| Corpus Refs: | Davies/etal/2000:I2 |
| Site: | BAIS |
| Discovery: | arch excav, 1987 Guigon, P. |
| History: | Davies et al/2000, 267: `See I1 [BAIS/1], for excavation of the Merovingian cemetery at Bourg Saint-Pair, Bais, from which this inscribed slate came. The grave to which it belonged was dismantled after the archaeological excavation and hence the precise details of its location and context are unknown... The stone was examined by members of the CISP team in June 1999'. |
| Geology: | Davies et al/2000, 267: `slate'. |
| Dimensions: | 0.51 x 0.17 x 0.04 (Davies/etal/2000) |
| Setting: | unattch |
| Location: | on site Davies et al/2000, 267: `Private ownership, Bais'. |
| Form: | body-slab Davies et al/2000, 267: `The slate is 51cm long, and has a maximum width of 17cm and an average thickness of 4cm'. |
| Condition: | incomplete , some Davies et al/2000, 267: `The slate … has suffered quite extensive damage, especially at the right and lower edges: a portion of the surface has spalled, but no letters appear to have been lost'. |
| Folklore: | none |
| Crosses: | none |
| Decorations: | Davies et al/2000: 268: `Following the final N there occurs the bottom of a vertical stroke and an oblique stroke srunning to the left from this. It is extremely unlikely that this was part of a letter, and the strokes are best explained as the bifurcated base of a cross'. |
| Guigon, P. (1989): | M/{A}/ONI[.]N[--] Expansion: MAONI[.]N[--] Guigon/Bardel/1989 331 reading only |
| Davies, W. et al. (1999): | M/{A}/ONIRN[+] Expansion: MAONIRN + Translation: Maonirn(PN) + Davies/etal/2000 269 reading only |
| Orientation: | horizontal |
| Position: | n/a ; broad ; n/a ; undecorated Davies et al/2000, 268: `The inscription consists of a single line of text arranged along the long axis of the stone. It begins in the middle of the slab, 8cm from the left edge, and continues to a surface fracture to the right'. |
| Incision: | drill+cut Davies et al/2000, 268: `The letters are scratched, but carefully (the extensions to the letters are intentional). One terminal hole, on the extended stroke of the ligature, has been drilled to prevent splitting. The incision is very shallow, making the letters somewhat difficult to read. They vary in height from about 4cm (M) to 8.8cm (the extravagant down-stroke of the O), and in width from 2.6cm (N) to 8cm (M)'. |
| Date: | 600 - 699 (Davies/etal/2000) Davies et al/2000, 270: `Both palaeography and context suggest a 7th-century date for the carving'. |
| Language: | name only (rcaps) |
| Ling. Notes: | none |
| Palaeography: | Davies et al/2000, 269: `The first three letters of this inscription form a triple ligature. The M has splayed outer strokes and inner strokes of roughly equal length. The A consists of an angled bar attached to the last two strokes of the M [compare SMGRV/1], and the left stroke significantly overshoots the end of the right. As in I3 [BAIS/3], the O is lozenge-shaped, with the lower left stroke being the elongated final stroke of the M/A. Both the upper left and lower right strokes continue well beyond the top and bottom of the lozenge respectively. These are not slips of the blade for the entire lengths of the elongated strokes are of equal depth, indicating that this was a stylistic and deliberate feature. The penultimate letter is of unusual form. It consists of a single down stroke with a pronounced kink near the top and an oblique top stroke that loops back on itself to the left. It is extremely likely that this is a half-uncial R. The presence of the lozenge-shaped O and the half-uncial R, in an inscription otherwise of normal, if elongated, capitals, indicates a date in the 7th century'. |
| Legibility: | some Davies et al/2000, 267: `no letters appear to have been lost.' |
| Lines: | 1 |
| Carving errors: | 0 |
| Doubtful: | no |
Maonir- here could reflect a British compound *Magono-rix, closely comparable to the Gaulish Magu-rix. However, the -n- suggests that we might instead have the name or name element Maon (< Magono-) + -irn, of uncertain significance. In either case, Maon- would reflect a Neo-Brittonic form, not older than c. 550'.