County Dublin Ogham 500-1100 CE

Irish Map Showing County Dublin On The East Side

County Dublin Baronies

Map of County Dublin Baronies in 1899.

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_baronies_of_Ireland#/media/File:IrelandBaronies1899Map.png

Dublin Castle ogham comb © Photographic Archive, National Monuments Service, Government of Ireland (E748:54) image Megan Kasten. Online via David Stifter and Bluesky at: https://bsky.app/profile/davidstifter.bsky.social/post/3lcwlfo4gnc2j

Ogham Comb From Dublin Castle (1200 CE?)

(updated August 15, 2025)
I-DUB-002 (Caisleán Bhaile Átha Cliath/Dublin Castle, Co. Dublin)
Dublin Castle was ordered to be built by King John of England in 1204, after the Norman invasion of Ireland in 1169. It was mostly complete by 1230. The castle was of typical Norman courtyard design, with a central square without a keep, bounded on all sides by tall defensive walls and protected at each corner by a circular tower.

Translation Using Ballymote Letter Assignments With Runic Akkadian Letters (Ogham Text 6)

Read left to right. Capital letters on object. Small letters are inferred Inner vowels. Verbs are italic bold. Dual use letters are E/H, I/Y, U/W, and '/A in which vowel appears at beginning of words except for Yahu which is keeping its traditional Hebrew transliteration
Letter assignment chart used: Ogham ChartDictionary used: Latest Runic Akkadian dictionaryUp direction for ogham: left side

Bu Nu Mu

In English

Nourishments will reveal fertility-fluids (life-powers)

Comment: The text is stating that offerings to the divine powers are needed to insure the fertility of the land.

Previous Ogham Translation Attempt Using Post-Oppression Lettering

᚛ᚐᚊᚓ or ᚓᚅᚐ᚜

AQE or ENA

Comment: The letter assignments are traditional and not Akkadian. Also they chose to see the lines which crossed the midline as vowels instead of consonants.

Reference

(December 10, 2024) Comb has mostly decorative lines with a small ogham section on the center right.
To quote David Stifter:
It was found 1962 by Marcus Ó hEochaidh in an excavation of a residence, together with five other combs, pins and iron objects. In addition to the ogam, the comb bears decorative strokes that are superficially similar to ogam. The comb illustrates a major challenge of most portable objects: since their content and spelling do not follow the model of epigraphic ogam, they are very difficult to interpret.
David Stifter and Bluesky at: https://bsky.app/profile/davidstifter.bsky.social/post/3lcwlfo4gnc2j

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