Vitalianus stone
The Vitalianus Stone , also called the Vitalinus Stone and Nevern Stone II , stands next to the entrance to St. Brynach's Church in the small village of Nevern, Pembrokeshire , Wales . Of the two inscriptions, one is made up of Ogham characters and the other is made up of Latin letters . The stone is dated from the 5th century to the beginning of the 6th century AD.
Description and history
The Vitalianus stone is 159 cm high, 61 cm long and 51 cm wide. It consists of dolerite and has occasional feldspar spots .
The existence of this stone was first mentioned in 1695, but the stone could no longer be found. It was not until 1895 that the stone was rediscovered by the Welsh Celtologist John Rhys about 3.5 km from the village of Nevern. The stone had meanwhile been used as a goal post at the entrance to a farm. Years later, the stone was brought back to the church in Nevern, where it had originally been as a goal post before it was stolen and misused.
Inscriptions
Ogham inscription:
- ᚛ ᚃᚔᚈᚐᚂᚔᚐᚅᚔ ᚜
- (Reading direction on the photo and in the adjacent drawing from bottom to top)
Transmission:
- FITALIANI
Translation:
- (Stone) of Vitalianus
Latin inscription:
- VIT {AL} IANI
- EMERETO
{AL} is a ligature from A and L. Translation:
- VITALIANI
- EMERETO
Translation:
- (Stone) of Vitalianus Emereto
Research is uncertain whether Emereto is a personal name or whether it is an epithet for Vitalianus.
Dating
In research, the Vitalianus stone is dated from AD 400 to 533. Victor Erle Nash-Williams in his 1950 publication dates the inscriptions to AD 400--533, Kenneth Hurlstone Jackson in 1953 to AD 400--499 and Charles Thomas in 1994 to AD 466--533.
See also
literature
- Jackson, KH (Kenneth Hurlstone): Language and History in Early Britain, Edinburgh 1953
- Nash-Williams, VE (Victor Erle): The Early Christian Monuments of Wales, Cardiff 1950
- Macalister, RAS (Robert Alexander Stewart): Corpus Inscriptionum Insularum Celticarum 1, Dublin 1945
- Thomas, Charles: And Shall These Mute Stones Speak? Post-Roman Inscriptions in Western Britain, Cardiff 1994.
- Ziegler, Sabine: The language of the old Irish Ogam inscriptions. Historical Linguistics, Supplement 36, Göttingen 1994
Web links
- The Ogham Stones of Wales. Nevern Stone II - in English
- Description of the Maglocunus stone and detailed linguistic analysis of the inscriptions on the archaeological page of University College London - in English
- Full description of the inscription, as well as the discovery and history of the stone - in English
- Images and descriptions of the Vitalianus stone (Nevern stone II) and also of the Maglocunus stone (Nevern stone I) - in English
Individual evidence
- ↑ Nevern's Origins? The Stones of Maglocunas and Vitalianus. P71
- ↑ Discovery and history of the Vitalianus stone
- ↑ Comments on the page on "VITALIANI EMERETO"
- ^ The Ogham Stones of Wales. Nevern Stone II
Coordinates: 52 ° 1 ′ 31.7 ″ N , 4 ° 47 ′ 42.5 ″ W.