Newton Stone
| Newton Stone | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Country: | Scotland |
| Region: | Aberdeen |
| City/Village: | Originally Old Rayne, currently Culsalmond, |
| Produced: | 6-7th Century[1] |
| Dimensions: | 203cm High, 50cm Wide, 26cm Thick |
| Ogham letters: | |
| ᚛ᚔᚇᚇᚐᚏᚏᚅᚅᚅᚃᚑᚏᚏᚓᚅᚅᚔᚔᚑᚄᚔᚑᚄᚏᚏ᚜, many readings suggested | |
| Text - Native: | |
| IDDARRNNNVORRENNI(I/R)OS(I/R)OSRR, many readings suggested | |
| Other resources: | |
Newton Stone is an early medieval stone with two inscriptions on it: one ogham and one in "unknown script". The stone was discovered in 1803 by the 4th Earl of Aberdeen George Hamilton-Gordon in Pitmachie Farm around Old Rayne. Later, local Scottish antiquarian Alexander Gordon relocated the stone into the garden of Newton House in Culsalmond.
The Newton Stone is one of two stones, the symbols etched into the second are distinctly Pictish. They show a serpent and a Z-rod alongside a double disc, which can be seen on other Pictish stones around Scotland.[2] The Newton Stone has four carvings: the six-line inscription on the face of the stone, the ogham inscription with a recently observed incised mirror symbol on a flat facet near the side base, and a spiral near the base of the back. Canmore ID of the stone is 18086.[3]
Ogham Inscription
[edit]The ogham inscription has 25 letters and fol-lows a natural ridge on the left side of the stone, curving upwards at the bottom along an added stemline. Boutet (2015)[4] read this inscription as UDDDAROTNUNNORRMAONNEAPEIOSAEI and translates it as "Last, I gave for the farming season in return, Maon, grandson, he Aeios". Kelly Kilpatrick (2021)[5] propounds reading IDDARRNNNVORRENNI(I/R)OS(I/R)OSRR, as well as mentioning 17 other interpretations of inscription proposed. She suggests that the first part of inscription, "IDDARRNN", can be a Pictish name, similar to what we find on Brodie and Scoonie stones - "EDDARRNONN" (possibly from Latin "aeternus" or Proto-Celtic "īsarnom").[6][7] The term "VORRENN", she derives from Proto-Celtic *ufor- ("on", "over"). Forsyth (1996)[8] compares this term to the Irish name Forann, and the last "IOSRR" she compares with the Irish name Ross.
Unknown Script
[edit]
The stone has an inscription written in an unknown alphabetic script consisting of 43 symbols across the top front, and has attracted scholars for the last two centuries, also due to the swastika symbol in the 4th row, which can be possibly compared to the letter x in Latin alphabet. Numerous theories about its meaning and language have been suggested. Mill (1863) suggested a Phoenician origin of the inscription,[9] Graves (1885) proposed Greek and Latin,[10] Moore (1865) considered script written in Hebrew and Sanskrit, [11] though many scholars agree that this is a "debased Roman cursive"[12][13][8][14] The unknown script is also often compared to the glosses from Codex Usserianus Primus and Springmount Bog Tablets. Kilptatrick[5] suggested reading of the scipt as:
- (E)TT(E)(E) (U)R(Y/e)(R)M(Y/e) (P?/Q?) G(Y/e)O(n/H)OUO(C/T)(U)(R/S) ( B/D[ I])(S/L?)I (N/H?) ( S/g/Q)(S/g/Q)I (N/n/H)O(or U /s) O(Y/e)(T?)
In 1907 William Bannerman read the text as:[15]
- ETTE
- CUNANMAIN
- MAOLOUOEG
- UN ROFIIS I
- H-INSSI
- LOAOARUIN
He stated that the text of the script is unambiguously written in Old Gaelic, but had similar vocabulary and syntax to Latin. He also said that "MAOLOUOEG" is referred to Saint Moluag, Scottish missionary from 6th century. The "LOAOARUIN" here, according to Bannerman, is connected to the modern Firth of Lorn in Western Scotland.
- Draw nearto the soulof Moluagfrom whom came knowledge (of the faith). He wasof the Islandof Lorn.
Moore interpreted the script through modern Hebrew as:
- bgvb
- bmitim aiti
- aor kb km kvkk
- mi pona inzrn
- laik kmaa
- bki iktni kokdi
Some scholars[16][17] also showed skepticism, saying that the unknown script is a modern forgery. Gordon, on other hand, claimed that the carving technique of the stone is typical to Pictish Class I symbol stones, and "There is therefore no reason to regard the Newton alphabetic inscription as a forgery on technical grounds".[18]
References
[edit]- ^ Kilpatrick, Kelly. "The Newton Stones and writing in Pictland, part 1: location, landscape, and historical background". journals.socantscot.org. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland.
- ^ Abreu, Kristine De (2024-03-23). "Exploration Mysteries: Newton Stone » Explorersweb". Explorersweb. Retrieved 2025-04-06.
- ^ "Newton House, The Newton Stone | Canmore". canmore.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-04-06.
- ^ Boutet, Michel Gérald (2015). "The Newton Pictish Stone of Aberdeenshire". academia.edu.
- ^ a b Kilpatrick, Kelly (2021). "The Newton Stones and writing in Pictland, part 2: the Newton Stone ogham, Pictish Latin-letter alphabetic inscription and the Pictish symbol system". journals.socantscot.org.
- ^ von Sabelfeld, Leon Alexander. "Pictish Language The Mysterious Ogham Inscriptions of Scotland". academia.edu.
- ^ Rhys, Guto. "Approaching the Pictish language: historiography, early evidence and the question of Pritenic" (PDF).
- ^ a b Forsyth, Katherine. "Language in Pictland: spoken and written" (PDF).
- ^ Mill, W H 1863 ‘Decipherment of the Phoenician inscription on the Newton Stone, Aberdeenshire’
- ^ Graves, Charles. "AN ATTEMPT TO DECIPHER AND EXPLAIN THE INSCRIPTIONS ON THE NEWTON STONE".
- ^ Moore, George (1865). "Ancient pillar stones of Scotland; their significance and bearing on ethnology".
- ^ Stokes, W 1892 ‘On the Newton Stone’
- ^ Brash, R R 1872–4 ‘Remarks on the Ogham Inscription of the Newton Pillar-Stone’
- ^ Simpson, W D 1943 The Province of Mar, Being the Rhind Lectures in Archaeology
- ^ Bannerman, William (December 9, 1907). "THE NEWTON STONE. A CRITICAL EXAMINATION AND TRANSLA-TION OF ITS MAIN INSCRIPTION". journals.socantscot.org.
- ^ Stewart Macalister, Robert Alexander. "The Newton Stone". cambridge.org.
- ^ The Problem of the Picts: 129-60, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., Edinburgh, 1955
- ^ C. A., Gordon. "CARVING TECHNIQUE ON THE SYMBOL STONESOF NORTH-EAST SCOTLAND".