Wroxeter Stone

The Wroxeter Stone is a stone unearthed in 1967 at Wroxeter, England, formerly the Roman city of Viroconium Cornoviorum.[1] It bears an inscription in an Insular Celtic language, identified by the Celtic Inscribed Stones Project (CISP) at UCL as "partly-Latinized Primitive Irish".[2]

It was included in A History of Ireland in 100 Objects (# 21) under the name of the Cunorix Stone. It is in the care of English Heritage and in 2017 was not on public display. The inscription, probably on a re-used gravestone, is dated to 460-475 AD, and comes from a period several decades after the Romans abandoned Roman Britain, and Irish raiders had begun to make permanent settlements in South Wales and south-western Britain.[3]

Inscription

The text of the inscription reads:[1] CVNORIX | MACVSM/A | QVICO[L]I[N]E

This is traditionally rendered into words as:[2] CVNORIX MACVS MAQVI COLINE

Translation:[2] Cunorix son of Maqui Coline, where Cunorix and Maqui Coline are personal names.

The National Museum of Ireland render the inscription as: "Hound-king, son of the tribe of Holly".[3] "Cunorix" may relate to the etymology of the name of Cynric of Wessex, a 6th-century king.

Notes
  1. Wright, R.P. and Jackson, K.H. (1968) `A Late Inscription from Wroxeter', The Antiquaries Journal, 48, part 2, pp. 296-300 doi:10.1017/S0003581500034934
  2. CISP database, WRXTR/1, recovered 14 Sep 2014
  3. "Cunorix Stone", A History of Ireland in 100 Objects
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