The Cloonmorris Ogham Stone is an ancient monument at Saint Michael's Church, Bornacoola, County Leitrim, in Ireland.
The Cloonmorris Ogham Stone is an ancient monument at Saint Michael's Church, Bornacoola, County Leitrim, in Ireland.
It is the only Ogham inscribed stone to be recorded in County Leitrim. First examined by Mac Neill in 1909, the stone then marked the Kellagher family burial plot "opposite the middle of the eastern gable of the ruin" of Cloonmorris church. The c. 0.85 m long stone dates to c. 400 – c. 550, has an ecclesiastical association, and is not definitely post-apocope. [1] [2]
The defaced inscription makes accurate reading difficult. The inscription reads G..T..........QENUVEN, [1] or QENUVEN[--, expanding to "QENUVEN[DI--" and translating to "QVENVENDANI", "(hair of the) head" + "fair" + diminutive suffix. [2] Korlev interpreted the inscription as "G(A)T[TAGNI MAQI MUCOI (?)] QENUVEN[DI]" while Gippert (1978) suggested the inscription was "QENOVENAGNI MAQI C MUCOI LUGUDDECCAS" marking the genealogy Cenannяn m. Ceise m. Lugdech? [3]
MacNeill thought the stone was probably the memorial of one Qenuvin-dagnas (Irish : Ceanannán, Ceannán). In Wales the name Qennovindagni occurs on a British-Latin inscription at Parcau near Whitland in Carmarthenshire, [4] and is believed to identify a person of Gaelic, rather than Brythonic, origin. [5] [n 1] Scholars noted the Cloonmorris is "hardly a stone's throw from the boundary" between Longford and Leitrim, the stone standing inside the historic Conmhaícne territory once separating the Kingdom of Meath from Connacht. [3]
In 1978 the stone was moved and enclosed on a pedestal near the churchyard entrance, but in doing so was placed into an inverted (top-down) position. [3]
Pictish is the extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited number of geographical and personal names found on monuments and the contemporary records in the area controlled by the kingdoms of the Picts, dating to the early medieval period. Such evidence, however, points strongly to the language being an Insular Celtic language related to the Brittonic language spoken prior to Anglo-Saxon settlement in what is now southern Scotland, England, and Wales.
Ogham is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language, and later the Old Irish language. There are roughly 400 surviving orthodox inscriptions on stone monuments throughout Ireland and western Britain, the bulk of which are in southern Munster. The largest number outside Ireland are in Pembrokeshire, Wales.
Carnaross or Carnaros is a village in County Meath, Ireland, approximately 4 km northwest of Kells on the R147 road between Kells and Virginia, County Cavan.
Primitive Irish or Archaic Irish, also called Proto-Goidelic, is the oldest known form of the Goidelic languages. It is known only from fragments, mostly personal names, inscribed on stone in the ogham alphabet in Ireland and western Great Britain between the 4th and the 6th century AD.
The Iverni were a people of early Ireland first mentioned in Ptolemy's 2nd century Geography as living in the extreme south-west of the island. He also locates a "city" called Ivernis in their territory, and observes that this settlement has the same name as the island as a whole, Ivernia. It was probably once the name given to all the peoples of Ireland, but by Ptolemy's time had a more restricted usage applicable to the inhabitants of the south-west. These Iverni can be identified linguistically with the Érainn, a people attested in Munster and elsewhere in the early Middle Ages.
The forfeda are the "additional" letters of the Ogham alphabet, beyond the basic inventory of twenty signs. Their name derives from fid and the prefix for- ("additional"). The most important of these are five forfeda which were arranged in their own aicme or class, and were invented in the Old Irish period, several centuries after the peak of Ogham usage. They appear to have represented sounds felt to be missing from the original alphabet, maybe é(o), ó(i), ú(i), p and ch.
Roughly 400 known ogham inscriptions are on stone monuments scattered around the Irish Sea, the bulk of them dating to the fifth and sixth centuries. Their language is predominantly Primitive Irish, but a few examples record fragments of the Pictish language. Ogham itself is an Early Medieval form of alphabet or cipher, sometimes known as the "Celtic Tree Alphabet".
The Buckquoy spindle-whorl is an Ogham-inscribed spindle-whorl dating from the Early Middle Ages, probably the 8th century, which was found in 1970 in Buckquoy, Birsay, Orkney, Scotland. Made of sandy limestone, it is about 36 mm in diameter and 10 mm thick. It is the only known spindle-whorl with an Ogham inscription.
The Ballaqueeney Ogham Stone is an early medieval memorial stone with an Ogham inscription. It was discovered at Ballaqueeney (Ballaquine) Isle of Man in 1874 by Reverend F. B. Grant during the process of excavating dirt for use as railroad ballast.
The Lunnasting stone is a stone bearing an ogham inscription, found at Lunnasting, Shetland and donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland in 1876.
The Lang Stane of Auquhollie is an Ogam-inscribed standing stone some 6 kilometres north-west of Stonehaven in Scotland. Situated on south side of Meikle Carew Hill at a height of about 140 metres above sea level, the stone is approximately 3 metres in height and 0.75 metres in diameter, an unshaped monolith of gneiss.
The barony of Mohill is an ancient barony in County Leitrim, Ireland.
Manchanof Mohill,, was an early Christian saint credited with founding many early Christian churches in Ireland. His life is obscured because many people named Manchan are found among the monastically-inclined Medieval Irish Christians, and the name is a diminutive of Irish: Manach Latin: Monachus, a monk. Manchan probably died of famine during volcanic winters caused by the extreme weather events of 535–536, which preceded the 6th century Justinian plague of Mohill.
Odhran Ua hEolais was a medieval scribe and scholar at the abbey of Clonmacnoise. He must have been born, and lived his childhood, in the kingdom of Conmaicne Magh Réin, which corresponds to present day south county Leitrim. We do not know any significant details of his personal life, but Odhran moved to county Offaly in adult life, to become Lector and a famous scriba of Clonmacnoise. His death is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters. A cross-stone of Odhran, with his name inscription legible in middle Irish, is preserved to this day.
Eolaismac Biobhsach was a chieftain of 10th century Gaelic Ireland. He is noted as the first "full chieftain of the Conmaicne" of present-day south county Leitrim, and parts of west County Longford. His descendants are known as "the Muintir Eolais".
Drumlohan souterrain and ogham stones, known locally as the Ogham Cave, is a souterrain with ogham stones forming a National Monument located in County Waterford, Ireland.
Ballintaggart Ogham Stones is a collection of ogham stones forming a National Monument located in County Kerry, Ireland.
Between the 5th and 12th centuries, an Irish sept claiming descent from Coirpre mac Néill ruled a barony of north Tethbae, called Cairpre Gabra. Their territory corresponds to the barony of Granard in modern county Longford in Ireland.
Dunloe Ogham Stones is a collection of ogham stones forming a National Monument located in County Kerry, Ireland.
Kilcoolaght East Ogham Stones are a collection of ogham stones forming a National Monument located in County Kerry, Ireland.