| Corpus Refs: | Macalister/1945:40 |
| Site: | PAINT |
| Discovery: | recognised, 1898 Rhys, J. |
| History: | Macalister/1945, 45: `formerly lying in a field near Seneschalstown House: now removed to the grounds of Piltown House, near Drogheda'. |
| Geology: | |
| Dimensions: | 2.24 x 0.76 x 0.33 (converted from Macalister/1945) |
| Setting: | inc |
| Location: | other Macalister/1945, 45: `now removed to the grounds of Piltown House, near Drogheda'. |
| Form: | plain |
| Condition: | complete , some |
| Folklore: | none |
| Crosses: | none |
| Decorations: | no other decoration |
| Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): | MAQICAIRATINI | AVIINEQAGLAS Expansion: MAQI-CAIRATINI AVI INEQAGLAS Translation: [The stone] of Mac Cairthinn (PN), grandson [or descendant] of Enechglass. Macalister/1945 45 reading only McManus/1991 53 reading only OCróinín/1995 53 reading only Ziegler/1994 255 reading only |
| Orientation: | vertical up up |
| Position: | n/a ; broad ; n/a ; undecorated Macalister/1945, 45: `inscription in two lines on the face, not on the edge (up-up)'. |
| Incision: | inc |
| Date: | 500 - 550 (Ziegler/1994) |
| Language: | Goidelic (ogham) |
| Ling. Notes: | See McManus/1991, 94, 103, 117, 121, and also 111--112. |
| Palaeography: | Macalister/1945, 45: `no stem lines have been cut (they may have been painted) to guide the lapidary in setting out his scores...2N has been tampered with, its very neat scores having been roughly lengthened downward'. McManus/1991, 7, refers to the spelliing INEQ- as an error for ENEQ- due to the omission of a vowel score. |
| Legibility: | good Macalister/1945, 45: `inscription is perfectly clear'. |
| Lines: | 2 |
| Carving errors: | 0 |
| Doubtful: | no |
McManus/1991, 53: `The commemorand of 40 [PAINT/1/1]...has been identified with the Mac-Caírthinn of the Leinster poem Ní dú dír do dermait who ruled as king of Leinster in the fifth century and may be the same person as the Mac-Cárthinn mac Cóelbath who is recorded in the Annals of Innisfallen as having fallen in the battle of Mag Femin in the year 446. The location of the stone...does not correspond to that of the Uí Enechglais at a later time, when they are found on the Wicklow coast, but they may have held sway in this area of Brega at an earlier period when they were one of the leading dynastic groups to which the kings mentioned in the said poem belonged. On the other hand the commemorand is known only as a member of the Uí Enechglais -- his father's name is not recorded -- while the Mac-Cárthinn/Caírthinn of the Leinster poem and the annals is recorded only as such or with his father's name Cóelub. No absolute certainty, therefore, can attach to the equation and the apocope of the final syllable of INEQAGLAS on a mid-fifth century inscription would present a problem for chronology'.
Ó Cróinín/1995, 53: `Mac Caírthinn...has been plausibly identified with the individual commemorated...He is perhaps identical with the Mac Caírthinn mac Cóelbath who is recorded by the annals as having fallen in the battle of Mag Femin (AD 446)'.
Ziegler/1994, 144, argues that the name is the genitive singular of an O-stem which would later give Old Irish Caerthann.
McManus/1991, 109: `MAQI-CAIRATINI ... (Mac-Caírthinn, cáerthann `rowan tree''.
| Macalister, R.A.S. (1945): | [--][MAQI MUCOI][--] Expansion: -][MAQI MUCOI][-- Macalister/1945 46 reading only |
| Orientation: | vertical up along down |
| Position: | n/a ; arris ; n/a ; undecorated Macalister/1945, 45--46: `the stone is, in fact, a palimpsest: there was an older inscription on the [dexter] edge specified, which was carried over the top and completed on the dexter edge of the opposite face'. |
| Incision: | inc |
| Date: | None published |
| Language: | Goidelic (ogham) |
| Ling. Notes: | none |
| Palaeography: | none |
| Legibility: | poor Macalister/1945, 46: `nothing but a few vague traces, from which only a bare suggestion that it was in the A MAQI MUCOI B formula can be recovered'. |
| Lines: | 1 |
| Carving errors: | 0 |
| Doubtful: | no |