CAPEN/1

Corpus Refs:	none
Site:	CAPEN
Discovery:	first mentioned, 1698 Jones, W.,
History:	White/Smith/1999, 145--146: `The only record of the stone is in a manuscript of c. 1698 (B.M. Stowe, 1023--24) ... The stone seems to have been broken and a part of it still existed in the 1920s, presumably with the inscription, and this was moved to the County School, Llangefni by Edwards Owen, the headmaster and local historian, but it has not been re-located'.
Geology:
Dimensions:	1.01 x 0.36 x 0.0 (converted from White/Smith/1999)
Setting:	Lost (present 1928, missing 1999)
Location:	White/Smith/1999, 146, state that at least part of the stone was still extant in 1928, although it cannot now be found.
Form:	plain White/Smith/1999, 145: `The manuscript records it as 3 ft 6 ins (1.01m) long and 1 ft 2 ins (0.36m) wide. It appears to be a naturally fractured slab with the inscription placed vertically towards the narrow end suggesting that it had originally been set upright with the broad end in the ground, that is the manuscript shows it upside down'.
Condition:	n/a , n/a
Folklore:	none
Crosses:	none
Decorations:	no other decoration

References

White/Smith/1999 145--148 drawing substantial discussion

Inscriptions

CAPEN/1/1

Readings

Sims-Williams, P. (1999):

DEVORIGI
Expansion:
DEVORIGI
White/Smith/1999 146 reading only

Notes

Orientation:	vertical down
Position:	n/a ; broad ; n/a ; undecorated White/Smith/1999, 145--146, argue for the inscription running vertically down the stone.
Incision:	ind
Date:	500 - 633 (White/Smith/1999) Sims-Williams in White/Smith/1999, 149: `Putting the epigraphy and philology together, a roughly sixth-century (or possibly early-seventh-century) date seems acceptable'.
Language:	name only (rcaps)
Ling. Notes:	none
Palaeography:	Sims-Williams in White/Smith/1999, 147: `Judging by the transcription on 88r, all but one letter of the inscription was in Roman capitals - with a rather flamboyant R and raised I (the first I) for which I have no good parallels. The one exception is the half-uncial G (missing in the 84r DEVORICI version, of course), for which the best parallels noted by Nash-Williams (1950: 224) from his Group I of inscriptions (fifth to seventh century) are in three inscriptions which he dated sixth-century (no. 305), late-sixth-century (no. 316), and late-sixth to early-seventh-centuries (no. 54). Jackson dated to the first of these .. To the early seventh century and Charles Thomas gives sixth century, while also quoting Jackson's date ... Epigraphically, then, a sixth- to seventh-century date for the Capel Eithin stone is attractive, although it should be noted that doubts have been raised about Nash-Williams's and Kenneth Jackson's epigraphical dating of Class I stones. ... Of course, comparable half uncial Gs also occur in Nash-Williams's Group II (seventh to ninth centuries): the best parallels occur on his nos. 46 (ninth century) and 124 (seventh to ninth centuries). Yet as a whole, the epigraphy of Capel Eithin is that of Group I rather than Group II'.
Legibility:	n/a Sims-Williams in White/Smith/1999, 146: `plain and unremarkable capitals'.
Lines:	1
Carving errors:	0
Doubtful:	no

Names

DEVORIGI (Language: Brittonic; Gender: male)
Sims-Williams in White/Smith/1999, 147--148: `The name on the stone is not otherwise attested in Britain. DERVORI, on a now lost stone from Llannor parish, Llyn (Nash-Williams, no. 94 = Macalister no. 388), happens to be transcribed immediately after DEVORIGI on fol. 88r of Stowe 1023, but is linguistically distinct. .. The first element of DEVORIGI (genitive of *Devorix) is Celtic *deiwos `god' (cf. Jackson/1953, 375), as in the Old Welsh name Duinerth `divine strength' (Evans/Rhys/1893, 396), so that the whole name might be translated `divine king'. It is a personal name and should certainly not be regarded as a title, nor as an indication of paganism .. In later Welsh the name would be *Dwywyr or *Dwywri, depending on whether the nominative or an oblique case survived .. The long close E of the first syllable may already have become /ui/ in speech in the sixth century, but there is no evidence that the dipthong was shown in writing until the eighth century (Sims-Williams/1991: 49 and 59), so the E spelling proves little.
The preservation of the composition vowel -O- with the correct quality is typical of inscriptions which Jackson dated to the fifth and sixth centuries but the possibility of such a conservative spelling in the seventh century cannot be ruled out entirely. The form -RIGI instead on the original British genitive *rigos is paralleled in inscriptions which Jackson dated to the fifth and sixth centuries and it seems likely that our inscription is contemporary with these. Admittedly, final -g was sometimes written in the Old Welsh period (Jackson/1953: 456 cites dou rig in the Historia Brittonum), yet the possibility that DEVORIGI is an artificial Latinized genitive in -i of a form such as Archaic Old Welsh *Deurig, Old Welsh *Duiuri(g), complete with correctly restored composition vowel, seems remote'.