| Corpus Refs: | Davies/etal/2000:F2 |
| Site: | LRVOA |
| Discovery: | first mentioned, 1924 Morel, E. |
| History: | Davies et al/2000, 113--115: `Commandant E. Morel first brought the Lanrivoaré stone to notice in the 1920s, making a sketch and a rubbing in November 1924. It lay beside a lavoir on the eastern side of the road to Ploudalmézeau, the inscription usually hidden by the laundry which was piled on it to drain. The only information he was able to obtain concerning the stone's provenance was the comment of an elderly lady that it had previously stood on the plot of land immediately beside the spring which fed the lavoir. As Morel pointed out, the parish churchyard is only 120m away and the stone could well have come from there. Morel recorded the stone fully, but died before he could publish it. Knowledge of his notes prompted P.-R. Giot to look for the stone, visiting Lanrivoaré with G. Chabal and Dr L. L'Hostis. When they first saw it, the stone was set on its side beside the lavoir tank, serving as a kind of bench, as depicted in a photograph. At M. Giot's instigation the stone was moved to the nearby churchyard, where it has since occupied a number of positions. Photographs published in the mid-1980s show the stone against the wall of the church but subsequently it was moved again for it now stands, set in a concrete base, at the head of the steps leading down into the so-called cimetière des saints, a paved enclosure within which is set a calvary and seven large rounded pebbles. In 1952 Giot published a full account of the stone with linguistic interpretation by John Lloyd-Jones, Professor of Welsh at University College Dublin, illustrating it with a photograph and a drawing of its lettering based on that of Morel (subsequently reproduced several times). At least four further photographs of the stone have since been published. In 1989 Morel's account was finally published, together with his reduced drawing of his full-size original drawing and a photograph. Members of the CISP team visited the site in August 1994, May 1997 and October 1998'. |
| Geology: | Davies et al/2000, 116: `pink granite profusely flecked with black'. |
| Dimensions: | 1.24 x 0.32 x 0.32 (Davies/etal/2000) |
| Setting: | in ground |
| Location: | other Davies et al/2000, 114: `it now stands...at the head of the steps leading down into the enclosure' at the Parish churchyard at Lanrivoaré. |
| Form: | stele Davies et al/2000, 115--116: `The Lanrivoaré monument is a small, square-sectioned pillar with chamfered edges and a flat top. Clearly a re-used Iron-Age stele, its surfaces are highly worked and very smooth. Its full length is given by Giot as 124cm, but only 89cm is now visible above ground. He describes and illustrates a rough part, only crudely worked, which would have been invisible when the pillar was set in the ground. This `root' is clearly visible in the earlier photographs and in Morel's drawing, although only the lip is now to be seen as the stone flares out at the end of the chamfer (Veillard/Duval/1971, 81). The total width of the stone, measured across the top, is 32cm x 32cm. The four broad faces are 23cm (W), 23cm (N), 23cm (E), 22cm (S) wide and the four chamfers 8cm (NW), 8cm (NE), 7cm (SE), 9cm (SW) wide. The stone itself is a distinctive pink granite, profusely flecked with black'. |
| Condition: | complete , good Davies et al/2000, 116: `It displays typical weathering but does not appear to be actively eroding. It is complete and in good condition: the only visible damage is a few knocks towards the bottom and two indentations on the right edge'. |
| Folklore: | none |
| Crosses: | 1: equal-armed; linear; straight; curved; square; none; none; none; n/a |
| Decorations: | Davies et al/2000, 116--117: `The stone is undecorated except for an equal-armed cross and a single line of text arranged vertically down the west face of the shaf. |
| Davies, W. et al. (2000): | +GALLMAU Expansion: + GALLMAU Translation: + Gallmau (PN). Davies/etal/2000 117 reading only |
| Orientation: | vertical down |
| Position: | n/a ; broad ; below cross ; undivided Davies et al/2000, 117: `The carving begins 19cm from the top and ends 11cm from current ground level. It is placed slightly off-centre: the left margin is 8cm but the right only 6.5cm'. |
| Incision: | pocked Davies et al/2000, 117: `The letters have been incised with typical `pock-and-smooth' technique. The strokes are very clear: fairly deep but not too open, with the width of incision at surface 1cm maximum'. |
| Date: | 600 - 699 (Tedeschi/1996) 700 - 799 (Giot/1952) 650 - 799 (Davies/etal/2000) Davies et al/2000, 119: `In view of the style of the lettering it would seem to belong to the later 7th or 8th century. |
| Language: | name only (rbook) |
| Ling. Notes: | none |
| Palaeography: | Davies et al/2000, 117--118: `The inscription is in Insular decorative capitals and is well executed and elegant (cf. Higgitt 1994: 209-33). The text is preceded by an equal-armed cross with slightly expanded terminals. The G is half-uncial with a serifed flat top stroke and a sweeping curved stroke. The two As are angle-barred, and on neither do the two arms quite meet; rather they join the flat top stroke. The two Ls are placed one within the other and each is curved with wedge-shaped finials. The M consists of three vertical strokes joined medially by a horizontal stroke; again the ascenders have wedge-shaped finials. The final U has a vertical stroke on the right and a curved stroke on the left that bends and joins the ascender. Both these strokes also have the same wedge-shaped finials. The script is very similar to the decorative capitals of the Lindisfarne Gospels (CLA vol. 2 no. 187). The letters GALL are also almost exactly paralleled, without the angle-bar A, in the Book of Kells fol. 174v (CLA vol. 2 no. 274). The use of Insular decorative capitals and the similarities with the Lindisfarne Gospels make a date of carving within the second half of the 7th or the 8th century likely'. |
| Legibility: | good Davies et al/2000, 117: `The inscription is complete and well preserved; the final U has suffered some damage but this is slight and the letter is still clear'. |
| Lines: | 1 |
| Carving errors: | 0 |
| Doubtful: | no |
GALL- corresponds to Middle Breton Gall `Frenchman' from Old Celtic Gallos `Gaul'; cf. Breton Bro C'hall `France' from *Broga Gallon `Country of the Gauls'. In Brittany, this root occurs in a Gallo-Latin name with suffix, Gallianus (CR no. 120). For an OB compound beginning with an ethnic name, compare Saus-hoiarn (CR no. 171) with Saus `Saxon' (Tanguy 1998: 56). An uncompounded ethnic name occurs as Early OW Guoidel (Lib. Land. no. 209b c. 750-80).
MAU is attested as the second element in the name Tutamau (CR no. 281), and also probably in Wormawi in ch. 14 of the Vita of Paul Aurelian), unless that is Uurm-/Uorm- `brown' plus the suffix -(i)au. Cornish has a common noun maw `young man, servant' from British *magus. Magu- is attested as a name element in Gaulish. These forms correspond to the OIr. common noun mug `slave, servant'. The same root is found in Breton maouez `woman', corresponding to Cornish mowes `girl', and probably in Breton mevel `domestic servant'. The Early Welsh collective maon (two syllables) is used with the meaning `subjects, a king's warband' (GPC sn.). The singular occurs in the Welsh fossilized phrase meudwy `hermit, monk', as if from *magus Dewi: `servant of God'. The same element occurs in two compound names in Late Romano-British spellings in inscriptions from Wales: MAVOHE[N-] from *Magu-senos (Llanboidy: ECMW no. 149) and VEDOMAV- (Margam: ECMW no. 229). If Gallmau is not simply a name that is servile in origin, it may contain the sense of meudwy as a name in faith, i.e. `Gallo-Roman Servant [of God]'.