. This is an assertion that I know will shock most of my Cymric friends; but I cannot help it, and mean to prove it, though not on the present occasion. *Vinnemagli* is a compound name having the *Vinne* as a prefix. This is the Irish *Finne*, which signifies "whiteness", "fairness", and is used as a name in itself, and as a prefix to hundreds of Irish names, as Finntan, Finchu, Finnbhar, Finnchadhan, etc.; and also as a suffix, e.g., Branfinn, Bairfinn, etc. In Irish there is no *v*, the sound is represented by *mh* and *f*. *Magli.*—This is a form of the well-known Irish term Mael. On the pillar of Eliseg it is found in the latter form in Brochmael. This word signifies "bald" or "tonsured", "a shaved person devoted to some religious order" (O'Reilly's *Ir. Dict.*). In the *Annals of the Four Masters* we find three hundred names with this prefix (see Index nominum). The exact name, in the reversed form of Maelfinnia, will be found in the same authority, at A.D. 892, 897, 894, 898. But more, the identical form will be found at A.D. 694, where we have recorded the obit of "Fianamhail, son of Maenach"; and at A.D. 678, the slaying of Fianamhail, son of Maeltuile. Several other persons of this name are recorded in the same authority. *Senemagli.*—This is a name of similar formation. The *Sen* is a common prefix to Irish names. It signifies an "ancestor", a "senior", and is a term of dignity and reverence. Numbers of names with this prefix will be found in the indices of the *Annals of the Four Masters, Martyrology of Donegal*, and other similar authorities, as --- *[page 286]* Senan, Senchan, Senog, Senach. Such forms as Finn Magawly and Seanach Magawly are frequent. Respecting the inscription at Peurhos Llugwy, Mr. Rhys states that "lle" (Mr. Brash) "tries to show that it commemorates a person belonging to the Gaedhelic race." I have not tried to prove that which is apparent to every person conversant with the Irish language. I have simply called attention to the form of the name in this inscription, which is purely Gaedhelic; and I have given examples, from Irish sources, both of the formula and name. I will now give Mr. Rhys another in addition to those already quoted, and which I have identified since my last communication. It is to be seen on an Ogham-inscribed stone standing 17 feet 6 inches above ground, at Ballyrovane Bay, in the extreme south-west of the county of Cork, and which commences with MACUI DECCEDDA. I would again remark that the old Irish used *t* and *d* indifferently and commutably; and also that they used the genitive in *-i* as well as in *-a*, particularly in Ogham inscriptions. Mr. Rhys has laboured very learnedly and very ingeniously to torture this inscription into that which it is not, moved evidently by a strong national prejudice, which should have nothing to do with antiquarian research. I, as an Irishman, recognise on Welsh soil a name and a formula that at a glance I know to be Irish; and finding from ancient Welsh authorities, as well as from topographical names, that my countrymen were once in possession of the very district in which such was found, what other conclusion could I come to? Were I to find on the shores of Wexford or Waterford a sepulchral inscription to *Griffith ap Owen*, I should be fully as justified in claiming it to be Irish as Mr. Rhys is in claiming *Macoui Decetti* to be Welsh. Respecting the inscribed monument at Clydai there can be no question that it was bilingual. I have carefully examined it, and find that a portion of the head of the stone has been knocked off, as it once did duty as the pedestal of a sun-dial, the stamps of the four iron pins which secured the plate being still in the top. The Ogham inscription has, therefore, been injured, and a portion of it lost. What remains reads as follows: on the top left hand angle, ETTERN; the N is close to the present top of the stone. On the opposite angle, reading from the top downwards, TOR, the T being close to the top. It is here evident that the inscription commenced on the left angle, reading upwards, continued round the head and down the opposite angle; the entire reading ETTERNI MACUI FECTOR. The Latin inscription reads from the top downward, on the face of the stone, ETTERN FILI VICTOR. As I have before remarked, the Irish used *mh* and *f* instead of *v*, the patronymic must have read either FICTOR or FECTOR. I incline to the latter form, *Fec* being a common prefix to Irish names, as Fechin, Fecthach, Fechna; and *Tor* signifies a "head, chief, or sovereign prince", and is used both as a prefix and suffix, as Torbach, Torpan, Toranan. I have also examined and copied the Lougher Stone. The inscription is much damaged. Only two letters are determinable, IC. *[End of transcribed extract — letter continues beyond page 286 on the following page, not in hand.]*

Open questions

  • Who wrote this letter? Stylistic and content clues point to R. R. Brash (cited by Rhys earlier in the volume; Irish; ogham specialist), but the signature on page 286 is either absent or cut off by the export. Check the original 1873 volume — the Archaeologia Cambrensis published correspondents' names on a contents page or in a running signature block.
  • The Ballyrovane stone is the Coomatloukane / Ballycrovane ogham stone on the Beara peninsula — still standing today, the tallest known ogham in Ireland (~5.3 m). The 1873 reading of its inscription as "MACUI DECCEDDA" matches the modern consensus (MAQI DECCEDDAS AVI TURANIAS — "of the son of Deich, of the descendant of Torainn"). Worth tracing through the 1851 OSI survey and the Macalister CIIC corpus for the fuller scholarly afterlife.
  • The letter establishes that by 1873 the Beara ogham stone had been published into the British / Welsh antiquarian bibliography. Useful context for any 19th-century Beara tenant's exposure to the antiquarian-tourism trickle into West Cork in the post-Famine decades.