The Brandsbutt Stone is a class I Pictish symbol stone in

Inverurie Inverurie (Scottish Gaelic: ''Inbhir Uraidh'' or ''Inbhir Uaraidh'', 'mouth of the River Ury') is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at the confluence of the rivers Ury and Don, about north-west of Aberdeen. Geography Inverurie is in the vall ...

Aberdeenshire Aberdeenshire ( sco, Aiberdeenshire; gd, Siorrachd Obar Dheathain) is one of the 32 Subdivisions of Scotland#council areas of Scotland, council areas of Scotland. It takes its name from the County of Aberdeen which has substantially differe ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

Description

A large block of

whinstone Whinstone is a term used in the quarrying industry to describe any hard dark-coloured rock. Examples include the igneous rocks, basalt and dolerite, as well as the sedimentary rock, chert. Etymology The Northern English/Scots term ''whin'' is f ...

, high, wide and deep, the stone had been broken up and used in building a

dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. Dry stone structures are stable because of their construction m ...

wall before 1866. The stone, now reassembled, bears two incised Pictish symbols, a crescent and v-rod and a serpent and z-rod, and an inscription in

Ogham Ogham (Modern Irish: ; mga, ogum, ogom, later mga, ogam, label=none ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish langua ...

, ''IRATADDOARENS''. The carvings of the Brandsbutt Stone are dated to around AD 600. It is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...

Inscription

The inscription borne by the Brandsbutt Stone, ''IRATADDOARENS'', has been described by

Katherine Forsyth Katherine S. Forsyth is a Scottish historian who specializes in the history and culture of Celtic-speaking peoples during the 1st millennium AD, in particular the Picts. She is currently a professor iCeltic and Gaelicat the University of Glasgo ...

as appearing to be "utterly baffling". However, a handful of interpretations have been offered. Suggestions include the possibility that it may contain a corrupted version of the personal name ''Ethernan''. If this is the case, it is likely to refer to the 7th century saint

Ethernan Ethernan (or Ithernan, Etharnan, Itarnan) was a 7th century Scottish martyr and saint. Life and death Almost nothing is known about Ethernan's life. It has been speculated that he may have been a monk of Iona due to his death being mentioned ...

about whom little is known but who was apparently venerated by the Picts. He is referred to in an entry from the Annals of Ulster from 669 AD as having been killed by the Picts along with Corindu. It is thought that these names may be P-Celtic and therefore Pictish in origin. Other examples of the name Ethernan being preserved on Pictish stones include, in Ogham, The Newton Stone (IDDARRNNN), Rodney's Stone (EDDARRNON) and The Scoonie Stone (EDDARRNONN), and, in Latin script, The

Fordoun Stone The Fordoun Stone is a class II Pictish stones, Pictish cross slab in Fordoun parish church, Auchenblae, Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Description A slab of Old Red Sandstone, the cross slab was discovered in the late 18th century, having been reus ...

(''P''IDARNOIN). The ''ira-'' may be a

Pictish Pictish is the extinct language, extinct Brittonic language spoken by the Picts, the people of eastern and northern Scotland from Late Antiquity to the Early Middle Ages. Virtually no direct attestations of Pictish remain, short of a limited num ...

verb cognate with

Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally ** Breton people ** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Ga ...

''irha'' meaning "he lies". However, the existence of this verb is doubtful, according to Rodway. Thomas Clancy proposed that the text represents the Gaelic phrase ''i rath Aduarén s-'' meaning "this is the property of Aduarén here".

References

External links

Entry
in Canmore database {{Pictish stones Pictish stones Pictish stones in Aberdeenshire Scheduled Ancient Monuments in Aberdeenshire Inverurie