Og(h)am of the Month

Og(h)am of the Month: July 2026

The OG(H)AM team wishes to recognise the outstanding contribution that the creators of Carved in Stone: a storyteller’s guide to Pictland (Edinburgh: Stout Stoat, 2025) have made in the past year to the public visibility of the og(h)am script and to the creative support of its use today. 

Carved in Stone is a comprehensive setting guide to early medieval Pictish society. Intended to support a game master running a Table Top Role-Playing Game, it provides a summary of functional information essential for a storyteller to help players visualise themselves in the world of a 7th Century Pict. It’s part visual encyclopaedia, with over 350 historically informed illustrations spread out across clean, easy-to-navigate layouts. It’s part setting guide, immersing players into Pictish landscapes, history, lore and material culture. It’s part adventure path, with settlements to explore, characters to meet, experiences to collect throughout. The og(h)am script appears in every chapter of the book.

Carved in Stone provides clear and concise guidance on how to use the og(h)am script. This account is not only historically accurate but also gives imaginative yet practical ideas on how to apply it in modern contexts. 

The OG(H)AM project team were particularly impressed by the skilful and informed use of ogham throughout the volume. We enjoyed decoding section headings and spotting its use hidden in illustrations. We particularly enjoyed the double-spread written entirely in ogham and the use of the ‘gutter’ as a stem-line. 

The creators of Carved in Stone have demonstrated the modern relevance of this late antique and early medieval writing system in the 21^st century and have made a real contribution to furthering its enduring legacy.  

International Day of Og(h)am 

8 July 2026 

Og(h)am of the Month: July 2025

In memoriam Andrew West 魏安 (1960–2025) 

We have learnt with the greatest sadness of the unexpected passing of Dr Andrew West on the 10^th of July of this year. Grief is a shoreless sea, as his daughter April Wei-West posted, and whatever we say here to his memory is only a drop in the ocean. 

Dr West, a scholar of Chinese, Tangut, Khitan and many other lesser-studied historical and contemporary languages of eastern Asia, was not only a leading figure in the codification and digitisation of these languages, but his interest also encompassed local writing traditions on the western fringe of Eurasia, especially ogham. On various occasions, he lent his generous support to the work of the OG(H)AM project. 

It is therefore appropriate that we dedicate our final Ogham of the Month not to a medieval inscription on stone or on a portable object, or to a modern specimen of ogham written into a manuscript, but to Dr West’s 21^st-century fonts that have greatly facilitated our task of creating a free, online database of all ogham writing. Drawing on his unrivalled knowledge of a wide range of very diverse writing systems, Dr West possessed a deep understanding of the needs of scholars who want to represent digitally the historical development of writing systems and their subtle variation across time and space. Especially his work on the oghams of Scotland, which diverge significantly in form and substance from those in Ireland and southern Britain, made him aware of the fact that the available Unicode set for ogham was not sufficient to represent the internal diversity of the script. The fonts that he designed to fill this gap are accordingly indispensable for any meaningful attempt at rendering ogham digitally. We use them throughout the OG(H)AM project with his blessing. On the website, he meticulously documents the versions of his fonts and how to use them, thus giving a perfect example of his attention to detail in whatever he was doing. 

Dr West also created a website for the ogham inscriptions on the islands of Britain, Man and of the islands in the north. His presentation of the material is masterly. The material he posted as ‘blogs’ is as approachable as the label suggests, but in content they are so comprehensive, detailed, thoroughly researched, and thoughtfully argued that they stand as the equivalent of academic articles. He did a great service in making this material readily available and we hope they can remain accessible in future. For some inscriptions, his website has been the only authoritative resource so far. Dr West kindly gave permission to use his coordinates of ogham-bearing objects in the United Kingdom for a distribution map in a booklet that is one of the outputs of the OG(H)AM project. 

Dr West’s contribution to the study of ogham is deeply acknowledged. 

Scríbthar a ainm n-ogaim. 

Og(h)am of the Month: June 2025

By David Stifter, OG(H)AM Irish Principal Investigator

Hunt Museum, Limerick I-XXX-01

This unusual inscription, which appears to combine ogam characters with a letter from a different tradition, is found on an object, made from soapstone, in the Hunt Museum in Limerick (accession number HCA 686). It is one of the small number of portable objects – about two dozen – which bear an ogam inscription. Its dimensions are 6.1 × 5.6–5.9 × 1.8cm. On the website of the Hunt Museum, it is dated to the 5^th century, but it is probably at least half a millennium younger because of the probable archaeological context. 

The Hunt Museum is based on the personal collection of John and Gertrude Hunt, who dealt in art and antiquities. No data about the provenance of this object is recorded and it was probably bought on the art market. As its provenance is unknown, we have assigned the inscription the code (I-XXX-001). XXX means that it is unknown where the object was found. However, since it has been identified archaeologically as a mould for a Norse bangle of an eastern Baltic type, it was probably originally imported from the Baltic Sea and is therefore likely to be of Viking origin. The ogam inscription was likely added in Britain or Ireland, or by someone from Britain or Ireland. It is one of the small number of ogam objects which have a definitive link with the Norse (e.g., the Killaloe stone (I-CLA-004), the Vale of York brooch (E-WRY-001), the Kirkmichael cross (M-IOM-005)).

Five letters or symbols are engraved on one of the four small sides of the object. A stem-line has been drawn along its entire length. The direction of writing is unclear, as is the question what is bottom and top, but for the purposes of describing the text I proceed from left to right, starting with the ogam letters; this approach finds support in the slight inclination of some strokes to the right. The first three characters are standard ogam signs. They can be read as ALU or, if the slight angle to the right at which letters 1 and 3 are engraved is intentional, MLGʷ (MLNG) or, maybe, ALGʷ (ALNG). Turning the object on its head, we get UDA (GʷDM or NGDM, etc.). 

The fourth letter ᛣ appears to involve script-switching. This is not a letter of the ogam alphabet, but resembles the so-called algiz-rune of the runic script in its upside-down form in the Younger Futhark, as would be expected in a Norse context in Ireland. It represented z in Old Germanic or ʀ in Norse. In inscriptions after c. 1050, it was re-used for y and was called ȳr-rune (Düwel & Nedoma 2023: 130). If the runic identification of this letter is correct, it underlines the Viking connection of this object. 

A fifth sign at the end, separated from the others by a slightly wider space and somewhat smaller, is written across the stem-line. It resembles the letter ʏ in small caps and is reminiscent of how P is written in the ogam syllabary in the Bern Burgerbibliothek MS 207, fol. 1br (see Bluesky; Twitter). I do not even exclude the possibility that the final symbol serves as a feather-mark here (cf. Katherine Forsyth’s blog post), although there is none that looks exactly like this symbol. 

Putting all of this together, we arrive at the puzzling reading 

ᚐᚂᚒᛣ ʏ 

One possible transcription of which is: 

ALUʀ P 

(or any other variation outlined above; or something like ⅄ᛉᚒᚇᚐ P ʀUDA etc., if turned on its head). None of this is meaningful in Irish. It is extremely unlikely that this has anything to do with the Old Germanic magical (?) word alu of unknown meaning and only found in the earliest runic inscriptions, such as bracteates, written in the Older Futhark (Düwel & Nedoma 2023: 13–14). 

A 3D-model by the Hunt Museum can be viewed here.

Reference: 

Düwel, Klaus and Robert Nedoma 2023. Runenkunde. 5. Auflage. Berlin: Metzler.

Og(h)am of the Month: May 2025

By Katherine Forsyth, OG(H)AM UK Principal Investigator and Megan Kasten, OG(H)AM UK Postdoctoral Researcher

Kilmadock S-PER-004 

This month’s OotM comes with our thanks to its discoverers: Rescuers of Old Kilmadock (ROOK), Dr Murray Cook, Stirling Council Archaeologist, and Dr Kelly Kilpatrick. It comes from the important early ecclesiastical site of Old Kilmadock on the southern boundary of Perthshire at Doune. The beautifully carved stone was discovered buried in the old churchyard in 2019, but only in 2022, when the sides of the stone were exposed during further evaluation work, was the ogham inscription identified. Additional funding was secured to have the stone lifted and cleaned by Graciela Ainsworth Sculpture Conservation (GASC). Murray very kindly invited the OG(H)AM project to attend the lifting of the stone in late March 2024 (Figure 1); Megan was able to create a partial 3D record of the stone before it was removed.

Last month, once the stone had been cleaned and allowed to dry out, we were invited to GASC’s workshop to create a full photogrammetric record of the entire stone and some other fragments of it which had been used to support a headstone nearby (Figure 2). At the time of the removal, the stone couldn’t be lifted high enough to see underneath, only a hand could reach in and establish the back was smooth. We assumed this was because an originally carved surface had laminated off (this has happened on parts of the front). In the workshop, the conservators were able to flip the stone over and we could see that the reverse was, in fact, intact and had been left originally uncarved. This is very interesting from an art history perspective, but we will stick to ogham matters here. The beginning and end of the inscription are missing but the remaining portion is largely preserved. There are just a few areas of doubt on the arris.

The complete 3D record has allowed the whole OG(H)AM team to view the inscription (Figure 3) and develop some initial thoughts on its interpretation. 

The following reading is offered tentatively: 

-]ṆN[..]QC[.]OTTOCC[- 

We would interpret this as the very end of a personal name (-nn) followed, perhaps, by MAQ (for mac ‘son’), followed by Caottocc[-] or something similar, which could be the name of his parent. We will keep working on the reading and interpretation (including any possible link with Cadoc, who has been identified with the mysterious saint behind the placename). In general terms it seems completely in keeping with ogham inscriptions on cross-slabs elsewhere in Scotland. We note the use of angled strokes (>>) for one of the vowels, making a distinction we don’t yet understand. Do let us know what you think!

Og(h)am of the Month: April 2025

By Katherine Forsyth, OG(H)AM UK Principal Investigator

Moynagh Lough (I-MEA-003) 

A mystery has recently been resolved concerning this month’s ogham, which is carved on a carefully shaped piece of antler from Moynagh Lough, Co. Meath (I-MEA-003). Discovered by a local farmer, Owen Smith, in 1884, the function of this small tool had previously evaded identification. Following an appeal at a lecture given by members of the team in Glasgow last month, one of the audience came forward with the answer. We had been baffled by its highly distinctive shape, yet, once you know, that is the key to understanding it (Fig.1). 

It is a worked red deer antler tine, H 63.50 × W 19.00 mm, cylindrical in cross-section, with a slight curve. It is strong and sturdy but decidedly pen-shaped at one end with a notch in its nib-like tip. The amateur leatherworker in the lecture audience immediately recognised it as a beveller, a specialist tool for trimming the edge of leather to produce a smooth result, possibly even as we see on a small leather knife-sheath found subsequently at Moynagh Lough itself (Fig. 2). The basic shape of this kind of tool is unchanged even down to today. The leather-working tools from Birsay, Orkney, now in the National Museum of Scotland, are exactly contemporary (640x860AD) and provide a handy parallel.  

Moynagh Lough, is a multi-period site occupied periodically as far back as the Mesolithic era. In the early Middle Ages it was an important centre for the Airgialla population group the Mugdorna. Dendrochronological dating of the crannog showed it was built c.625 and occupied till it was abandoned around 800AD. One of the round-houses is, at over 11m in diameter, the largest yet found in Ireland, and it has been suggested the site may have been of senior elite, or even royal, status. There is extensive evidence for deluxe metalworking and, or course, leatherworking. The Moynagh Lough ogham is now in the National Museum of Ireland (inv. no. RIA 1889:13) where we were able to examine and record it in November 2023. 

The ogham is carved along two sides, one on a natural ridge, the other with a drawn-in stem-line. The whole thing is very finely cut, but those on the drawn-in stem-line are especially faint. They have a different quality to each other and may have been carved by different people, or using different tools, even at different times. It is unclear which side is to be read first, or even if they are to be read continuously. The vowel-strokes are quite long (occupying about half the total width of the ‘ogham band’ defined by the distal tips of the B- and H-aicme strokes) and are comparable to the contemporary ‘reformed ogham (phase two)’ inscriptions of Scotland. The X-forfid (ᚕ) is not carved, as usual, across the stem-line but lies entirely to the right of it. It is possible it is intended here as a feathermark-like indication of the start of the text. It is also possible that this is the ᚘ I-forfid with ‘P, PH’ value, which can also be seen on Crickhowell 1 (W-BRE-004). The end of this line is damaged, and the final letter could be an I. 

The reading is as follows: 

ᚉᚑᚂᚑᚏᚏᚄ COLORRS 
ᚕᚔᚁᚐᚅᚄᚅᚐᚃᚊᚓ̣ XIBANSNAVQẸ
or
ᚘᚔᚁᚐᚅᚄᚅᚐᚃᚊᚓ̣ PIBANSNAVQẸ

In his report for the forthcoming Moynagh Lough site publication, David Stifter draws a comparison between the end of the first line and the -ORS at the end of two inscriptions from Scotland (Cunningsburgh 2, S-SHE-003, and Inchyra, S-PER-003), but admits this could be coincidence. He also notes the appearance of BAN- on the recently discovered weft-beater from Leabeg (I-OFF-005). Beyond that, sadly little more can be said about the meaning of this ogham. So, though the mystery of the object’s function has been solved, the interpretation of its inscription remains obscure. 
 
Reading  

Bradley, John (1991) ‘Excavations at Moynagh Lough, County Meath’, The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Vol. 121 (1991), 5-26. (p.7) 

Potterton, Michael (2022). “On the shoulders of giants”: re-establishing the Moynagh Lough Project. Archaeology Ireland, 36(2), 18–23. 

Stifter, David (forthcoming, 2025) ‘The ogam inscription on the Moynagh Lough antler tine’, in: Michael Potterton (ed.), Moynagh Lough Studies 1, Dublin: Four Courts Press 2025. 

Og(h)am of the Month: March 2025

By Nora White, OG(H)AM Irish Postdoctoral Researcher

Monataggart (Móin an tSagairt), Co. Cork (I-COR-069)

Discovered by a tenant farmer (Mr Patrick Cogan) while ploughing a field in 1872, this large stone was removed and appropriated by him as a gate post. It was in this usage that the ogham inscription was identified by Brash in 1873 (Brash 1879, 160-161). According to Brash, who was shown the find site, the stone formed a lintel in a possible long cist grave about five feet long (1.52m). However, Quarry (1896, 382) later revisited to purchase the stone and asked the landowner to dig on the site again in the hope of finding more ogham stones. This uncovered a stone-lined underground construction about eighteen feet (5.49m) in length, suggesting a souterrain. Brash’s ‘cist grave’ may have actually been a section of this souterrain. Two further ogham stones were found used as upright supports in the construction. Montaggart 2 (I-COR-070) reads DALAGNI MAQI DALI ‘of Dallán son of Dall’ and Monataggart 3 (I-COR-071) reads BROINIENAS KOI NETTA-TTRENALUGOS ‘of *Broíniu, here, of *Nad-Trénlug’. All three stones were purchased by the Royal Irish Academy (Quarry 1896, 382) and are now part of the collection of the National Museum of Ireland, where this stone is on permanent display. A fourth ogham stone (I-COR-072) was also subsequently found (Brash 1879, 162) but it remains on the farm. This very faint inscription was read by Macalister as VERGOSO MACI LLOMINACCA and cannot now be identified on a stone of appropriate length lying near the farmhouse.  

A rough and irregularly-shaped, tapering monolith, Brash (1879, 162) gave the length as 8ft. 7in. (2.61m), but it currently measures 2.22m above the display stand. Macalister (1945, 116) remarked that its size suggests that it was originally a Bronze Age megalith, later adapted for an ogham monument. It was later repurposed once again, this time as a gate post. The hole at the top of the stone was made for this purpose.  

The inscription begins 0.54m above the display stand (3ft. from the bottom according to Brash 1879, 162) and runs up the left angle of one of the faces, finishing 0.14m from the top. Although there are other marks and scratches on the stone, none can be clearly identified as the remains of an earlier inscription, as suggested by Macalister (1945, 116-117). His further claim that a chi-rho (☧) symbol was removed from the face beside the surviving inscription is likewise very uncertain.

Regarding the appearance of the ogham inscription, there is strikingly unusual variation in the size and style of the strokes. The first couple of consonants are v-cut and quite tightly spaced. From the R of the first word to the beginning of the final word, the strokes are broader, deeper and more widely spaced. They also appear to have been pocked, although some appear to have been also v-cut. For most of the final word, the carving technique appears to revert back to more tightly spaced and finer v-cuts. However, the final three strokes once again appear to have been pocked, though this time not as boldly. It is also striking that the carver has (either accidentally or intentionally) confused the B- and H-aicmi (i.e. whether strokes are to the left or the right of the stem-line/arris), carving T for V, N for Q, and vice versa. Finally, there is quite a bit of space (110mm) left between the initial personal name and the rest of the inscription. This is unusual in the ogham corpus, although there are a few other examples, and it appears to be a late feature. 

The inscription reads TENREN MONOIGDUQDEGGEV, which can be interpreted as VEQREQ MOQOI GLUNLEGGET ‘of Fíachrai from the kin group Glúnleced (?)’. The first name, VEQREQ, is *u̯ei̯ko-rīg- ‘fighter-king’. The first element of the kin-group name, GLUNLEGGET,  is Old Irish glún ‘knee’. The second element, LEGGET, is unclear.  

This inscription is linguistically quite late, possibly early seventh century. For example, syncope (dropping of internal vowels) is apparent in both names (indicated by asterisk: VEQ*REQ, GLUN*LEGGET) (McManus 1991, 97) and the same character (Q) is used for both guttural sounds (VEQREQ for earlier VECREG) showing that these sounds had already fallen together (McManus 1991, 116, 122). In an early ogham inscription, we would rather expect *-RIG (VECRIG). Lowering of *i  > e and the spelling *g by Q (=  ch) looks even almost like 8th century Old Irish. Note that MUCOI has also been written with a Q and that this formula word appears here without a preceding MAQI, whereas MAQI MUCOI is more common in earlier ogham inscriptions (Stifter, forthcoming). Interestingly, Monataggart 2 and 3 (readings supplied above) are linguistically much earlier (with final syllables still intact), possibly early or middle fifth century. 

References: 

Brash, Richard R. (1879): The Ogam inscribed monuments of the Gaedhilin the British Isles. London. 

Macalister, Robert A.S. (1945): Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum. Vol. 1, Dublin: Stationary Office. 

McManus, Damian (1991): A guide to Ogam. Maynooth Monographs 4. 

Quarry, J. (1896): ‘Prehistoric remains still remaining in the parish of Donoughmore’, Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society 2, pp 381-385. 

Stifter, David (2025): ‘The Donaghmore ogham stone  (I-KID-008)’, Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society. 

Og(h)am of the Month: January 2025

By Katherine Forsyth, OG(H)AM UK Principal Investigator

Any of you participating in the ‘Dry January’ challenge will, I hope, forgive this month’s featured ogham. It comes courtesy of a microbrewery on the Isle of Gigha which declares itself ‘dedicated to crafting unique, small-batch beers that capture the essence of this stunning Hebridean island. … every pint is a love letter to this special place.’ That letter is written in the ogham alphabet, of course!

Gigha Brewery are proud of the island’s wonderful ogham pillar which we were delighted to visit and record back in 2022 when we acquired these bottles – for purely scientific purposes 😉. There is a separate section on their website dedicated to ogham – the only brewery in the world to be so distinguished – and the script also features on their product labels. Ogham is not so easy on a smooth, round bottle (though there are ways!), and they employ a drawn-in stem-line, but the script is otherwise classic. They even use the first forfid (X) in its oldest value: /k/ to represent the first letter of their top-brewed ‘Kölsch’-style beer.

As you can see, the ogham is used to represent the English names of their beers and, as often happens with modern use of ogham mediated via the Web, the letters are rather widely spaced. They could all be slightly closer together, especially in G-O-L-D-E-N  A-L-E where there are no two successive letters from the same aicme (group). So, there is no room for confusion – exactly as the script was planned to ensure.

Og(h)am of the Month: December 2024

Happy Holidays from the OG(H)AM team! This year, Prof David Stifter and Prof Deborah Hayden have put together a OG(H)AM advent calendar, on both Twitter and Bluesky, highlighting how the use of og(h)am changed from the 4ᵗʰ-21ˢᵗ centuries, across media, material and languages. A handy list of links to 2024’s Advent Calendar can be found here.

Og(h)am of the Month: November 2024

By David Stifter, OG(H)AM Irish Principal Investigator

Ballinrannig (Baile an Reannaigh) 7 – I-KER-021

In 1782, a mighty storm uncovered seven ogam stones that had been buried near the beach of Smerwick Harbour, in the townland of Ballinrannig (Baile an Reannaigh) in Ballyferriter (Baile an Fheirtéaraigh), Co Kerry, at a site called Kilvickillane (Cill Mhic Uíleáin) which also contained many other remains of what may originally have been a church site. Lord Ventry removed six of the ogam stones in the middle of the 19^th century. Ballinrannig 1–4 now line the driveway to Coláiste Íde (Burnham House) outside Dingle, while Ballinrannig 5–6 are preserved in the grounds of Chute Hall near Tralee.

Only one stone, Ballinrannig 7 (I-KER-021 = CIIC 154), remains on site. In the 19^th century, it was moved to its current elevated position on top of a grass-covered dune, only a short distance from its finding place and spectacularly overlooking Smerwick Harbour. In June 2024, I used the opportunity of an interview for a documentary at the site to take a close look at the stone. Because it had been covered in sand for centuries, the ogam scores are very well preserved, except for a section at the top that has been lost.

The inscription reads CUNAMAQQI CORBBI MAQQ[I MUCCOI DOVVINIA]S. The letters in brackets are lost and have been restored by Robert A.S. Macalister through comparison with other stones from the area. I am in fact convinced that I was able to distinguish several of the vowel strokes on the narrow ridge before the S. CUNAMAQQI (OIr. Conmac) means ‘son of a dog’; his father’s name CORBBI (OIr. Corb) probably means ‘bastard, illegitimate son’. The inscription belongs to the rare type where the name of the commemorated individual is directly followed by the name of the father or an ancestor without an intervening formula word such as MAQI ‘son’ of AVI ‘descendant’.

Macalister (1945: 149) suggested that the lost part was “chipped away”, but during my inspection I could find no evidence that it was intentionally removed by a “destroyer”. To me it rather looks like loss by accidental damage, which is only natural given that the edge of the stone is very narrow in that passage. The different colour of the surface suggests that the damage occurred recently, i.e. in the 18^th or 19^th century, and not in the early Middle Ages. After the inscription, there is a sequence of holes (not easily recognisable on my photo) that look as if they were pocked, but they are not regular letters.

The phrase MUCOI DOVVINIAS ‘from the kin-group of Duibne’ occurs on several more stones on the peninsula. It contains the name of the local ancestral goddess DOVVINIA, OIr. Duibne, whose name is still preserved today after 1500 years in the name of the barony Corca Dhuibhne/Corkaguiny.

Reference:

Macalister, Robert A.S., Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum. Vol. 1, Dublin: Stationary Office 1945.

Og(h)am of the Month: October 2024

By Megan Kasten, OG(H)AM UK Postdoctoral Researcher

Ballavarkish M-IOM-008

For October’s Og(h)am of the month and with Hallowe’en in mind, we are featuring the Ballavarkish stone (Bride parish, Isle of Man) which depicts what Macalister described as ‘unintelligible figures preceding a ghost-like figure carrying a cone in its left hand’ (1949, 191). The slab was discovered in archaeological excavations of the Ballavarkish keill site in 1912 and dates to the 8^th – 9^th centuries AD.  

The Ballavarkish stone has been interpreted as an altar-frontal or as part of a composite monument (Wilson 2018, 37; Thomas 1971, 188-190). Though the prominent double-contoured ring-headed cross was the original design, a number of graffiti crosses, birds, figures, and inscriptions were added over time. Because these are all clustered around the top of the slab, Charles Thomas suggested that these may have been carved by kneeling pilgrims visiting the site (1971, 190).  

Six of these are written in latin letters and appear to be personal names. One is written in ogham. We think we may have discovered a second ogham inscription, though it is very difficult to interpret.

Unfortunately, the grain of the stone, its weathering pattern and the accumulation of different types of damage make it difficult to be certain of the reading of the previously known ogham. Areas where the stone surface has been lost introduce additional difficulty in identifying how long or short a stroke was intended to be. Several horizontal lines are also evident, which give the appearance of two different stem-lines, though the most consistent stem-line does not offer much clarity. Previously, Macalister had read ‘LAGUBERI’ or ‘LAGUBEηLOMO’ in a footnote. The latter interpretation factors in most of the strokes visible in the RTI image, however, in some cases Macalister appears to have standardised the lengths of the strokes in his drawing whereas in reality they vary considerably (i.e. the last two strokes of the inscription are much shorter than the preceding stroke).

Though not as satisfyingly legible as Macalister’s reading, the inscription appears to read: 

LOGGAB(GG/R)(GAG/R)OGAML 

Alternately, if the lower of the two horizontal lines is to be interpreted as the stem-line, it may read something more like: OTDDAB(GG/R)GAGAOGAML 

It is striking that it appears to contain the sequence OGAM, could this be a reference to the script in which it is written? 

Whatever it reads, it does appear to be an ogham inscription and confirms ogham literacy in the area in the 8^th or 9^th centuries. This should not surprise us: an upright runic cross-slab from Kirk Michael also has two pieces of ogham graffiti but dates to the 11^th century. The RTI has offered new perspectives on some of the other inscriptions at Ballavarkish. Though the names across the top of the stone have been damaged, though still uncertain, it seems likely to read:  

mailbrei (or mailbren) scriba + Brenbri- (or Brenbier) 

Finally, rather than ‘unintelligible figures’, it seems our ‘ghost’ was more likely approaching a poorly carved cross bearing an offering. 

Bibliography

Macalister, R A Stewart. 1949. Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum Vol 2. Dublin: Stationery Office.

Thomas, Charles. 1971. The early Christian archaeology of North Britain. London: Oxford University Press.

Wilson, David M. 2018. Manx Crosses. Manx National Heritage.

Og(h)am of the Month: September 2024

By David Stifter, OG(H)AM Irish Principal Investigator

We are not (always) dead-serious people. If proof is needed, come to the conference Brigid’s Worlds on 13–14 September 2024 at Maynooth University. Not only did we have a 3D-printed model of the Donaghmore ogam stone (I-KID-008) custom-made for the occasion, but the organisers agreed to prepare a special gift for everyone attending the conference. All participants at the conference will receive a triangular bar of chocolate that, instead of the familiar Toblerone shape, bears the name ᚁᚏᚔᚌᚔᚇ BRIGID inscribed in ogam (Image 1).

Michael Ann Bevivino first mentioned the possibility of ogam in chocolate to me in March 2024. Intrigued by this brilliant idea, I spent a large part of my summer 2024 trying to convert it into an edible product. The first step was to get in touch with Heidi Campbell in Maynooth Library’s MakerSpace to design a 3D-printed model of the desired shape. After many trials and several prototypes (Images 2 and 3), we settled on a model of 9×2×1.5cm with the ogam inscription across its ridge.

The next step was to create enough moulds to allow the production of sufficient quantities of the chocolate bars. Anthony Cleary from the Department of Design Innovation experimented with various types of moulds (Image 4). The initial idea of using a vacuum-shrinked hard plastic form proved not viable because the heat created during the vacuum-forming caused the 3D-printed model to melt. Anthony decided that using food-safe silicone was the best solution for our purposes. Since we needed forty copies of the prototype for the moulds, the 3D-printers in Heidi’s and Anthony’s workshops were running hot. The models were lined up in two ordinary baking trays (I skip the part where we had to turn the non-stick baking trays into sticky ones; Image 5), two rows of ten in each of them, and they were then cast in silicone (I skip the part where a change in EU legal regulations meant that a specific brand of silicone could no longer be imported from the US, throwing yet another spanner in the works; I also skip the part where we found out that we needed twice the amount of silicone than originally estimated; Image 6). In the end – and scarily close to the date of the conference – we had two moulds for twenty chocolate bars each.

The final step was done by Truc Ha Nguyen, having only just graduated with a doctorate from Early Irish in Maynooth University. I bought huge quantities of chocolate that Truc melted and poured into the moulds. She and other postgraduate students and colleagues of ours then wrapped the finished chocolate bars in cellophane (yes, that’s what you study Celtic Studies for!). An amazing learning experience and, I hope, a wonderful surprise for everybody coming to the Brigid’s Worlds Conference. If your appetite, in the truest sense of the word, has been whetted, you can still register for the conference here.

My HUGE thanks go out to everybody involved in this process, but most of all to Heidi and Anthony for their fantastic and enthusiastic support and work all along, and to Truc and our students for producing the chocolates. Without these magnificent people, it would not have been possible to bring this idea to fruition. It has been great fun!

Og(h)am of the Month: July 2024

Brandsbutt, Inverurie S-ABD-004 

By OG(H)AM intern Lucie Haase

The month of the International Day of Ogham (8^th of July) seems deserving of an exceptional example. The ogham on the Brandsbutt symbol stone is not the longest or the most elaborate inscription, nor is the stone the tallest or the most well-preserved; nevertheless, Brandsbutt asserts its primacy among the Scottish ogham stones with the design and craftsmanship of its carvings. 

The stone is a large mass of dark whinstone made up of five fragments cemented together. While exact measurements are difficult to obtain due to its irregular shape, the approximate conversion of Romilly Allen’s dimensions of the base, 1.07m x 1.27m x 0.91m, sufficiently indicates the sheer mass of the stone (Allen 1903, 507). It was originally part of a stone circle site, as A. G. Shepherd confirmed in 1983, consisting of twelve or thirteen stone holes in a circle of 25m in diameter (Forsyth 1996, 103). Sadly, only two other stones remain from this monument, both of which were re-purposed in the Early Middle Ages. Though, as Katherine Forsyth notes, this is not unusual for many prehistoric monuments during this period (ibid). Brandsbutt itself was discovered built into a dyke and was subsequently recovered and studied by Frederick R. Coles (Coles 1901, 230). 

Returning to the inscription itself, it was executed by pocking and subsequent smoothing, the typical carving method for Class I stones as described by C. A. Gordon (Gordon 1956, 41). The grooves seem very smooth and regular to the naked eye, and while Forsyth does indicate a diminution of the length of strokes as the inscription goes on, this is only evident upon closer analysis (Forsyth 1996, 105). The technique of the carving is similar to that of some nearby symbol stones, and, similarly to Brandsbutt’s neighbour, the Logie Elphinstone, for example, the Pictish symbols – a crescent-and-V-rod and a snake-and-Z-rod symbol – are contemporary to the ogham inscription and were carved by the same hand. This can be assumed from the unity of design as well as the identical carving technique (Forsyth 1996, 104). 

The transliteration of the text has generally been agreed to be IRATADDOARENS- reading upwards, with one or two characters potentially missing from the end where the stone is fractured (Forsyth 1996, 110-112). Unfortunately, despite the neat carving, the meaning of the text remains uncertain. As Forsyth notes, parallels suggest that it could stand for a single personal name, but there is little to hold on to otherwise, as there is no indication of word division and none of the typical Irish formula words, MAQI, AVI, NETTA, are present (Forsyth 1996, 113). It is likewise unclear, Forsyth adds, whether the Pictish symbols duplicate the inscription or whether they communicate something else entirely (Forsyth 1996, 115). Feel free to see for yourself; Brandsbutt will be waiting in a housing estate near the junction of Brankie Road and Gordon Terrace in northwest Inverurie. 

References

Allen, J.R., Anderson, J., 1903. The early Christian monuments of Scotland: a classified, illustrated, descriptive list of the monuments with an analysis of their symbolism and ornamentation, The Rhind lectures in archaeology. Printed for the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by Neill, Edinburgh. 

Coles, F.R., 1901. Report on the Stone Circles of the North-East of Scotland, Inverurie District, obtained under the Gunning Fellowship, with Measured Plans and Drawings. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 35, 187–248.  

Forsyth, K. 1996. The Ogham Inscriptions of Scotland: An Edited Corpus. Unpublished PhD thesis, Harvard University. 

Gordon, C.A., 1956. Carving Technique on the Symbol Stones of North East Scotland. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland 88, 40–46.  

Og(h)am of the Month: May 2024

By David Stifter, OG(H)AM Irish Principal Investigator

Who could have foreseen that ogam script would make international headlines twice, for entirely unrelated reasons, on the same day (8 May), and who would have thought that an ogam text could even become the centre of a political controversy? The OG(H)AM team will reserve the small portable ogam-inscribed stone from Coventry (E-WAR-001), which was the subject of a full article in the Guardian, for another occasion, but we will seize the opportunity to honour the respectable sixth place at the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 for Bambie Thug’s song Doomsday Blue. 

Already in the Irish selection round for Eurovision 2024 on 26 January, the full-body costume of one of the accompanying dancers, besides featuring the odd runic character, also bore the ogam inscription CHAMPION (Image 1). Following a common practice in revivalist ogam, the language of the writing was English and not one of the several stages of Irish. 

For the contest in Malmö, Sweden, Bambie Thug (Bambie Ray Robinson) themself decided to sport body-paint tattoos in the ogam script, a not inappropriate choice for the County Cork-born singer. In line with the major political commotion around the 2024 ESC, their intention for the dress rehearsal on 6 May and the first semi-final on 7 May was to wear a facial ogam calling for CEASE FIRE in Gaza (Image 2), and an ogam on each leg. The one on the right leg read in Modern Irish SAOIRSE DON PHALESTIN ‘Freedom for Palestine’, the left one CROUUN THE UUITCH for what normally would be ‘Crown the Witch’ (Image 3). Due to the poor resolution of the available photo, some of the letters aren’t very clear to read. While the facial ogam followed the standard orientation of the script, the ogams on the legs, although going bottom-up, had the letters of the B- and H-aicmi swapped (B-group: B L F/V S N; H-group: H D T C Q). This orientation appears wrong for on-lookers, but it makes sense from the perspective of the singer, who sees them in the correct orientation. 

The use of the two politically themed inscriptions was blocked by the European Broadcasting Union’s rule that the ESC has to remain strictly non-political. Therefore, the only text borne by Bambie Thug in the semi-final and in the final round was the neutral, English-language CROUUN THE UUITCH. 

It is fundamentally possible to write any language in the world in any writing system of the world, but like the roman alphabet, the ogam script is not ideally suited for English. However, there are ways to get around the shortcomings. One issue that Bambie Thug was confronted with is the fact that the traditional ogam alphabet has no sign for W. Some automatic transliteration sites on the internet use the simple, but senseless and non-user-friendly strategy of dropping any non-traditional ogam letter altogether. The team of Bambie Thug came up with a clever solution: instead of W ‘double-u’ they used a double U. This shows that a proper amount of thinking went into the ogam used by the singer. 

The OG(H)AM project’s approval of Bambie Thug’s ogams was even acknowledged in print in the Irish Times (© Karl McDonald).

We congratulate Bambie Thug and the team on their success. 

Og(h)am of the Month: April 2024

By Patricia O’Connor, OG(H)AM Irish Postdoctoral Researcher

Happy April Fool’s Day from the OG(H)AM team! 

Don’t be fooled by appearances. Contrary to the picture below, April’s ogham of the month, Greenhill II (CIIC 58 = I-COR-004), was not found conveniently leaning against a modern field boundary. In fact, the ogham stone fragment was first “found lying flat and buried in the ground close to its present location” by the landowner in 1906 (Manning 2000, 109; Buckley 1907, 116). Greenhill II is situated on the other side of a field fence approximately 40 metres south of last month’s ogham of the month, Greenhill I (see Og(h)am of the Month: March 2024). A limited excavation of the area surrounding Greenhill II was conducted in 1985 to facilitate the installation of a semi-circular cattle grid and indicated that “the socket for the stone appeared to be modern with the stone partly supported by the field bank” (Manning 2000, 109).  Moreover, although the excavation did not recover any findings from the site, it did provide sufficient evidence that “the curving east and south boundaries of the field here are possibly of an ancient elongated oval enclosure” (Manning 2000, 112). 

The fragment consists of the lower portion of the ogham stone and preserves the beginning of an incomplete inscription on one angle. The scores for the first word of the inscription can still be clearly read as CATTUBUTTAS. This personal name is of particular interest because it contains one of the most common elements found in ogham inscriptions CATU- (OI cath ‘battle’). The name later appears as Cathbad in Old Irish. In 1945, Macalister recorded the letters for the last word of the fragmentary inscription as MAQ, noting that the rest of the letters after Q had “broken away” (62). The OG(H)AM team’s re-examination of the inscription reads the final fragmented word reads as: Ṃ[AQI]. According to McManus, this fragmentary example is one of the earliest inscriptions in the corpus to exhibit no sign of vowel affection and this important linguistic evidence dates the inscription to the first half, or the early second half, of the fifth century (McManus 1991, 97). 

Transliteration 

CATTUBUTTAS Ṃ[AQI]  

Translation 

‘of Cathub [son of]’ 

References 

Buckley, J. (1907): ‘On an Ogham stone recently discovered at Greenhill, Co. Cork’, JCHAS 13, pp 116-8.  

Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): Corpus inscriptionum insularum Celticarum, p. 62.  

Manning, C. (2000): ‘Limited excavation at the Ogham stones at Greenhill’, JCHAS 105, pp 107–112. 

McManus, D. (1991): A guide to Ogam. Maynooth Monographs 4, pp 49, 107, 109, 111, 179. 

Og(h)am of the Month: March 2024

By Patricia O’Connor, OG(H)AM Irish Postdoctoral Researcher

Happy St Patrick’s Day from the OG(H)AM team!

In celebration of the Feast of St Patrick, the ogham of the month is an ogham stone from the suitably festively named townland of Greenhill, Co. Cork. Measuring 2.60 m in height, 0.72m in length, and 0.35m in width, Greenhill I (I-COR-003 = CIIC 57) is a large stone that narrows almost to a point at the top. The monument, which tilts towards the east, is encircled by a cattle grid in a field with an expansive view to the south (Power 1992, 168). Prior to the installation of the cattle grids, the area surrounding the stone was excavated in 1985. The excavation yielded no finds but determined that there was “no reason to believe that it was ever moved or re-erected” (Manning 2000, 107).

The stone is inscribed on the southeast angle and the ogham inscription may be read upwards, commencing from 0.46m above ground level. Several factors hinder a clear reading of the inscription, including wear and damage to the ogham scores caused by cattle rubbing and, most noticeably, the fact that the stone is covered in dense lichen. Additionally, Macalister remarked that the inscription had been deliberately defaced by vandals “who have cut extra scores upon it, and tampered with those already in existence”, rendering an accurate interpretation of the inscription even more difficult (1945, 62).

The OG(H)AM team’s inspection of the 3D data revealed further signs of loss and wear in the inscription. The ogham scores for letters M and A of MAQI are now entirely effaced, while some letters are no longer clear such as the letter I of MAQI, as well as the letters R and U of TRENU. In fact, the scores for the final letter in TRENU are so worn that it is no longer possible to identify the letter with certainty. Only two notches can be discerned from the 3D data, which would indicate that the word’s last letter is an O. However, there is sufficient space in this section of the stone to accommodate a third notch which would confirm Macalister’s reading of the final vowel as a U. The analysis and identification of the names is ambiguous, as is the dating of the inscription. The retained Q of QRITTI could point to the early sixth century but, depending on its analysis, TRENU could point to a younger age.

Transliteration

TṚENỤ [MA]QỊ MUCOI QRITTI

Translation

‘of Trén/Trian son of the descendant of Crithe/Creth? (cf. Crothrige?)’

For more information about the second Greenhill ogham stone (CIIC 58 = I-COR-004), check out next month’s Ogham of the Month.

References

Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): Corpus inscriptionum insularum Celticarum, p. 62.

Manning, C. (2000): ‘Limited excavation at the Ogham stones at Greenhill’, JCHAS 105, pp 107–112.

McManus, D. (1991): A guide to Ogam. Maynooth Monographs 4, pp 49, 107, 109, 111, 179.

Power, D. et al (1992): Archaeological Inventory of County Cork: West Cork. Volume 1. Dublin, p. 168.

Og(h)am of the Month: February 2024

By Deborah Hayden and David Stifter, OG(H)AM Irish Co-Investigator and Principal Investigator

Not all ogam is on stone. This month’s ogam is on paper, being one of the very few ogam documents that can be dated to the precise day (27 September 1811). While the manuscript C 45 (3 B 14), an early-19ᵗʰ-century collection of poetry and Fenian literature kept in the Russell Library at Maynooth University, is otherwise written in ordinary Gaelic script, on page 66 the scribe, Séamus Ó Glosáin, attempted to pen a few lines in ogam. The ogam key given at the bottom of the page is said to be derived from ‘Aodh Mhic Cuirtinn’ – possibly a reference to the poet and antiquary Aodh Buí Mac Cruitín (c. 1680–1755), a native of Co. Clare who travelled to the Irish Franciscan College at Louvain and wrote an Irish grammar that appeared in 1728. 

This specimen of manuscript ogam adds a special twist to the multifaceted challenges of reading and interpreting the script. Damage to the outer edges of the page has obscured some letter-forms but, to make matters worse, Ó Glosáin had no great mastery of the script to start with. When he copied the key from his source, he must have misread minuscule ⟨ꞅ⟩ S as ⟨ꞃ⟩ R for ᚄ in letter group (aicme) 1. To make up for the lack of an important letter, he then repurposed the rarely used ᚈ Gʷ (vulgo NG) in aicme 2 for S. Ó Glosáin dropped all other letters that he had no use for from his own idiosyncratic, and very deficient, ogam key, which he wrote out at the bottom of the page:

In addition, Ó Glosáin made several less systematic mistakes: sometimes he confused the aicmi, and he was prone to draw too few strokes for the intended letters (indicated by understrokes in the transliteration). In particular, ᚁ B is often written for L (normally ᚂ). The vowels (aicme 4) are drawn at a slant rather than perpendicular to the stemline (as is usual in manuscript ogam), making them easily confusable with letters in aicme 3, which are inclined to the left, contrary to their usual orientation. Lenition is regularly indicated by dots over the ogam letters, but for P, which he did not find in his model alphabet, the scribe substituted the Latin letter. All words are separated by commas. 

Despite all those errors and shortcomings, it is possible to work out that the scribe has attempted to reproduce in ogam the colophon in plain script at the top of the page, namely information about where and when he wrote this short note. 

Transliteration: 

AIR, NA, SGRIOḂ, BE [recte: LE], SEAMUS, O, GLOSAI[N] 

A, MBAIBE [recte: MBAILE] ṪIBEARD, ? AR, DREAS, SEᴬĊTṀAḊ, BA [recte: LA], 

FIṪĊEOD, DO, SEpTEMBER, SAN, MBLIAḊAI[N] 

DAOES [recte: DAOIS], AN, TIĠEARNA, MEBE [recte: MILE], OĊT, OCEAD [recte: GCEAD], 

[A]GUS, AONBLIAȮAIN [recte: AONBLIAḊAIN], DEAG. 

This can be normalised as: 

Arna scríobh le Séamus Ó Glosáin i mBaile Hibeard ar seachtmhadh lá fichead do September san mbliadhain d’aois an Tighearna míle ocht gcéad agus aonbhliadhain déag. 

‘Having been written by Séamus Ó Glosáin in Baile Hibeard (Herbertstown, Co. Limerick) on the twenty-seventh day of September in the year of the Lord eighteen hundred and eleven.’ 

Og(h)am of the Month: January 2024

By Nora White, OG(H)AM Irish Postdoctoral Researcher

Happy New Year from the OG(H)AM team!

The smallest ogham-inscribed object recorded (D: 2.1cm) is an amber bead from Ennis, Co. Clare (I-CLA-003 = CIIC 53), now in the British Museum collection (See this month’s Blog Post: Ogham in the British Museum).

The inscribed bead was first mentioned and illustrated, although no interpretation was attempted, in a publication in 1856 when it was noted that it had been for many generations in the possession of a family of the O’Connors of Co. Clare (Macalister and Westropp both specifically mention the town of Ennis) and that it was used as an amulet for the cure of sore eyes, and also believed to ‘ensure safety to pregnant women in their hour of trial’. The last hereditary owner of the bead presented it to his superior (named Finerty) in the employment of the Board of Public Works. It was purchased from him by a jeweller, Mr. James H. Greaves of Cork and then passed ultimately to the British Museum by way of the Londesborough Collection in 1888.

The bead is oval-shaped with a perforation, suggesting that it was hung on a string and perhaps worn around the neck. It is not known when this amber bead was made or at what stage the inscription was added. Amber found in Ireland is mainly from the Baltic region and amber beads become frequent finds from the Late Bronze Age and Iron Age into the early medieval period.

The inscription has some clear ogham characters along with some unusual features. The first challenge is to work out in what direction to read the inscription. Setting the bead on its flat side, the inscription may be read upwards on the cut stemline with the perforation to the right. Just before and as the stemline commences, there is a < shape to the left, not meeting the stemline and which doesn’t match any known ogham character. Macalister (1945, 57) assumed that this was intended to be the U-forfid (uilleann [UI], unicode ᚗ) although he did admit that there was ‘little justification’ for this. Following this are some relatively clear ogham characters: DMVA (or perhaps DMLO). At this point things become a little strange as we have what appears to be a split in the stemline (possibly to avoid running into the perforation), one branch goes to the right at an angle (roughly 45º) and appears to have the ogham letters VA repeated, although the final A is quite short and looks like an X at the end of the stemline. The other branch, if that’s what this is, goes to the left at a similar angle and length with just an oblique stroke to the right at the end. Macalister (1945, 57) also took this to be the U-forfid and, reading in the opposite direction, read the inscription as ATUCMLU.

The OG(H)AM team’s tentative reading is: ?DMVA?VA

References

Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): Corpus inscriptionum insularum Celticarum, Vol. 1, 57-58.

Proceedings and Papers (1856). The Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society, 1(1), 147–169 (149-150). http://www.jstor.org/stable/25502504

Westropp, Thos. J. (1911): A Folklore Survey of County Clare (Continued). Folklore, 22(1), 49–60. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1254956

Og(h)am of the Month: December 2023

Happy Holidays from the OG(H)AM team! This year, Prof David Stifter and Dr Deborah Hayden have put together an OG(H)AM advent calendar, on both Twitter and Bluesky, featuring an amazing selection of manuscript og(h)am! A handy list of the Twitter and Bluesky links can be found here.

Og(h)am of the Month: November 2023

By Megan Kasten, OG(H)AM UK Postdoctoral Researcher

Poltalloch (S-ARL-002; Canmore ID 39479; National Museum of Scotland X.HPO 470) 

The Poltalloch ogham stone is a fragment broken off a larger original. Its first four letters are clearly cut, with long tapering consonant strokes and the O as short vowel notches, followed by at least two partially damaged letters. There does appear to be evidence for a letter preceding the C, but it looks as though this may have been removed purposefully. The inscription likely reads: CRON[A]N?; Crónán is a Gaelic male personal name meaning ‘reddish-brown’. Unusually for an ogham stone, Poltalloch has travelled abroad, featuring in an exhibition in Vienna in 2003 (Stifter 2003). 

The stone fragment was first discovered in 1931 in Kilmartin, Argyll, near the site of Bruach An Druimein, formerly known as Kill y Kiaran or Kilchiarain (‘church of St Ciarán’). The site had been excavated in 1928, which had revealed four cists aligned roughly east-west and containing inhumations. Upon revisiting the site in 1931, J H Craw found the ogham stone close to where these graves had been excavated, leading him to conclude that ‘there can be little doubt that it has been broken at some recent time from a slab of one of the graves (Craw 1932, 448).’ The area immediately north of the cists was excavated between 1960 and 1962, revealing a multi-period site. Though the main phase of roundhouse settlement was radiocarbon-dated to the first millennium BC, there was evidence of activity from the Late Neolithic period through the medieval period. The early medieval evidence consists of relatively high-status metalworking, items of personal adornment, and a motif piece, many of which have parallels to artefacts found at Dunadd, the major royal site of Dál Riata, less than four miles to the south (Abernethy 2008). Given the presence of a substantial curvilinear ditch, early medieval burials, evidence for literacy through the ogham fragment, and association with an earlier kil- placename, one could suggest that this may have been part of an early monastic site, though a secular site could be just as likely. 

References: 

Abernethy, D. (2008) ‘Bruach An Druimein, Poltalloch, Argyll: excavations directed by the late Eric Cregeen, 1960-2′, Scottish Archaeological Internet Report 27. https://doi.org/10.9750/issn.2056-7421.2008.27 

Craw, J. H. (1932) ‘Two long cairns (one horned) and an Ogham inscription, near Poltalloch, Argyll’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot, vol. 66, 1931-2. Page(s): 448-50 

Forsyth, K. (1996) The Ogham Inscriptions of Scotland: An Edited Corpus. PhD, Harvard University. 

Stifter, D. (2003) ‘3.5.42. ‘Ziegelgraffito von Grafenstein; 3.5.43. Fluchtäfelchen von Bregenz; 3.5.44. Ogam-Stein von Poltalloch, Schottland’, in: Der Turmbau zu Babel. Ursprung und Viel­falt von Spra­che und Schrift. Band IIIb: Schrift. Ausstellungskatalog des Kunst­histo­ri­schen Muse­ums. Herausgegeben von Wilfried Seipel, Wien: Kunsthistorisches Muse­um, 258–261. 

Og(h)am of the Month: October 2023

By David Stifter, OG(H)AM Irish Principal Investigator

The ogam stone S-SHE-001 from Bressay (Shetland) contains one of the most challenging ogam inscriptions (of which there is no lack in Scotland anyway). It reads (underline indicates unusual letter forms):

CRROSCC : NAHHTVVDDADDS : DATTRR : (a)NN

BENISESMEQQDDROANN

Ignoring the rest of the text, which may even contain Norse words, I will only concentrate on one word, MEQQ, which has parallels in two other inscriptions: -]EOMEQE[- (S-BUT-001, Blackwaterfoot; 6^th–8^th c.) and -]ESMEQQNANNAMMOVVESᵀ (S-SHE-004, St Ninian’s Isle; 7^th c.?). MEQQ is reminiscent of the formula word MAQ(I) ‘son of’ (cf. Old Irish maic) on Irish ogam stones, but the vowel doesn’t fit; and it is attested too early to reflect the Middle Irish development meic.

The Cambridge manuscript Corpus Christi College, MS 139 fo. 175v (hand C²) contains the garbled name Run.mepur.beghen. Re-divided into Run mep Urbeghen, this is the archaic Old Welsh spelling of the 6^th–7^th century North British king Rhun ab Urien (< *Urbigenos) from Rheged. Unless it is just an error, mep instead of the usual Welsh map ‘son’ looks like the expected genitive /meb/ < Old British *mapī ‘of the son’ with regular vowel affection. Mep may have become fossilised in old genealogical notes before the genitive became obsolete as a grammatical category in British. The ogam forms MEQ(Q) from Pictland could represent that same genitive of ‘son’, perhaps even still functionally as a genitive. Since the vowel e would be the result of a specifically British Celtic sound change, it follows that the whole word belongs to a British language and that the letter Q, which occurs in Scotland only in this word, could therefore be a way of spelling the sound /p/ in non-Irish ogams in Britain, as already suspected by Forsyth (1996: xxxvii–xxxviii, 64). See also Rodway’s (2019: 183–184) discussion.

References:

Katherine Forsyth, The Ogham Inscriptions of Scotland: An Edited Corpus. PhD, Harvard University 1996.

Simon Rodway, ‘The Ogham Inscriptions of Scotland and Brittonic Pictish’, Journal of Celtic Linguistics 21 (2019), 173–234.

Og(h)am of the Month: September 2023

Similinus Tovisacus Stone

Clocaenog (Bryn y Beddau), Denbighshire (W-DEN-001; ECMW no 176; CIIC no 399)

By OG(H)AM intern Bodil Malmose

This stone originally stood as one of two prehistoric standing stones on a summit (SJ0525 5354) as part of the Bryn y Beddau site. The Bryn y Beddau site is a monumental landscape further populated with up to six barrows and two stone circles. In the late fifth or early sixth century, the stone was reused to display a name in two scripts, Roman and Ogham.

Roman-letter: SIMILINI / TOVISACI

‘Similin(i)us Tovisacos’

Ogham: S[I]B[I]L[I]N[I]  / [TO]VISACI

‘Sibilin(i)us Tovisacos’

Both inscriptions are simply a name, Si(m/b)ilin(i)us, followed by the title or patronymic Tovisacos, meaning ‘leader’ representing an early form of later Welsh tywysog and Old Irish toísech, Modern Irish Taoiseach. The significance of this reuse is uncertain but combined with the content of the inscription, it could reflect a method of affirming and communicating identity and authority. It may also be a way of legitimising land claims, or perhaps an attempt to relate to myths and leaders important in the land. Regardless, reusing the prehistoric standing stone for this inscription reflects an Early Medieval recognition of prehistoric monumental landscapes and the desire of Early Medieval leaders to relate to the past through monumental reuse.

Further reading:

Daniel, P. 2022. ‘What are the Dead for?’ Bronze Age Burials in a Multi-period Landscape at Bucklow Hill, Cheshire. Archaeological Journal 179(1): p.1–82.

Edwards, N. 2013. A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales. North Wales: University of Wales Press.

Edwards, N. 2017. Early Medieval Wales: Material Evidence and Identity. Studia Celtica 51: p.65–87.

Fomin, M. 2018. Multilingual Practices and Linguistic Contacts in Pre-Patrician Ireland and Late Roman Britain. Studia Celto-Slavica 8: p.151–172.

Hutton, R. 2011. Romano-British Reuse of Prehistoric Ritual Sites. Britannia 42: p.1–22.

Og(h)am of the Month: July 2023

By OG(H)AM intern Molly McKendrick

An ogam-inscribed stone (W-CMN-005) from Castell Dwyran reads:

VOTECORIGAS

‘Of Votecorix’

and accompanies a Latin inscription reading:

MEMORIA VOTECORIGIS PROTICTORIS

‘The memorial/tomb of Voteporix the Protector’

The stone is notably unique in that it is the only example of the Latin memoria (nom.) in Wales. Its inscriptions have led to the Castell Dwyran stone being traditionally interpreted as the grave of Vortipor, the 6^th century tyrant of Dyfed, famously condemned by Gildas in his De Excidio Britanniae. The Old British personal name Voteporix is derived from the Proto-Celtic *u̯oteku̯o-, ‘refuge’ and *rīx, ‘ruler’. Old Irish lacks a reflex of *u̯oteku̯o-, ‘refuge’, indicating that VOTECORIGAS may be the intentional Gaelicisation of VOTEPORIGIS, having exchanged /p/ with the corresponding Irish phonetic /k/.

Modern evaluations of the linguistic evidence establishes that Castell Dwyran’s Votecorix and Gildas’ Vortipor were separate individuals. The name Vortipori, as it appears in Gildas (and in other forms, such as Guortepir in the Dyfed royal genealogy) invariably contains an /r/ in its initial syllable, which is conspicuously absent from both the ogam and Latin inscriptions. The elements *wor, ‘over’, and *wo, ‘under’, are distinct, and have led to scholars such as Sims-Williams (1990, 225-226) to deduce that Gildas’s leopardine king Vortipor and our Votecorix were, “rather two members of the same dynasty.” As such, the Roman title of ‘PROTICTORIS’ may be a hereditary Roman title, or may instead be “… a sign of continuing Romanitas or as a means of providing legitimacy to a post-Roman ruler,” (Edwards 2007, 205).

Further reading:

Alcock, L. 1971. Arthur’s Britain: History and Archaeology, AD 367-634. Harmondsworth: Allen Lane, pp. 122-123.

Edwards, N. 2007. A Corpus of Early Medieval Inscribed Stones and Stone Sculpture in Wales. South-West Wales, Vol 2. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, pp. 202-206.

Laws, E. 1885. Discovery of the Tombstone of Vortipore, Prince of Demetia, at Llanfallteg, Carmarthenshire. Archaeologia Cambrensis. 7(5), pp. 303-313.

Sims-Williams, P. 1990 Dating the Transition to Neo-Brittonic: Philology and History. In: Bammesberger, A. and Wollman, A. eds. Britain 400-600: Language and History. Heidelberg: Winter, pp. 225–226.

Stifter, D. 2022. Ogam: Language, Writing, Epigraphy. AELAW. 10, pp. 42.

Stifter, D. 2023 [Forthcoming]. More on san in Cisalpine Celtic. In: Salomon, C. and Stifter, D. eds. Cisalpine Celtic Literacy. Proceedings of a Workshop. Maynooth 23-24 June 2022, Hagen: curach bhán.

Og(h)am of the Month: June 2023

By Deborah Hayden, OG(H)AM Irish Co-Investigator

The Ogam of the Month for this June comes from National Library of Ireland, manuscript G31, which is a collection of genealogies, poems and notes on grammar written mostly by Cormac Ó Dálaigh in March 1729. This scribe was likely a member of the well-known Ó Dálaigh family of poets and several of the verses in the manuscript are his own compositions. The ogam inscription in Figure 1 below, however (which reads AODHÁN Ó RATHILLE cecinit, or ‘Aodhán Ó Raithille recited it’), ascribes the preceding poem not to Cormac, but rather to the renowned bardic poet Aodhagán Ó Rathaille, who was born in the Sliabh Luachra region of Kerry around 1670. The poem itself is known by its opening words, Gile na gile (‘Brightness of brightness’) and is one of the most famous compositions of the early eighteenth century. It is an example of the poetic genre known as the aisling, which mixed political message with passionate vision. Gile na gile was translated by Seamus Heaney in 1998 as ‘The Glamoured’.

The above example is just one of several ogam inscriptions in NLI MS G31: elsewhere in his collection, Ó Dálaigh wrote a key to the ogam alphabet, signed his own name and even copied entire stanzas of poems in the script, as shown in Figure 2 below. The G31 manuscript is thus another testament to the enduring popularity of ogam among Irish scribes of the early modern and modern periods.

Further reading:

Ní Shéaghdha, Nessa, Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in the National Library of Ireland, Fasciculus II (MSS G15 – G69) (Dublin: DIAS, 1961)

Dinneen, Rev. Patrick S. (ed), Dánta Aodhagáin Uí Rathaille. The Poems of Egan O’Rahilly (London: Irish Texts Society, 1900), pp. 18–21.

Og(h)am of the Month: May 2023

Cill Mhainín (Kilmannin, Co. Mayo; I-MAY-002 = CIIC 4)

By David Stifter, OG(H)AM Irish Principal Investigator

The ogam inscription from Cill Mhainín (Kilmannin, Co. Mayo; I-MAY-002 = CIIC 4; kept at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin) reads

LUGADDON MAQ̣|I LUGU|DEC

‘of *Luguai̯dū son of *Lugudiχs’

The onomastic formula consists of the bare minimum elements, son and father, both of whose names are based on the same etymon, the divine name Lug. Both names survive into the Old Irish period where they are attested as Lugáed and Lugaid.

The first name is also found as LUGUAEDON in the 6^th-century Latinate inscription GAL-011 from Inis an Ghaill (Inchagoill Island, Co. Galway; captured for the EMILI project at https://emili.celt.dias.ie/en/inscriptions/GAL-011.html). The Latinate version still preserves the middle u and thus reflects a more archaic state of the language than the ogam. It is a compound of Lug and the rare word *ai̯du- (OIr. áed ‘fire’), meaning probably ‘possessing fire of/like Lug’. The father’s name occurs three more times on Irish ogam stones. Its second element is the root *dik- ‘to show, point out’. The name therefore probably means something like ‘showing or pointing out Lug’, maybe in the sense of ‘acting as an intermediary of the god’.

The original endings of both names are gone, which means that the inscription postdates apocope, the loss of final syllables. The preserved middle u of LUGUDEC (unlike LUGADDON where it has been lost) looks as if the name had not undergone syncope, the loss of middle syllables, yet, but a retention in spelling by analogy with the nominative *LUGUD is easily conceivable. On balance we may date the inscription approximately to the late 6^th century.

The name of the Celtic god *Lugus is comparatively popular in Irish onomastics. It also occurs in the ogam inscription I-KER-013 (CIIC 146) from Baile an Éanaigh (Ballineanig, Co. Kerry): LUGUQRIT MA[QI] QRITT[I], again with an etymological connection between son (OIr. Luccraid) and father (OIr. Crithe).

On the reverse side of the Kilmannin stone there are remnants of another inscription: DDISI/ MO … C̣QUṢ/EL, but they are too fragmentary to allow a meaningful interpretation.

Og(h)am of the Month: April 2023

Drumconwell, Co. Armagh – I-ARM-001 (= CIIC 311)

By Nora White, OG(H)AM Irish Postdoctoral Researcher

To coincide with Easter, this month’s ogham is a cross-carved example, recorded during last Summer’s Northern Ireland fieldwork by OG(H)AM team members.

Carved crosses are found on approximately 10% of ogham stones from Ireland (with most from Co. Kerry), though it is often not possible to determine whether these crosses are earlier, later or contemporaneous with the inscriptions.

Of the six or seven examples of ogham stones from Northern Ireland, only one has a carved cross. Until 1879 the stone stood in a field called ‘the Graveyard Field’ in the townland of Drumconwell, approximately 4km south of Armagh. Once identified (Reeves, 1883), it was removed to the Armagh Diocesan Library (now the Armagh Robinson Library) where it remains today.

The irregular-shaped stone has an ogham inscription on two angles (reading upwards on both) and a simple linear ringed Latin cross. Unfortunately, the cross, and possibly also the ogham inscription, have been partially damaged by a break at the top of the stone. Nevertheless, there is no compelling reason to doubt that they are contemporary.

The ogham inscription was read by Macalister (1945, 298-299) as DINEGLO MAQI QETAI[S] with the final S all broken away except the proximal ends of the first two strokes. Ziegler (1994, 167) suggests that this could be the name Dínél (see eDIL: dil.ie/16602), followed by MAQI ‘son of’ and possibly the name Céte (Ziegler (1994, 222). An alternative reading and interpretation of the initial name, to fit with the townland name Drumconwell or Droim Conmhaoil ‘Ridge of Conmáel’ (see Logainm.ie), was proposed by Richard Warner (1991, 46) suggesting the possibility that DINEGLO represents a ‘botched attempt at CUNAMAGLI’. However, we would rather expect *CUNAMAILAS for Conmáel since *CUNAMAGLAS would be Conmál.

Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): Corpus inscriptionum insularum Celticarum. Vol. 1.

Warner, Richard B. (1991): ‘The Drumconwell Ogham and its implications’, Emania 8, 43–50.

Ziegler, Sabine (1994): Die Sprache der altirischen Ogam-Inschriften. Gottingen: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht.

Og(h)am of the Month: March 2023

By Megan Kasten, OG(H)AM UK Postdoctoral Researcher

This month’s ogham is one of the few surviving examples of ogham incised onto a household object. The Bac Mhic Connain knife handle (S-INV-001; NMS X.GNB 134) is made of cetacean bone and is fitted with an iron tang. The Bac Mhic Connain site (Vallay, North Uist, Outer Hebrides) was excavated by Erskine Beveridge in 1919; excavations revealed an Iron Age wheelhouse which was reoccupied and reused in later phases for metalworking, and antler and bone working. In fact, 107 bone and antler artefacts were recovered from the site, including long-handled combs, pins, awls, wedges, a die, a cross-shaped stamp, and a comb handle. Intriguingly, an antler handle from the same site exhibits some ogham-like carving. The stratigraphy of the site was not recorded during excavation, so it is difficult to say with certainty which phase our knife handle belongs to in the site’s thousand-year biography, between 200 BC – 800 AD. However, most agree that the ogham-inscribed knife handle most likely belongs to the 5^th – 8^th centuries AD. Based on visual inspection, Katherine Forsyth (1996) read the inscription as:

M(a/o)QUNTEN( /a)CoT

OG(H)AM’s digital imaging of the object last year at the National Museum of Scotland, however, has revealed new information about some of the damaged letters. Find out more in an upcoming blog post!

Armit, I 1992 The Later Prehistory of the Western Isles of Scotland. Oxford (=BAR Brit Ser 221).

Forsyth, K. 1996. The Ogham Inscriptions of Scotland: An Edited Corpus. Unpublished PhD thesis, Harvard University.

Hallén, Ywonne (1994) ‘The use of bone and antler at Foshigarry and Bac Mhic Connain, two Iron Age sites on North Uist, Western Isles’, PSAS 124, 189-231.