Corpus Refs: | Macalister/1909:119 Macalister/1949:683 Petrie/1872:103 |
Site: | CLMAC |
Discovery: | non-arch dig, 1781 Molloy, K. |
History: | Petrie/1872, 50: `found while digging a grave in Temple M'Dermot at Clonmacnois in 1781, and drawn from a rubbing made by Kyran Molloy'. Macalister/1909, 24: `When I first visited Clonmacnois, this stone...had lost more than half the cross-head shown by Petrie, No. 103. On my second visit I found that the sinister end had been broken off and had disappeared, carrying away three and a half letters, and the last relic of the Greek fret-border'. Recorded as still on site in Macalister/1949, 51. |
Geology: | |
Dimensions: | 0.38 x 0.25 x 0.05 (converted from Macalister/1949) |
Setting: | inc |
Location: | on site |
Form: | cross-slab |
Condition: | frgmntry , poor Macalister/1909, 24: `When I first visited Clonmacnois, this stone...had lost more than half the cross-head shown by Petrie, No. 103. On my second visit I found that the sinister end had been broken off and had disappeared, carrying away three and a half letters, and the last relic of the Greek fret-border'. |
Folklore: | none |
Crosses: | 1: inc; outline; straight; plain; round holl; none; inner curv; ind; plain |
Decorations: | frame; geometric key pattern Macalister/1909, 24, argues for a Celtic cross and a fret border, the latter shown in Petrie/1872 but subsequently lost. Macalister/1949, 51: `wheel cross'. |
Petrie, G. (1872): | OR{O}IT{M}ARMAEL | CIARA || IN Expansion: OROIT {M} AR MAELCIARAIN Petrie/1872 50, Plate XL reading only |
Macalister, R.A.S. (1909): | OR{O}IT{M}AR[M...] | CIARA || IN Expansion: OROIT {M} AR [MAEL]CIARAIN Macalister/1909 24 reading only Macalister/1949 51 reading only |
Orientation: | horizontal |
Position: | n/a ; broad ; mixed ; separated The inscription is in two lines. The first above the cross and the second in the two upper quadrants. |
Incision: | inc |
Date: | None published |
Language: | Goidelic (rbook) |
Ling. Notes: | none |
Palaeography: | Petrie/1872, 50: `There appears to be a letter 'm' between the OROIT and the AR, for the existence of which it is impossible to account, unless the sculptor may have forgotten the preposition 'ar', and carved the first letter of the word Mael, which he afterwards omitted to erase'. Macalister/1909, 24: `The engraver evidently forgot the AR, and found his mistake out after cutting the initial of Mael-Ciarain; the M has been partially effaced by hammering. Note the mark of prolongation over the O of OROIT'. CISP: The inscription is in half-uncial. The O's are lozenge-shaped; the R's majuscule; most of the A's are in the `OC' form except the last which is angular and open and the E is closed. |
Legibility: | some |
Lines: | 2 |
Carving errors: | 1 |
Doubtful: | no |