KRRIS/1

Corpus Refs:	none
Site:	KRRIS
Discovery:	in/on structure, 1996 Gurling, T.
History:	Thomas/unpub/1997: `Stone was noticed in Dec. 1996 when fireplace was being cleared out. Intention is to leave it in situ (removal difficult now) and not to light fires here.'
Geology:	Thomas/unpub/1997: `homogeneous local granite'.
Dimensions:	1.34 x 0.2 x 0.4 (Thomas/unpub/1997)
Setting:	in struct
Location:	earliest Built into the side of the fireplace at Chy-an-Kerris.
Form:	plain Thomas/unpub/1997: `This is a smallish natural slab...at present height 134 cms (this may be the original height), thickness as viewed from front av. 20 cms, width av. 40 cms at present upper part to av. 35 cms lower down. The present front edge may have been dressed a little, but only a light dressing, to give a `squared' edge'.
Condition:	complete , good Thomas/unpub/1997: `There may be slight damage to the present inner angle (the viewers' right vertical) from fire-cracking, but only on the angle'.
Folklore:	none
Crosses:	none
Decorations:	no other decoration

References

Thomas/unpub/1997 n/a photo,map concise discussion

Inscriptions

KRRIS/1/1

Readings

Thomas, C. (1997):

MACA[{R}I/.] | CARA{S}IMI{L}I{V}{S}
Expansion:
MACARI[.] CARASIMILIUS
Translation:
Of Macari[.] (PN) Carasimilius(PN).
Thomas/unpub/1997 n/a reading only

Notes

Orientation:	vertical down
Position:	W ; broad ; n/a ; undecorated Thomas/unpub/1997: `Two lines, apparently complete, occupy about 2/3rds of face, larger un-used space being at the bottom'.
Incision:	cut Thomas/unpub/1997: `Most of the letters are still perfectly clear, ranging from deeply-cut (`U' groove) to dectectably cut'.
Date:	550 - 650 (Thomas/unpub/1997) Thomas/unpub/1997: `Not before 500, in W Cornwall (479 Cunaide is anomalous); all capitals, even if high proportion of aberrant forms; use of final -IVS. At a guess, between 550 and 650, with a slight preference for 600 +.'
Language:	name only (rcaps)
Ling. Notes:	none
Palaeography:	Thomas/unpub/1997: `Line one has six symbols; line 2, twelve. All are Roman capitals, but 8 of 18 -- nearly a half -- are of aberrant form...A is normal, low bar (i.e., neither [bar-less A] not `angle-bar'). C is normal and rounded. I (thrice) is normal and deeply cut. Letters 1 and 13 appear to be a ligature, if so of V and M (normal or inverted); the nearest match would be N Wales, the Porius stone ([Macalister/1945] 420 = ECMW 289), which shows [figure] for tumulo, but there are heavy objections here to reading `UM', `MU', or `UMU', and I suggest that the letter is meant to be M. S occurs twice, inverted. No. 15 is letter L, both inverted and reversed; no.17 is V inverted. No.9 is a normal R; provisionally, I suggest that no.5 is an inverted R. Letter no. 6 cannot at the moment be safely read...Line two is apparently a name in (masc.) nom., Latin O-stem as -us; one would assume of the person commemorated. The context for line 1 could then be: some kind of praenomen, also nom. (most unlikely) -- parental name in gen. (`Of-A, B [lies here]'); or the same with an extreme FILI ligature (`Of-A, of the son: B [lies here]'). This depends on letter 6, which is the least easy to make out and may be slightly damaged; no trace of any further letter exists. I cannot make out anything really convincing in the ligatures of FILI, like F/I or F/L/I. Conversely, if this represents some form of capital E, it might be a (fem.) gen. A-stem, as -E (for -AE)'.
Legibility:	good Thomas/unpub/1997: `Most of the letters are still perfectly clear'. Thomas goes on to say, however, than 8 of 18 letters `are of aberrant form'.
Lines:	2
Carving errors:	0
Doubtful:	no

Names

Macar[.] (Language: Latin; Gender: unknown)
Thomas/unpub/1997: `A name beginning UMACA- or MUACA- or UNUACA- etc., would be so improbable for anything in British `inscriptional Old Celtic' as to be dismissed at once. MACA... is another matter. Cf. the attested 470, N. Cornwall MACARI (misread by Macalister as MAGARI: the -C- is however clear and certain), or (Wales, Glams.) 403 = ECMW 268 with MACARITINI (6th cent.) to be read as MACARI masc.gen + TINI, some adjectival element. Both are Latin MACARIUS, from Greek Makarios; various `Makarios' men were noted Desert Fathers and the currency of the name here will be, almost certainly, from Rufinus's Historia, circulating in Wales from c.450 (from Gaul).
This must at least allow the chance that the imperfectly formed letter 5, contra the normal R as letter 9, is an inverted R, giving MACAR.. If this is a `parental, Of-A[, letter 6 ought then to contain, next, I -- perhaps represented by the vertical -- ligatured, but with what? The Greek abstract n. makaria `bliss, happiness' seems unlikely to have given rise to a British Late or V Lat fem. name **Macara gen.-e. I would, on balance, think that a reading M A C A R-inverted I-ligatured + ? is less improbable'.
Carasimilius (Language: Incomplete Information; Gender: male)
Thomas/unpub/1997: `Carasimilius seems legible and extant. How this is to be analysed in another matter. For CARAS one can think of a late form, with unusual vowel-change or written reflex, of CARAUSI(us), emperor 286--93, which did survive in Britain: cf. (Wales, 5th century.) 393 CARAVSIVS HIC IACIT. For the latter part, there is always Rom (A)emilius; inferentially attested for post-400 Cornwall if the pre-Norman *Dimelihoc, now a rich farm called `Domellick' on the S slope of St Dennis with its hillfort containing parish church, is *din plus *Emiliauc from *Aemiliac (-o, -um) `estate of A'. On the other hand the combination has no parallel. Nor do we know if this has first element from Roman nomenclature, or British car- (= amo, amare), or some other root. It may just have to be taken as yet another unattested, but presumably native name. If one applies the usual inferences to reconstruct a contemporary spoken version, one would end up with /k a r ai v~ a l/ or the like, which suggests nothing from any subsequent source'.

References

Thomas/unpub/1997 n/a photo,drawing substantial discussion