LGWYR/1

Corpus Refs:Macalister/1945:352A
Nash-Williams/1950:122
Site:LGWYR
Discovery:non-arch dig, 1942 Rees, D.
History:Fox et al/1943, 205--209, records that the stone was found during ploughing on the farm of Maesllyn, in December 1942. The farmer then dug the stone out and the heavy rain washed it clean. He and his brother then dug a large hole hoping to find treasure, but found a pavement of flat slabs next to which the stone had been placed on edge. Cyril Fox examined the site and region in February 1943, but the damage to the immediate site make his observations provisional. Fox then investigated the possibility that the stone, from what is now a remote area, was placed next to the line of the Roman road, and concluded that this was indeed a possibility. The stone was then presented to the National Museum of Wales.
Geology:Fox et al/1943, 205: `It is, my colleague Dr. F. J. North kindly informs me, a fine-grained compact quartz-grit such as occurs in well-defined beds in the Silurian strata of the region. As the rock has no distinctive characters and belongs to a type that is widely distributed in this part of Cardingan, it is not possible to indicate precisely or even approximately, its place of origin'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 100: `Local fine-grained quartz grit'.

Dimensions:0.97 x 3.71 x 0.08 (converted from Nash-Williams/1950)
Setting:in display
Location:National Museum of Wales
Now in the National Museum of Wales.
Form:plain
Fox/etal/1943, 205: `Slab'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 100: `Fragmentary pillar-stone (top and both edges fractured away)'.

CISP: From Fox/etal/1943, Plate 1, we can see that the slab is of highly irregular outline, quite pointed at one end. It looks as if the stone has simply been sheered off a formation along its bedding plane with little futher attempt to shape it. Fox et al/1943 and Nash-Williams/1950 disagree as to whether the stone would have originally have been on a long edge, or standing upright.

Condition:complete , some
Nash-Williams/1950, 100: `Fragmentary...top and both edges fractured away'.
Folklore:none
Crosses:none
Decorations:no other decoration

References


Inscriptions


LGWYR/1/1     Pictures

Readings

Nash-Williams, V.E. (1950):DOMNICI | IACITF/ILIVS | BRA/VECCI
Expansion:
DOMNICI IACIT FILIVS BRAVECCI
Translation:
(The stone) of Domnicus (PN). He lies (here), son of Braveccus (? or Braneccus)(PN).
Nash-Williams/1950 100 reading only

Notes

Orientation:Indeterminate
Position:S ; broad ; n/a ; undecorated
Nash-Williams/1950, 100: `Latin inscription in three lines reading vertically downwards (?)'.
Incision:pocked
Fox et al/1943, 205: `it is not cut with a chisel, but pecked; that is produced by bruising and flaking the stone with a comparatively blunt point'.
Date:400 - 533 (Nash-Williams/1950)

450 - 500 (Fox/etal/1943)
Nash-Williams, in Fox/etal/1943, 212: `late fifth century'.
500 - 550 (Fox/etal/1943)
Macalister, in Fox/etal/1943, 212: `I agree with the dating suggested ; possibly very early sixth century would be preferable to fifth. Later in the sixth there would be more of a cursive tendency in the letters ; but the P- is rather against the fifth century.'
450 - 550 (Fox/etal/1943)
Williams, in Fox/etal/1943, 210: `The mixed formula, and the ``hybrid R'' (as Raleigh Radford called it) both point to the late fifth or early sixth century.'
Language:Latin (rcaps)
Ling. Notes:Fox/etal/1943, 209--210: `The mixed formula shows that this inscription does not belong to the earliest group. Instead of Domnici Fili Bravecci, all genitives, `(The Stone) of D. son of B.' or the alternative Domnicus Filius Bravecci Iacit (or Hic iacit), with the nominative Domnicus as subject of the verb iacit, the author has made a blend of the two formulas, beginning with the person's name in the genitive as in Type I then passing to Type II. This shows that he lived in a period when the difference between the nominative and genitive cases had been forgotten: he tried to follow the models known to him on other memorial stones, but his Latin was insufficient to sort out the types. Hence the blend'.
Palaeography:Fox/etal/1943, 205: `upper ends of the letters N I in the first line are missing'.

Fox/etal/1943, 210--211: `On the lettering I have little to add. The form of the R in Bravecci is exactly like one I saw in the Douglas Museum, Isle of Man, in a very similar inscription (Knoc of Doonee)...dated by the Museum authorities in the early sixth century. Another is seen in the Anglesey ETTORIGI...also dated in the sixth century; and still another on the Boduoc stone...BRA/VECCI may be read Bravecci or Branecci, for -AV- and -AN- are ligatured in inscriptions...the case is stronger for the reading Braviccos, or so it seems to me. First of all, the instances of the ligature AN are very much rarer than those of AV in our inscriptions. Of the former I found two instances in Westwood's Pl. 98, 6 on a Caerleon stone: of the latter I counted nine. Furthermore, where AN are ligatured the second stroke of the N is perpendicular: in the case of ligatured AV the second stroke of the V slopes to the right...In the new inscription this slope is obvious, and so Brenych must be rejected, and we are left with Braveccos, Welsh Brewych'.

Fox et al/1943, 212: `The lettering is pure Latin, of the `vulgar' sort, with the usual traces of cursive influence, e.g. the ligatured FI and the P-, and also the sickle S. The P- is the latest feature, but I doubt if later than the fifth century. The vertical arrangement of the inscription, following Ogham practice, is a Celtic feature'.

Nash-Williams/1950, 100: `Roman capitals, lightly picked, with one ligature. FI and LI in l. 2 are conjoined. R in l. 3 has an open bow and nearly horizontal tail'.

Legibility:good
The text is clear.
Lines:3
Carving errors:0
Doubtful:no

Names

References