INSCRIPTIONS
of one symbol for one sound. It is most likely to have
been invented by Irish speakers in the south of Ireland,
probably in the fourth century C.E. Its inventors were
clearly familiar with the Latin alphabet and with at
least some Latin grammar, but the ogham alphabet
was developed for writing short epigraphic texts in
the Irish language.
There are over 330 stones known from Ireland con-
taining ogham inscriptions, with over one third of these
found in County Kerry. From Ireland, the use of ogham
spread into Wales, Cornwall, the Isle of Man, and
Pictish Scotland. The date range of the Irish ogham
inscriptions is from the fifth or sixth centuries to the
seventh century. However the tradition continued
longer in some of the places to which ogham spread.
In particular, most of the Pictish inscriptions date from
the period of the seventh to ninth centuries. After the
seventh century in Ireland, ogham declined in use as
an epigraphic script, but some scholastic knowledge
remained and can be seen in the manuscript record and
in the occasional inscribed stone or portable object.
Typically ogham-inscribed stones contain the text
incised on the angles of the stone, starting at the bottom
left and reading up the left side, along the top and
down the right side. Word separation is not indicated.
The texts are usually short and almost all contain at
least one personal name in the genitive, dependent on
an unexpressed word, probably meaning “stone.”
Many texts also contain a patronymic or an indication
of sept or tribal affinity. The most typical text is of the
form X maqi Y, “[stone] of X, son of Y.” Irish ogham
stones, unlike some of those from Wales and Cornwall,
rarely contain a Roman-alphabet text inscribed on
the same stone. An example of an ogham inscription
is the stone from Ballinvoher, County Kerry, now in the
National Museuem of Ireland (Macalister 1945). The
text on this stone reads Coimagni maqi Vitalin “[stone of]
Cóemán, son of Vitalinus.”
Roman-Alphabet Inscriptions
Early medieval stone inscriptions that use the Roman
alphabet have a date range of the sixth to the twelfth
centuries. They thus first appear a little later than the
earliest ogham stones but continue for a longer
period. Inscribed portable objects are also recorded.
From the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, there are a
small number of inscriptions using Gothic or Lombardic
script. Later medieval inscriptions using the standard
Roman alphabet are recorded from the twelfth cen-
tury onward. Since much of this material has not
been compiled, numbers are hard to estimate. How-
ever, in Munster, Okasha and Forsyth (2001)
recorded 129 inscriptions dating from the sixth to
the twelfth centuries.
The majority of the medieval Roman-alphabet
inscriptions are incised on stone in a form of insular
script known as “half-uncial,” although a few texts
using decorative capitals are known. Most of the texts
are set horizontally and word separation is rare. Most
texts contain a personal name and many take the form
of a request for prayer for the individual named. A
typical text is of the form oróit do X (a prayer for X),
with the word oróit abbreviated.
An example of such a stone is a large cross-slab
from Lismore, County Waterford, probably dating
from the ninth century (Okasha and Forsyth 2001).
The face of the stone contains an incised Latin cross
in a rectangular base. The text is set in two lines, the
first reading upwards with the letters facing right,
and the second reading horizontally above the cross,
with the letters inverted with respect to it. The text
reads ór do donnchad, for oróit do Donnchad (a
prayer for Donnchad), but Donnchad has not been
identified.
An example of an inscription on a piece of metal-
work is the well-known eighth-century silver chalice
from Ardagh, County Limerick (Ryan 1983). A girdle
of gold filigree and glass studs encircles the chalice
near the top. Immediately below this is an inscription
in ornate capital letters, the letters standing out against
a stippled background. The text is in Latin and consists
of the names of eleven apostles and St. Paul.
Conclusion
Medieval Irish inscriptions are among the earliest writ-
ten records and are therefore of the greatest importance
in a study of the history and culture of Ireland. They
are also linguistically important, as examples of early
Irish, and furnish much information about early Irish
names and nomenclature. Many are now well protected
inside churches and museums, but some of those that
are still standing outside are in need of care and pres-
ervation.
ELISABETH OKASHA
References and Further Reading
Macalister, R. A. S. Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celti-
carum. 2 vols. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1945 and 1949.
McManus, Damian. A Guide to Ogam. Maynooth, Ireland: An
Sagart, St. Patrick’s College, 1991.
Okasha, Elisabeth, and Katherine Forsyth. Early Christian
Inscriptions of Munster: A Corpus of the Inscribed Stones.
Cork: Cork University Press, 2001.
Ryan, Michael, ed. Treasures of Ireland: Irish Art, 3000 B.C.–
1500 A.D. Dublin: Royal Irish Academy, 1983.
Sims-Williams, Patrick. The Celtic Inscriptions of Britain: Pho-
nology and Chronology, c. 400–1200. Publications of the
Philological Society 37. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing,
2002.