CLMAC/87

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'.

References


Inscriptions


CLMAC/87/1     Pictures

Readings

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

Notes

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

Names

References