I mentioned this mysterious stone here a few days ago, since when the story has been picked up by many more news outlets, largely justifying the mairie‘s decision to put a 2000 euro price on its head, it would seem.
And so I, like probably many others, emailed through a filled-out form to say I’d like more information: and received a link to a 12MB PDF, which
contained mainly photos of the rock in question.
Société Archéologique du Finistère
It also contained a copy of what may well be the only time this stone has been discussed in some kind of journal or book. This was (as I suspected) the Bulletin of the Société Archéologique du Finistère, which has a long-running kind of ‘mop-up’ feature entitled “Monuments et objets d’art du Finistère. Études, découvertes, restaurations“, for small items that don’t quite merit a full article. I don’t know precisely which Bulletin this is, but from the page numbers visible in the copy (pp. 332 and 333), I’d guess it was the 1979 Bulletin (it certainly can’t be any earlier).
Here’s what it says:
PLOUGASTEL-DAOULAS
Anse du Caro
Une inscription énigmatique du XVIIIe siècleAprès bien des hésitations, nous livrons le relevé d’une longue inscription gravée en creux sur des rochers au nord de l’anse du Caro, dans la presqu’île de Plougastel-Daoulas. Elle nous a été signalée en 1979 par Bernard Tanguy. Nous communiquons ce que nous avons pu en relever, dans l’espoir que quelque membre de la Société y exerce sa sagacité, afin que l’on puisse obtenir des éclaircissements, comme cela a été le cas pour l’inscription de Guengat (cf. supra).
Les coordonnées de l’inscription du Caro, selon la carte I.G.N. au 1/25000, sont les suivantes : X : 098 00, Y : 094 15, soit à 500m, à vol d’oiseau, à l’ouest de village d’Illien-an-Traon. On peut, à marée basse, suivre la côte vers le nord en partant de l’anse du Caro, et repérer les rochers entre la pointe qui s’avance dans la mer et la falaise.
Sommairement gravée en caractères dont la majorité est en capitales, il ne fait pas de doute q’elle est en langue bretonne. Vieille de deux siècles, le rocher sur laquelle on la lit s’est débité sous l’action des marées, plusieurs signes sont érodés et la surface de la pierre est éclatée par endroits.
My rough-and-ready translation:
An enigmatic inscription from the eighteenth century
After much hesitation on our part, here is a record of a long[-ish] carved inscription found on the rocks in the Plougastel-Daoulas peninsula, north of Anse du Caro. This was first reported to us by Bernard Tanguy in 1979. We hope that, by publishing here what we have been able to discover, some member of the Société will apply his or her sagacity to it, so that we can gain greater clarity, as indeed happened for the Guengat inscription (cf. supra).The coordinates of the inscription du Caro, according to the 1/25000 scale I.G.N. [Institut Géographique National] map, are as follows: X: 098 00, Y: 094 15; this is 500m west of the village of Illien-an-Traon as the crow flies. If, at low tide, you follow the coast northwards along from Anse du Caro, you should be able to locate the rock between the tide-line and the cliff.
Looking at the lightly engraved in characters (of which the majority are capitals), there is surely no doubt that this is written in the Breton language. Two centuries on, however, the rock on which it was carved has been damaged by the action of the tides, several of its glyphs have been eroded away, while in places the surface of the stone is smashed up.
The First Transcription
We have two basic sources for the inscription: the version that appeared in the Bulletin (just after the above-translated text), and the hand-written version that appears in the mairie‘s PDF. Firstly, here’s the SAF version:
ROC AR B…
DRE AR GRIO SE EVELOH
AR VIRIONES BAOAVEL… R I
… GENBICEN DA BEN ESOA… S E
DIASBOANT…
…EKGES…
BO…FET
DAR
ASOMGAROPA
VARLAEOERIATQDAO
NELACIEOD – ET… F… AOMA
CVLESEDAREIDIMEVSMES
ARPRIGILOD1787
(coeur et croix) OBIIE: BRISBVILAR… FROIK… AL
…ALVOA ARBORSINET
CARCLONEPR ES (SAKI) ASONRES E I BEL
(ANNDDIN) VMS
… (ABAN) SDARANDOC (SAOU) ADREIRIO
(FAN) 1786 NEIS
… CL…
… DOS…
SARMIS – UT
177IMESO
EMGAR
DALOTOGREC
TRE: C-ND’une autre main, la date de 1920…
All the same, I have to point that this SAF transcription isn’t really doing justice to the lettering on the rock. For a start, the first letter resembles a lower case ‘d’ more than a ‘D’; several of the letters seem to have backwards ‘N’ shapes; and so forth.
Even so, this first transcription was (without much doubt) done in good faith some years ago, and we must be aware that the process of cleaning it up and preparing it for public view in 2017-2019 may possibly have added a layer of interpretation to these carvings that wasn’t originally there.
As an aside, Bernard Tanguy is without doubt the Brittany historian who was for many years president of the SAF, so it is hardly a surprise that he chose to pass his discovery on to its members. He may well have also photographed this mysterious rock when he first encountered it, but I don’t know if this particular angle has been pursued by anyone.
Bernard Tanguy, (1940-2015) – photograph fromLe Telegramme, 2015
The Second Transcription
In the following version of the hand-transcription released by the mairie, I have rendered the back-to-front ‘N’ as the Cyrillic capital I (i.e. ‘И’), and the back-to-front ‘S’ as ‘Ƨ ‘ (the Unicode character 01A7), etc. All of which is not perfect, sure, but it’s perhaps tolerably close:
GROCAR
dREAR DIOƧEEVbIO
ARVRFOИEƧLAΘENEL
PEИ AbEИEИEƧΘ182E
GEИbICEИG
EKGE (left-facing crescent moon shape)
AZOMOARΘ PA ꙋCDOFET
dAROA
AIELAChEODCET DA AOMA
CVLESELDdA RE IdIMEVƧMEƧ
ARPRIGILOd17(cross on top of a heart)87
ObIIE bRIƧbVILA
ALVQ4AKbORSIV . T
OSCARCLOIVEPRE 2 . T
ZOИREZE
VAR
dARAИdOL
AdREIRI9
1786 ИE12
Scans of the Mysterious Rock
I’ll finish up by illustrating the above with some example scans cropped from the mairie‘s kindly-provided set, so you can perhaps get a better idea of what we’re up against here.
Enjoy!
If the Bulletin was from 1979, would they say that Tanguy reported to them in 1979? This implies to me that they are writing in a later year. But that’s just aside.
The line “Oscar Cloive Pre 2.T” looks like it could be a name plus some kind of location.
– The rock lies on a peninsula called “La pointe du Corbeau” (the point of the raven).
– On each side of the inscripted rock lies a fortification, each about 1 kilometer from the rock: the fort of Armorique (build in 1770) and the fort of Corbeau (1774/1775).
– The 1770’s redesign of the defence of the Brest haven was led by engineer Dajot.
– These keywords (Armorique, Corbeau and Dajot) don’t appear in a trivial manner in the text… 🙁
Source: http://association-1846.over-blog.com/2016/06/fort-du-corbeau-plougastel-daoulas.html
Personally, I the green colouring of the carved out letters appears strange to me. It is very clearly present in the recent pictures, while on de pictures a few years ago, this green colouring seems almost absent (and the letters are harder to read…)
Albert: the colouring was, sans doute, added recently to make the lettering more clearly visible. But at the same time, it imposes a certain reading on the text that may or may not be correct.
@nickpelling any change for the full pdf ? 🙂
Zo: I’m not really comfortable passing the PDF on, to be honest. But it’s dead easy to ask the mairie for a copy (which is free), I’ll post up the application form here when I’m back at my PC.
Koen, I get the same Oscar is burried there, Vilar is resting in Swedish, If I would guess his sons, and their 2 names r also their raised the stone.
I dont see a 17 I see 11, 87 could 87 be a year he died and 11, is that a month? dont know how they counted back then. but seams to be a deathdate and the other number must be when he was born.
But that Aprigil sounds like April haha.
I would want a good pic of all the stone, not what they think they read.
And I believe if they go back to old icelandic language, it will be easier to read it.
If its mixed languages maybe its a munk that done it:)
If the major wanna know what its really about, they should look in the ground under the stone and se if they get more clues.
@Albert: thank you, your comment matches indirectly, with some (deciphered) text as listed by Nick. Perhaps coiincidence, because these are only some sentences, but we’ll see once I get the whole package for inspection.
“there is surely no doubt that this is written in the Breton language” – how can they be that sure, even though nobody has been capable of translating the inscription?
Hello,
Living in Brest near Plougastel, I took some pictures of the rock and inscriptions last week (which I can share). Even if the researches on my family are centered on the Brittany center (Poher), I am interested in this mystery to try to understand the meaning. Regards, Françoise MQ
I searched “in the base of the departmental archives marriages, baptisms and deaths at Plougastel 184- 1877 if there was mention of an unusual name or fact, but nothing.
Pen might be “PENN” (Breton) : Head.
We find in Breton expressions the word “ar” which is in several lines (but I don’t speak this language. Françoise MQ
I’m curious about “l’inscription de Guengat” mentioned in the article (which dates from 1984, incidentally):
https://societe-archeologique.du-finistere.org/inventaires/plougastel-daoulas-inscription-anse-caro.html
Despite the similarities (backward “S”, etc), I’m baffled as to how the black & white photo in the above link relates to other photos of the Plougastel rock. Is there any chance it might actually be “l’inscription de Guengat” (despite the webpage caption)? If so, the “éclaircissements” as to the origin of the latter could be relevant.
Françoise’s splendid photos are now on this new Cipher Mysteries page: http://ciphermysteries.com/2019/05/13/plougastel-inscription-photographs
Hi RB said “Koen, I get the same Oscar is burried there, Vilar is resting in Swedish, If I would guess his sons, and their 2 names r also their raised the stone.”
Where ? you have the source please ? i read the archive but i dont find it ?
thx you
on the riddle of GUENGAT the names are separated from the functions by a “:”
Where do you ask for info? You just send an email to Veronique Martin or there is a link?
Plougastel rock inscription (second part, can be read on its own)
Let me go on with a story.
BRI meaning fertile named Britain Brittanny, also Breton and Brest. If I read
my maps correctly, Brest has a rather mild climate. Also, the Bretons love
their forests. A quote from an elegiac tale of Celtic origin, The Drowned City
of Ys, translated by Iain Zaczek
Guénolé, meanwhile, invited the druid to return with him and live out
his remaining days in the shelter of Landévennec.
However, the druid refused, saying to Guénolé: ‘For me, the woodland
paths are better. Who knows, perhaps they lead to the same great center
of existence that you also seek.’ With that, he turned away from the monk
and walked back into his beloved forest.
A rich, pious, and somewhat excentric Breton was dreaming of uniting the
beliefs of the Christian monk and Celtic druid. So he asked the prior of
the monastery of the Sacred Heart, Sacré Coeur, to plan a botanical garden
with trees from various parts of the world brought in by sailors. He will
pay the costs. Well, the monks agreed, and planted a large botanical garden,
an arboretum, in 1786/87, and engraved the names of the trees on a rock by
the sea, in the middle of the inscription a small cross and heart, emblem
of their faith and monastery.
Sailors of various nations had gathered young trees in different regions of
the world. But there was a problem. Trees and bushes and flowers are named
by a lot of synonyms – in Switzerland we have several dozen words for the
single flower dendelion -, moreover the sailors were analphabets, so it
happened that the trees they brought home were called with hardly under-
standable terms.
We have to make sense of them. The first line of the inscription as appearing
in a photograph reads
GROCARB
This might be an abbreviation
G ROC ARB Grande Roche Arbre Great Rock Tree
maybe Quercus ilex, holm oak, French rouvre, German Stein-Eiche, literally
Stone-Oak.
Swiss Dähle is a synonym for a fir tree, Pinus sylvestris, and so DALTOGREC
might be a Greek fir (Dähle DALTO).
Sarbaum is a Swiss word for the ordinary poplar tree, Populus nigra nigra,
and might explain SARMIS – UT (Sar- SAR-).
Various trees and bushes, known under different names, found in several
regions of the world, transported to Brest by illiterate sailors, planted
in the botanical garden of the monastery by monks who made the best of the
botched-up names and engraved them on a rock of the shoreline …
The sponsor of the arboretum was very pleased, and felt something of the
“great center of existence” when he went for a prayer or meditation into
the monastery garden.
Built in the 1780s, it lasted more than one century. However, it was
neglected during the first world war, and abandoned in 1920, whereupon
someone incised this year on the same rock.
And if my story wins the prize of 2,000 Euros announced by the mayor of Brest,
the money shall be used for planting a couple of trees in the area.
Franz Gnaedinger, Zurich, May 2019
Nearby, they shot the movie Vikings with Kirk Dougles. Maybe it’s just a forgotten movie set.
au Züri
@Franz Gnaedinger
grüess us Züri
Aber du häsch echt eini a dä schüsslä !
I know, actually I should introduce myself.
I used to be a captain on the lake Aral ( RUS )
Today I deliver sand to kindergartens.
Well why don’t we just ask the man himself?. Far as I know, Kirk Douglas is still with us and his memory as sharp as ever.
Plougastel rock inscription (postscript, another Knall for Dr. Knall Hart)
Mythology knows many examples of people who turned into flowers and trees,
Adonis, Philemon and Baucis, or the lover of Diana. Maybe the hypothetical
arboretum of my fable turned the personnel of The Drowned City of Ys from
the Breizaz Breiz or Songs of Brittany into trees, and named them with puns?
Ys drowned, and the rock of the strange inscription is flooded when the sea
rises. The first line reads GROCARB which may abbreviate Grand(e) ROChe ARBre,
and allude to the holm oak German Stein-Eiche ‘stone-oak’. The king of the
Celtic tale is called Gradolin – GRadolin GRocarb.
His daughter was the most beautiful princess Dahut. One of the strange lines
on the rock reads SARMIS – UT. The initial SAR- made me think of the Sarbaum,
a Swiss word for the common poplar tree. Dahut was pale, inspiring another
poplar tree, Populus alba ‘white poplar’ German Silberpappel ‘silver poplar’.
Gradlon, a doting father, fulfilled his daugther any wish, even the sea –
poplar trees love water -, and built Ys, most splendid city in the entire
world, somewhere off the western shore of Finisterrae, among the waves,
in the sea. Now if UT evokes Dahut, SARMIS can evoke Semiramis, beautiful
queen and co-founder of Babylon between Euphrat and Tigris (‘on the waters
of Babylon’), famous for its hanging gardens, one of the seven ancient
world wonders.
If names of trees alone can’t explain the strange inscriptions on the
Plougastel rock, then maybe such multiple puns. Did the hypothetical Breton
in my fable know a Celtic source comparing people and trees? An ancient Roman
explained populus ‘people’ and populus ‘poplar tree’ with the fickle mind
of the former and trembling leaves of the latter. Dahut _was_ of a fickle
mind, her father the king firm as an oak.
Did a Celtic myth of origin connect land and oak, water and white poplar?
(2,000 Euros might be enough to plant a holm oak and a white poplar tree.)
Plougastel rock inscription (postscript)
Mythology knows many examples of people who turned into flowers and trees,
Adonis, Philemon and Baucis, or the lover of Diana. Maybe the hypothetical
arboretum of my fable turned the personnel of The Drowned City of Ys from
the Breizaz Breiz or Songs of Brittany into trees, and named them with puns?
Ys drowned, and the rock of the strange inscription is flooded when the sea
rises. The first line reads GROCARB which may abbreviate Grand(e) ROChe ARBre,
and allude to the holm oak German Stein-Eiche ‘stone-oak’. The king of the
Celtic tale is called Gradolin – GRadolin GRocarb.
His daughter was the most beautiful princess Dahut. One of the strange lines
on the rock reads SARMIS – UT. The initial SAR- made me think of the Sarbaum,
a Swiss word for the common poplar tree. Dahut was pale, inspiring another
poplar tree, Populus alba ‘white poplar’ German Silberpappel ‘silver poplar’.
Gradlon, a doting father, fulfilled his daugther any wish, even the sea –
poplar trees love water -, and built Ys, most splendid city in the entire
world, somewhere off the western shore of Finisterrae, among the waves,
in the sea. Now if UT evokes Dahut, SARMIS can evoke Semiramis, beautiful
queen and co-founder of Babylon between Euphrat and Tigris (‘on the waters
of Babylon’), famous for its hanging gardens, one of the seven ancient
world wonders.
If names of trees alone can’t explain the strange inscriptions on the
Plougastel rock, then maybe such multiple puns. Did the hypothetical Breton
in my fable know a Celtic source comparing people and trees? An ancient Roman
explained populus ‘people’ and populus ‘poplar tree’ with the fickle mind
of the former and trembling leaves of the latter. Dahut _was_ of a fickle
mind, her father the king firm as an oak.
Did a Celtic myth of origin connect land and oak, water and white poplar?
(2,000 Euros might be enough to plant a holm oak and a white poplar tree.)
I stumbled upon this fantastic page in my obsession with this rock inscription story that made national news recently due to the reward offered (which might prove counter-productive because of massive response). The inscription is bizarre beyond words because it seems to switch between various languages, symbols, and nonsense.
I skimmed over one point made in this discussion string then had to do a double take and go back to it: Why would the Cyrillic alphabet be used at all in this part of the world? There seem to be several Cyrillic letters used…
Gujarati langue :Rocky B … Les rayons de la mer par le boulevard Avilo R. Virão
Plougastel rock inscription (second postscript, or rather a beginning)
Each line requires a new effort. Here a provisional translation of the middle
part, read as a pasticcio of an old-looking pseudo-Breton composed from
allusions to words in Latin, French, Breton, Spanish/Portuguese
CVLESEDAREIDIMEVSMES
CVLE SEDARE IDI MEVS MES
CVLE couler flow float ?
SEDARE settle ?
IDI idyll ?
MEVS my ?
MES month ?
I FLOATED around on the seas for a long time
Now I wish to SETTLE here
in this IDYLLIC and fertile region
and spend MY
remaining MONTHS, the rest of my life
ARPRIGILOD 1787 — April 1787 ???
(heart and cross) OBIIE BRISBVILAR FROIK AL
OBEYING the BREIZ (Breton) BULE (counsil meeting) of the FRIARS AL (in the)
ALVOA ABORSINET
ALVUS (hollow, geol. depression) of the future ARBORETUM that I plan to build
in the memory of Semiramis + Dahut = SARMIS – UT. I imagine a sculpture of
heart and cross in the center, a Christian emblem, made from iron, or a marble
sculpture. Surrounded by a small forest, a Celtic church, as it were. But I
keep my intention of combining two or even more religions a secret, otherwise
one or another of the good friars might object. Out of this reason I use
a weird para-language for my inscription on a rock on the shoreline. But it
sounds rather well, doesn’t it? like an old poem.
Russell Myers: there is a story that a Russian prisoner being held nearby carved the “1920” shapes, but I’m unsure how reliable that claim is.
One key problem anyone trying to understand this inscription is how to account for the left-right-flipped ‘N’ shape. Perhaps this is Cyrillic, perhaps it’s not.
To be honest, this challenge still seems to me to be primarily an archaeological reconstruction one, because I can’t yet see at all how all the inscriptions are physically related to each other.
I’ve been reading all the versions and looking at the new pictures today. Thankyou FMQ for the photos and all you other blog writers. I have no background whatsoever in ciphers, just making up stories from my imagination. I was thinking smugglers or some obscure timeline of visiting the area, Easter Sunday, April 8th in 1787, feast day of the sacred heart, etc. The monks and the secret garden etc. are a completely different tangent for me I shall continue to read on. I’m not entering the comp. as my version/s will bear absolutely no resemblance to reality. But I am thinking of more than one person leaving these inscriptions as the R’s are quite different and dyslexia possibly being the cause of the N’s and S’s. As I wrote, no background as a code breaker whatsoever.
Thank you for the comment, Rose Marie. You made me look out for a feast day
of the sacred heart, and I found something interesting. Google for
festival day of sacred heart garden brittany
in the sector Images and look out for a monastery garden, from a facebook
page. Quote
France Facebook Posts
Australians Studying Abroad
Les Jardins de Kerdalo, Trédarzec, Brittany, France. Photo by John Patrick. The garden, in a valley near the Brittany coast, was the subject of a book by ..
Having no Fecebook account I can’t read further. But enjoy the fabulous
garden in the online picture.
Something strange that might be of relevance to the Y’s tale. A submerged forest between Ynys Las and Borth in Ceredigion, Wales has been recently exposed by a massive storm. Legend has it to be the mythical submerged Kingdom of Cantre’r Gwaelod. A migration path between that area and the region of Bretagne is a strong possibility and ties in with Bretagne legends.
For Plougastel, I’ve been starting on artwork interpretations using direct tracings from the rocks. As there is no provenance really on the rocks, you might also want to consult how to engrave rocks: craftingagreenworld. com/articles/how-d
Notorious jokers aren’t they, those people from Bretagne? Plus a great way to get some interest in the region. It worked, I’m thinking of going for a visit as the place looks so totally fabulous.
And thanks Franz, I don’t do Facebook either. In fact I try to not have much of a profile on the net. No wonder I am not successful as an artist!
Plougastel rock inscription (one more time)
Testing my hunch of a mythological-religious garden is difficult without
reliable material (readable photographs of the entire inscription, plus
the reproduction of a rubbing off with graphit or charcoal on paper),
nevertheless I try once more, this time the pair of opening lines given as
ROC AR B…
DRE AR GRIO SE EVELOH
On the photograph of the first line I read
GROCARB
whith initial G and no spaces. I parsed it as follows
G ROC ARB
that may abbreviate
Grand(e) ROChe ARBre, Great Rock Tree
and this may refer to a holm oak, German Stein-Eiche ‘stone oak’, as
personification of king Gradlon. Assuming that also the second line on the
rock is written without spaces we’d have
DRE ARG RIO SE EVELOH
Proto-Indo-European has *doru meaning ‘tree’ and accounts for English tree,
while the Celtic and Greek derivatives mean specifically ‘oak’. So DRE can
be read as tree in the context of an oak. The following ARG reminds of
argentum ‘silver’. DRE ARG may then refer to a white poplar, German Silber-
pappel ‘silver poplar’, hypothetical symbol of Gradlon’s daughter Dahut.
RIO means river, poplars growing best along a river. SE may be a reflexive
pronoun, and EVELOH with a twist of letters ELEVOH from elever, elevate,
German sich erheben, the original EVE a further allusion, so we can read
the pair of opening lines as follows
By the big rock a holm oak
and by the river a white poplar
(in the garden I plan)
the former symbolizing king Gradlon
and the latter his daughter Dahut
What happened in France and Brittany in the 1780s? what was the religious
and political situation?
Did the author of the inscription fear an authority? Or had he just fun
inventing a mythologically (over)charged para-language?
On these questions I end my adventure. May someone else take over. Someone
who knows the rock, the region, and the Barzaz Breiz in the original.
(My working thesis: Christianity made more lively by paganism, and the
excesses of paganism – Babylon became a proverial whore, Ys drowned –
prevented by a Christian belief that comes from the heart and Christ’s
example, not from clerical dogmatism. Proclaiming such ideas openly in
1787 might have been a high risk. The rock inscription and hypothetical
garden can then be subsumed under the European movement called humanism.
Deciphering such a document, in my opinion, is worth the effort.)
— Thank you, Rose Marie, and good luck with your art. I am certain
there are serious fora where you can publish one or another piece.
(why can’t I post this message? it is no duplicate)
Plougastel rock inscription (how you can go on)
Line 3 given without spaces
ARVIRIONESBOAVELRI
and parsed by me
ARV IRIONES BOAVEL RI
ARV evokes Latin arvum ‘field’. IRIONES might be a contraction of Iris
Juno Ceres, from a most lyrical passage in The Tempest by Edward de Vere
alias William Shakespeare (Scene 4 Act 1). BOAVEL might be a further
contraction, French bois ‘wood’ pronounced boa, and Latin avellum ‘hazel’,
together hazelwood. Hazelnuts were most important in the Stone Age, and
also later on; lighty roasted they are well conserved and helped people
make it through the winter. And RI might refer to English realm pronounced
ri-alm, Swiss Riich while riich means rich, hence a fecund, fertile,
prospering area – more than a botanical garden, but a mythological garden
involving a greater part of the region?
The three first lines can then be read as follows
Between the holm oak by the big rock,
symbol of king Gradlon,
and the silver white poplar rising by the river,
symbol of his daughter Dahut,
are a field and hazelwood
belonging to the realm of
Iris, goddess of the rainbow,
great Juno blessing the land,
and Ceres providing cereals.
This may show you how to go on. Get surprised by the ambition of the author.
PS Just got pictures from de Mairie de Plougastel. Hope I can open the PDF
file. My first attempt here in the university library failed.
ARVIRIONESBOAVELRI
bas breton
AR VIRIONES BAO-AVEL
un veritable vent engourdissant
SE EVELHO : SEVEL-HEAUL
A linguistic experiment? Plougastel rock inscription (adding lines 4-9)
4) GENBICEN DA BEN ESOA SE
5) DIAS BOANT
6) EKGES
7) BO FET
8) DAR
9) ASOMGAROPA
GEN Spanish genito ‘swarm’, BICEN Proto-Indo-European *bhi-kwo- ‘bee,
stinging insect’ Old Irish bech ‘bee’ Church Slavonic bicela ‘bee’, DA short
for Spanish dar ‘give’, BEN ‘benefice’, ESOA Spanish eso ‘to them’ and SE
‘to themselves’
DIAS ‘day’ Boant Spanish boato ‘splendor’
EKGES Spanish excesivo in the sense of ‘abundant, lascious’
BO FET Spanish boveda ‘cupola’, here a cupola of green foliage
DAR Spanish give
ASOM Spanish asombrar ‘amazement’ GAR Spanish garbo ‘splendor’ OPA Spanish
opaco ‘opaque’
Lines 4-9 added to 1-3 and 12-13
1) Between the holm oak by the big rock
symbolizing king Gradlon
2) and the silver white poplar tree rising by the river
symbolizing his daughter Dahut
3) are a field and a hazelwood
as realm of the rainbow goddess Iris
and great Juno blessing the land
and Ceres providing cereals
4) while a bee swarm
does or gives benefice to the field and hazels
by polluting them
and to themselves as well by finding nectar
in the golden aments of the hazels
5) on a splendid day.
6) A luxurious
7) green cupola of foliage
8) gives
9) a feeling of amazement of opaque grace.
12) I floated around on the seas for a long time;
Now I wish to settle here, in this idyllic region,
to spend my remaining months, the rest of my life.
13) April 1787
If this holds, the unknown author had a remarkable linguistic knowledge,
and did not only hide his intention of building a pagan-Christian botanical
garden (my hypothesis) but also carried out a linguistic experiment: emulating
an early Celtic by omitting letters and entire syllables, or by adding letters,
or by swapping letters, for example bois BOA BAO, and élever ELEVOH EVELOH,
and whenever possible making allusions to Bretonic – the Bretons are said
to be cheeky people …
I like the amazing opaque grace inside a cupola, a canopy of foliage,
as I love the sun shining through the fresh green leaves in spring and summer.
The pseudo-Celtic poem is a ‘garden’ of words: water them with imagination
and they will germinate, grow and blossom.
Having deciphered or ‘deciphered’ more than half of the Plougastel rock
inscription within a rather exhausting stretch of eight days, I let go for
the moment, and may resume my work when I feel like it again, or if someone
invites me to do so, a publisher, la mairie de Plougastel, or the French
Archaeological Society. But it may also be that I am completely wrong.
I might be wrong or right, wright or rong. We shall see.
no idyll, instead a shipwreck and prayer
VERY SORRY, the online transscription I relied on is flawed, my ‘decipherment’
worthless.
The situation is the very contrary of an idyll – a tragedy, a shipwreck in
1787, commemorated by survivors, among them possibly one OSCAR, while the
ship that sank was of the English Royal Navy, as indicated by the slim E
and clear ROYAL under the number …87, together with the carving of a ship
on a separate small rock.
Graphically the most prominent lines are (the first one rendered approximately)
CVLES ELdAREI dIMEVSMES
ARPRIGILOD 17 (heart and cross) 87
Scribes among the monks occasionally arranged a text so that new meaning
emerged. Let us use this method for making sense of the mysterious ARPRIGILOD
A
RP
RIG
ILOD
Bring these letters in the shape of an equilateral triangle and you have
a parallel to the most holy figure of the Pythagoreans called tetractys,
the numbers 1 / 2 3 / 4 5 6 / 7 8 9 10 arranged as a triangle. Here we have
the letters A / R P / R I G / I L O D as a formal prayer. Each letter is
engaged, every letter just once.
A small triangle says RIP, Requiescant In Pacem, may they rest in peace.
The A above means Amen, be it so. The lower half of the left side, RI,
belongs to the acronym INRI, Jesus of Nazareth, Rex Judaeorum. L stands
for the heavenly Lord. And the triangle of the right corner below reads
GOD.
While many letters of the Plougastel rock inscription appear sloppy, the heart
and cross were carved carefully, as if entrusting Christ with the souls of
the drowned.
May the victims of the shipwreck be buried symbolically (in the ‘tumulus’
of the virtual triangle). May their souls find the mercy of the Lord. Amen.
Franz: Couldn’t spot any RN ships sunk in battle or wrecked in 1787; Unlikely that a Royal Mail packet would be in those seas unescorted, though one could have been taken for a prize by freelance corsairs in another location then foundered, or one might have blown of course in a gale south of the channel…Interesting theory in any case and well worth following up.
Thank you, John Saunder. ‘downloadz’ wrote
ARVIRIONESBOAVELRI
bas breton
AR VIRIONES BAO-AVEL
un veritable vent engourdissant
Such a gale could have carried away the ship, or make it go lost in the bay
or gulf of Brest.
The top face of the rock ending on the line
ARPRIGILOd 17(heart and cross) 87
has roughly the shape of a triangle, while the small d might indicate a second
meaning, Aprile di 1787. Maybe the prayer formula and date overlay each other?
Double meanings could make the decifficultering so hard.
Cornish survived until the late 18th century, time of the rock inscription.
Maybe also a form of Cornish played a role in the mix?
I asked Madame V.M. de la Mairie de Plougstel whether I can participate
hors concours, and proposed that she might inform the contestants of
the prayer formula, so they don’t go astray as I did.
No recorded shipwrecks on the Bretagne shores in 1787: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_1787
(key lines, continuation, demanding)
Remember the prayer encoded in the second key line, A / RP / RIG / ILOD
arranged as a triangle. Between the small triangles RIP Requiescant In
Pacem and GOD appears an irritating further triangle, PIG, while the D
of GOD is actually a small d, GOd – the devil sneaking in, driven into
a herd of swine by Jesus (Matthew 8, Mark 5, Luke 8).
The devil appears also in the first key line, when we turn the 21 letters
into a small verse of 3 lines and 7 letters each.
C V L E S E L
d A R E I d I
M E V S M E S
Look up the verse in ASCII, start zigzag lines from the initial letters
C and M, and you obtain
CAVE MALEM
that can be read ‘beware of evil’. Latin cave is an imperative, malus ‘evil’
a nominative, malum the accusative, male the adverb, and malem a phantasy
form combining the evil we encounter (acc.) and the one we can do ourselves
(adv.).
Line 2, letter one, d
line 3, letters two and three, EV
line 2, letter five, I
line 1, letter 7, L
together dEVIL, devil evil, the bended line somewhat reminding of a snake,
Biblical symbol of the devil.
MALEM forms a triangle, base 4 letters, height 3 lines. The prayer triangle
has base 4 letters height 4 lines. Going by these numbers the prayer triangle
is slighty bigger (factor 16/15). In the end prayers are stronger than the
powers of evil, a hidden message of hope.
MEVSMES can be read in Portuguese and Spanish, meus mes ‘my months’ in the
sense of my lifetime. We have to cope with evil all our life long.
The pair of key lines may be an elaborate formula, Celtic magic surviving
in scribal art of monks, veiled incantations around a core message
Beware of evil as long as you live.
While the drowned sailors may find
the mercy of the Lord, and rest in peace.
Amen
Do the previous lines on the roughly triangular top face of the rock report
a shipwreck? in a powerful poetic Breton? Where and how does the devil get in?
maybe in the form of strange coincidences which turned minor negligences
into a catastrophe?
Neither knowing Breton nor a related idiom I can’t go further. But maybe
my lines inspire a contestant? if so, good luck.
(By the way, I found the above small ‘verse’ on the Sunday of Pentecost,
maybe with a little help from above, but certainly on the basis of the
fine education I got in a monastery school with a famous library.)
PS Maybe the shipreck did not occur in 1787, but the inscription dates
from this year? while the shipwreck happened in the year before, 1786,
also mentioned on the rock?
Sorry, the Sunday _before_ Pentecost (already under the influence of a minor
assistant of the Holy Ghost).
As for the ship that sank: it could also have been a boat with an English
royal on board that sank because of strange freakish ‘devilish’ coincidences
that may have involved a ‘pig-headed’ passenger who became the tool of the
‘prince of darkness’, possessed by him, as it were. The rather thin sickle
of the ascending moon would say that the fatal accident happened in a rather
dark night. Consider also the numbing wind (vent engourdissant) mentioned
by ‘downloadz’.
There are several possibilities, of course also the one that I might be wrong
again. However, the ‘verse’ and ‘prayer triangle’ are a fairly good case,
if I say so myself.
The older I get and the more I see how much can go wrong, the more I marvel
that most things go well most of the time. A similar thought would have been
expressed by the comparison of the MALEM triangle and prayer triangle. A mass
held for the victims would have explained at some length what is extremely
compressed in the hypothetical formula on the rock.
With my hermeneutic work I look out for anthropological wisdom, and hope that
I found a piece thereof in the Plougastel rock inscription.
A dark possibility is antisemitism: the Spanish Jews were driven out of their
land under Philipp II. They were called maranos ‘pigs’, while the dEVIL line
of the ‘verse’ can also be read as a falling J. Quote from the Encyclopedia
Judaica: Brittany, France:
From the beginning of the 17th century, numerous *Marranos settled in Brittany, mainly in Nantes; their Christian competitors failed to have them expelled. During the 18th century, Jewish traders from Bordeaux, Alsace, and Lorraine began to visit the fairs and markets. In 1780, as a result of an isolated incident, they were all expelled. Immediately after the French Revolution, they are found again, notably in Nantes, Brest, Rennes, and Saint-Servan. In 1808, when the *consistories were established, the total number of Jews living in Brittany was only about 30. In the late 20th century there were communities in Nantes, Brest, and Rennes.
If only I hadn’t begun looking at the rock inscription!
So far I have come up with Greek and Roman Catholic. This is because the circle with a line through it is Greek. It is the letter theta but is also used in maths. So I did try to see if I could find a translation from the Greek language. However since then I looked at the characters of the moon, and the heart with the cross. These are both Roman Catholic. There is also a character that at first I thought was a necklace but I looked at the Roman Catholic symbols and it is indeed a symbol. The heart and cross means the sacred heart of Jesus. The moon is an astrology symbol. They believe There are 4 moon times. New moon, first quartet, full moon and last quarter. From the character on the stone it could represent the first quarter. Which comes to the last character. It is an astrology character again. It could be the astrology symbol of Taurus or the bull.
I did get quite a lot of information from the Greek language. But I guess maybe I should start with picturing what I found out about the years 1786 and 1787. Of which the dates seems to appear. So at the time France was in financial difficulties having just helped America in the American Revolution. It was also just before the French Revolution which was kind of caused because of the lack of money. However on another note I also discovered in 1783 France built the first Hot Air Balloon. This became very popular. Britain including the royal family became very interested in the hot air balloon. It was later used for war. However a latin/Norman had tried to build a hot air balloon and was going to compete in Britain. But in 1786 it wasn’t to happen because just before his balloon was to set off the people holding the balloon let go of the balloon before it was ready. It lead to someone get caught in the rope and get killed. The owner of this balloon though it was not his fault got the blame for it. So he left Britain and although he didn’t want to go back. In 1787 he did with a new idea. This time it was a boat but based on this hot air balloon. But it didn’t get the appreciation he wanted. I also fist thought one of the symbols may have been a necklace. I’m guessing the French at the time were desperate for cash and so may have gone looking for money only to come across a necklace. As for the hot air balloons I don’t think they could have been traced because they weren’t registered. So if there were deaths it may have been hidden. Alternatively it could be a Roman Catholic that happened to be an astrologer. So it could be a kind of prediction. Like modern day astrology.
Oh one more thing that I noticed is the NE12. It is a postcode in Britain. In London so Northeast London. As this follows the date I imagine what happened during this date may also have something to do with this Postcode.
The other thing I was trying to work out is Why is it so hard to decode. I came to the conclusion that whoever wrote it was either doing it as a joke and that really there is no meaning to the rock. Or alternatively whoever wrote it did so hoping no one would ever find it and work out what it says. If the second is the case then the chances are there have been little pieces of information to distract the reader from the pieces of information that they want to hide. If it is also Greek or Roman it may also be interesting to know that the language comes from the Egyptian language. I don’t know much about the Egyptian language except they are known for using one character to represent more then one thing. So for example Grocar first came out as Grocery/grocer but this made no sense. So I looked at it further and then came up with something to do with a police car. Completely different given they came from the same letters.
One last thing that may or may not have any meaning. I went to Okehampton Castle and although it may just be graffiti there was some writing on one of the walls there. Out of all the walls there was quite a lot in the chapel. It may have been a confession or it could be some graffiti. Also back in 1643 I have found out there is a battleground in Cornwall. Which I have also done some research and it may or may not be the reason or partly why so many Cornish ended up moving to Brittany. So I have read about the history of the Southwest and I discovered it is a very politician place. It seems the royals have been trying to win over the Southwest particularly Devon and Cornwall from the Politicians. In 1643 there was a civil war in Cornwall which eventually gave the royals the power over the Politicians. Although there are elements of the royals in Devon and Cornwall I have a feeling they still think of themselves as politics drawn. Anyway I don’t know but this may have something to do with why the Cornish left for Brittany. Again I did some research and it seems the Cornish and Devonians come from a long line of different traders and seafarers. I guess it would have been quite usefully having traders in France especially when they were at the poorest.
So this is basically what I have come up with in Greek though I have rearranged some of the words it makes more sense in English. But anyway. So the first bit GROCAR can be translated G- C RO- PC CAR which if you make it into something could be see PC car or Police car. Drear the only thing I can come up with is dreary so maybe the police were looking dreary. DIO backward s could be a road so D102. The next bit was the ARV there are a couple of possibilities one is a armed response vehicle or armoured recovery vehicle. The first is to do with the police the second is military. Which brought me to the first couple of possible names. Lathin which a family got from the house they were given. Gen BICE or possibly a general BICE there is a member of the BICE family that helped fight in the American Revolution so there is a possibility he might have become general. There is another name which I wasn’t sure of Mr E Moon. However it seems there are Moons so again it is a possibility. After that it seems to change into something completely different. But I had two variations on this as it is to do with what I thought was a necklace. So at first I thought it might be that they had been trying to get hold of some money but only got hold of a necklace. But there was something to do with Air that came up. At first I thought it might be to do with aeroplanes but they weren’t around. But it is how I discovered the hot air balloons. Especially when I found out there was a death in 1786. The next bit I’m not sure about apart from the heart and cross I’m guessing represents death. Another part that suggests this is the d just before the 1787. As I believe d like this usually means died 1787. It could be the death of 1786 but only discovered in Europe a year later or it could have been another death. I think the last is some names. But I don’t know the importance or why they are highlighted. I’m afraid this is the best I can do. At least from the Greek side. The Roman Catholic side may show something completely different but I’m guessing if it is I suggest an astrologer who is good at stars. Though Greeks are also good astrologers so it might also be a prediction from the Greeks. Alternatively you could look at all countries who were invaded by Romans or Greeks and see which uses their language or at least a similar one. In which case good luck because you might be there for a very long time.
I’m guessing though if people didn’t want to find out what it meant. I probably wouldn’t have used Latin. This because at the time Britain was dominated by Romans and Normans. So Latin was one of the languages that was dominate at the time. This would lead me to suspect they would have used a different language that isn’t often spoken. Let’s also not forget that the British are connected to the Greeks due to Cyprus and have had many conflicts in the past before the Romans. Again this is only my guess.
As for the backward letters they also are letters of the Latin alphabet so possibly also Greek as there are similarities. But the S backwards is definitely a Latin letter. Which means it could be the Roman Catholics.
Just curious, and I want to be clear I don’t know any of the languages used so I’m just hypothesizing and creating my own theory..
If there is a heart and a ship chiseled into the stone along with 2 separate years, could this be a love note left for a sailor for him to find upon his return? Left here by a lovelorn woman with dreams of a future with her sailor? The additional date may be when she returned to update her original “Text message” to post a new date to show him that she still awaits his return. The fact that no dates followed after 2 years could simply mean she finally gave up or something tragic may have happened to her before she was able to update her “text” again. It could simply be that her sailor came home and the message was simply forgotten. Just my thoughts anyway. Thank you
@nickpelling
Regarding the backwards N and S. After som heavy google searching it turns out that that is a trait that can be found in stone inscriptions in Bretagne dating from the 16th to 18th century. The same goes for what has been described as Danish Ö.
These stone inscriptions can be found in churches in Bretagne and are written in Latin, or in French , or, in a very few cases, in Breton. So I am a bit surprised that they didn´t mention this in the information given from la mairie de Plougastel-Daoulas.
Regarding the transcriptions: (which as have been said, are not accurate) in the first one there are more words, words that can´t be seen in the stone or the transcriptions of today like “dalotogrec”.
I think the history of the stone is a bit unclear too. Discovered in 1979, mentioned in 1984 by la Sociéte /…/ de Finistère, and then completely forgotten?
The text is intriguing, but I think this will be very difficult to solve. First because the stone is not complete. It seems like there is a part missing on the left side. Second because, I read that they have filled in the letters in recent time, and when doing so, if they misinterpreted the letters, than it is now impossible to know the original text. Finally, I think that before trying to interpret the text, the text needs to be dated. During my heavy google searching I found out that there is a research field called ephigraphy, where they can date inscriptions after how the letters are written. So if any ephigraphers here, please help out! 🙂
Helena Pettersson: thanks for that, I’d be extremely interested to see any of the sources you have found that suggest that backwards-N and backwards-S can be found in 16th-18th century Brittany stone inscriptions, that’s not something I’ve seen in any of the searches I’ve carried out. Are there Brittany gravestones with backwards-N and backwards-S?
@nickpelling. As a linguistics nerd I tried to search for alphabet and letters in order to find out when the text was written. Looking for reversed N and S, text in capital letters but miniscule d and b, with scandinavian O, and with greek Q. But the only alphabet I found matching this description was the Umbrian alphabet (Italy) a language extinct since very long, so that didn´t help much.
Then I searched for photos of inscriptions in Brittany, trying to figure out if there were a lot of inscriptions in breton, and the answer to that is no. But I looked at the inscriptions I found, no matter the language, trying to compare the alphabet and letter presentation. And there I found the reversed N and S. I do not think there is any official mentioning of this, but I found this wonderful website, a person with an keen interest in history and inscriptions and he mentions the inverted N and S.
They are not gravestones, but inscriptions within or on the outside of the church building, often telling who built it.
Here is a link to one inscription with reversed N and S in Breton. And on this site there are plenty of links to other Brittany inscriptions. You have to scroll down a bit to see some of the pictures.
http://www.lavieb-aile.com/2019/05/une-inscription-en-breton-au-folgoet-venant-de-l-ossuaire-de-guicquelleau.html
Here is a link to a stone inscription elsewhere in France, in French, with reversed N and S, and a b miniscule, so it seems to me they were in wider use than Brittany alone.
https://www.google.com/search?q=puits+st+pierre+cimitiere+landrucimitiere+inscription&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjD0qS5waDjAhXExIsKHV2mCVQQsAR6BAgFEAE&biw=1422&bih=678#imgrc=Td1svGkN8m27AM:
As you can see I went all in on this, but now i think I am stuck. So if you have any thoughts on this that you would like to share, I would be very grateful!
@nickpelling. i correct myself. In the above stone inscription in breton, the S are not reversed. But they are in a lot of others.
Hi I didn’t know there was a Page related to Plougastel -Aoulas inscriptions graved on the rocks.
Hi Nick Pelling again I wrote you in may or April but connected with the Voynich Manuscript.
I’m going to participate in the Plougastel contest I love languages and dialects more than Mistery I would like to contribute
Greetings to Nick and everyone from Spain.
I have tried to post my comments here and feel that they have been edited or censored in some way by the filter that is used to control “spam”, but my link is nothing of the sort.
I entered the competition and submitted the entirety of my research to the woman in charge in France and got confirmation that she received it.
I wait for the results and have been informed that the date was pushed back as they are reviewing the entirety of these submissions which have taken them some time to review.
The ciphers are a sort of anagrammed message that was left with a rock map to a trove that was exhumed some time ago and all that was left was a carving to show the people involved.
Looking at the pics they sent you can see a face carved on the rock overlooking the entire set of letters as if it was that person speaking, with his mustache also being part of the clues to it’s origin. This is the face of the Corsair Olivier Levasseur. This entire face of letters was covering up a map that had marks added which were X’s that were circled, with there being a sort of secondary layering of the letters over this map and made to intertwine the message and to confuse the finders, until the realization was made about who made them.
The map then features some terrain on it that matches the regions surrounding it, and also masks the locations of the 3 troves that he brought back after his work in the Indian Ocean. This type of cryptic map is something of an enigma, as the dates show two numerical sequences, that relate to times AFTER his missions, meaning that whoever came through to carve the message, did so to alert another group of people. This was the key to figuring out that the dates related to two letters that were sent by Thomas Jefferson to James Currie were also encrypted with messages that helped to describe the meaning of these additional words and that they were made to instruct the Royal Arch Masons of the French Order, to dig these treasures and to use them for the funding for the French Revolution.
These are some of the most pivotal events in the history of the nation, as well as them being used to fund their movement to Independence, and they were a sort of repayment of the debt that was incurred by the loans that funded the American Revolution, as they were said to have been unable to repay it….so the American Freemasons sent Jefferson to France, and he used his time there to decipher these maps, that were kept secret, and then had the messages carved onto the rock face. On the rock is a series of lines at the end that say CLVES READ MEVS MESON. And these were basically used to continue to clue them into the identity of the people that made the message. CLUES READ ROYAL ARCH MASON…..MEVS being Latin for Arch and MES being also seen hiding the word MESON as the ON was carved and faded and unnoticeable being weathered.
Also to note that there is a segment of lines that are made to show a Square and a Compass that highlight that section and separate the other sections from the images of the carvings, one of which is a heart surrounding the face of Olivier Levasseur, depicting his words as if it was a Privateers Dirge of some kind, spoken from the Heart, as if he was speaking from the afterlife, telling a tale.
DREAR being the first word, the rest of the song was to be enraptured into a form of a set of lines that when combined would reveal the alignment of acrostics and other forms of traditional ciphers that were used to show the planning of these in a form of linear prose that was seemingly more themed at the recovery of the troves than of the tales of his voyages.
This all comes to light when you see the words broken down and how they are arranged, which I have detailed, along with the interpretations of the maps, the arrows embedded in the rocks, and the messages that are used to make these stand out from the rest of the lettering. This also includes the use of the well known Levasseur Cipher, that is now seen side by side the carving holding the same markers on paper that are in the works of the stone poetry.
This proves that the cipher that was seen by many online is really that of Thomas Jefferson, and that cipher matched the carvings on the rock, but it also showed that these ciphers are meant to work together with another set of letters that are pieced together to form the entire message about the mission that was created to unearth them.
The coolest part is that this is all documented on one page showing not only what I described above, but the creation of a huge map of clues to the troves, that were also found on the island of Mahe, in the Seychelles. But then after seeing these maps as well, you find that they were all pointing to locations in France and realize that there were numerous signs that it was made to reveal a huge puzzle to find the 3 locations…. one holding coins, one with jewels, and one with the Flaming Cross of Goa. The ciphers only reveal the two locations of coins and jewels and I believe that the Cross was left buried for some reason, possibly as a gift for the finder of this puzzle to return.
An amazing discovery that is worth it’s own book and documentary.
The results of the cryptographic examination I made are on the page on FB …. under the name /LevasseurTroves
I also have made some posts on TreasureNet to show the masses these discoveries and to help to get in touch with the many that are looking for them, to inform them that they are probably chasing ghosts….
James: thanks for posting about your research here – if you need to include a link in a comment here, to avoid the spam filter just take out the first ‘:’ and the last ‘.’ from the URL, and I’ll reassemble it when I moderate the comment.
Personally, I don’t think you’ve solved the mystery of the Plougastel-Daoulas stone, but given that I’m not on the panel at the Mairie, my opinion counts for basically zero. 😉
Hello, my name is Noël and I live in Brittany. I took part in the deciphering contest and my contribution has been selected as one of the two winning ones. The prize-giving ceremony will take place on Monday February 24th at 11am at the Mairie de Plougastel, followed by a press conference. So, you will hear more about this in the following days. What I can reveal for the moment is that the inscription is genuine, written in the Breton language, which I happen to know, and that was the key to understanding the writings. According to my interpretation, they deal with a shipwreck involving soldiers stationed at the nearby fort, whose names I have found. I think the other winner concentrated more on the historical background.
Noël: excellent, well done! I very much look forward to reading both winners’ contributions! 🙂
Noël: What do you think about the stone with the date 1771 engraved? Is it another tragic death or it has the other meaning?
Interesting news: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51623285
That roughly square-shaped stone photographed in the SAF bulletin and visible on their website is not to be found on the beach any more as far as I know, and apparently nobody knows where it is. I think it was engraved before the others, and is referred to in the other inscriptions. My reading of it in breton is this:
D (drawing of a grave)S
DARMIZ EOST
1771. ME’ZO
EMBAR(KET).
HALOTO GREG
OR EO (MA) ANO
The letters between brackets are my suggestions. In English, it translates:
AUGUST 1771.
I HAVE BEEN
TAKEN ONBOARD
SHIP. HALOTO GRE-
GOR IS MY NAME.
In my opinion, Grégoire HALOTEAU (French spelling) is the name of the man
who engraved all the other blocks 15 years later, At the end of the text one can read MY NAME IS ON THE STONE ERECTED BEHIND HERE. 8TH OF MAY 1786.
Noël: Thanks for your answer! It was interesting, since that unique photo is of quite bad quality. Your transcription a little differs from Castel’s one, and I, in principle, understand why. H and d, G and b look pretty similar on a not good quality photo.
I also will be looking forward for the details of your main transcription and translation with great interest. I think there are many errors in the transliterations that were suggested earlier, maybe it is one of the reasons of the difficulty of translation.
Noël: do you have a reason why you think the surname reads “HALOTO” / “HALOTEAU” when “D’ALOTO” is already a perfectly good surname?
Nick, first because I read an H rather than a d, and secondly because Haloteau is a French surname, whereas Daloto/teau is not found in genealogical databases. But my translation is debatable, particularly the lines where several letters are missing and others almost illegible and can therefore be interpreted in different ways.
So I passed along an amazing discovery about something related to their own history and they denied the research as being valid. The onus is on them now and I am pretty miffed about their claim of a dual winner using two different stories….That is completely like them to ignore reality and use this to sensationalize another story filled with their own fancy.
They told everyone that they were making a decision LAST YEAR and we had to wait until now to find that they are deciding on TWO DIFFERENT versions of the translation, neither of which is thorough and complete, and one that is made to tell the tale of a lost sailor at sea……this is one of the biggest archaeological jokes of all time.
Here is how their logic sounds….the French, they love to tell stories.
It was to pay homage to a man lost at sea the one man said, so instead of making up a plaque with his actual name and rank and the ship he served on, they decided that they would spend the few hours that they had before the tide came in to whip up a cipher, so nobody would ever hear about the story of the lost sailor unless they decrypted it.
Not something you really make a “mystery” out of but again these are the French, and they have now imagined a “winner” of a scientific translation as being the two most interesting stories, neither of which is complete or legible, containing numerous assumptions as to a linguistic translation, whereas it is clearly encrypted and masks a map with symbols embedded.
Has Noel presented any translation or shown any use of these obvious symbols?
Nope, just ignores the entirety of the steganographic symbols and asserts a literary translation.
I was a final entry into the examination of the cipher and I made a page about my discoveries here :
http://www.facebook.com/LevasseurTroves
I hope you all enjoy reading it more than the French judges did, as we will never get to know about the largest Pirate stash of booty ever heisted, or what the loot was used for now, due to these imbeciles in Plougastel Daoulas.
I have written the city and contested their decision based on the rules and the obligations in their own writing that the city has to uphold them. They have changed around their own competition’s rules to justify their indecision, and told everyone to be expecting one winner. Instead all they have to offer up is something this trivial?
Also @Nick and @Noel – HALOTO/HALOTEAU is possibly a sounded out translation of HALLADO, which in Spanish means ‘Discovered’ or ‘Found’.
This is a treasure map remember. It’s encrypted.
BREAKER: you say it’s a treasure map and that it’s encrypted. These are your conclusions, not your supporting evidence. And… a decision doesn’t make something true, it’s just a decision: so contesting their decision is missing the point.
To you all: here are my readings, transcriptions and translations of the Caro rock, that were sent for the contest, along with a 30-page document explaining them. In this transcription, I have separated the words to make sense, and used standard letters for d and N, as well as using S or Z according to their usual pronunciation.
GRO CARO
DRE AR GRIO SE E WELIOH
AR VRIONEZ BA O AVEL RU
PEN DA BEN ENEZ GIZ SE +
CEN BICEN
DIAS BOAN
SERGE
A ZO MOARO PA IS DOE’ET DA ROA
VARLNE OE RI(BOTET E) VAG GET N AVEL
AVEL ACH EOD CET BA OA OMAN
CULEZ EO DA REI DIMEUS MEZ ENEB
AR PRIG I LOD 17 87
OBIT LE:BRIS BUIL AN (ARM) E ROIAL
(AR) GALV OA AR BOR SINET
TRE AR CLO IVEZ PREIZ TEN
ZARI(ER) ZO N BEZ E VINION
ANO DIN E VAIZ D S
AMAN OAR AN DOL DARMIZ UT
SAOV(ET) ADRE IRIO 1771 MEZO
E MAE 1786 NEIZ EMBAR (KET)
HALOTO GREG
OR E (MA) ANO
Translation of the text in contemporary breton:
GRO KARO
DRE AR GRIOU-SE E WELJOC’H
AR WIRIONEZ PA OA AVEL RUZ
PENN-DA-BENN AN ENEZ E-GIZ SE. +
KEN BIKEN
DIAES BOAN !
SERGE
A ZO MARV PA, IS-DOEZHET DA ROENV,
WARLENE OE RIBOTET E VAG GET AN AVEL.
AVEL AC’H EOD KET PA OA AMAN !
KOULZ EO DA REIN DIMEUS MAEZH ENEB
AR BRIG E LOD 17 87
OBIIT : LE BRIS, BUGEL AN ARME ROIAL
AR GALV A OA «A BORD» SINET,
DRE AR C’HLOZ IVEZ. PREIZ TEN-
ZORIER A ZO EN BEZ E VINION.
ANV DIN E VEZ D S
AMAN WAR AN DAOL D’AR MIZ EOST
SAVET A-DRENV. HIRIV 1771. ME’ZO
E MAE 1786 AN EIZH. EMBARKET.
HALOTO GREG-
OR EO MA ANV.
My translation into French:
GRÈVE DE CARO
SUR CES GRÈVES-LÀ VOUS AVEZ VU
LA VÉRITÉ QUAND IL Y AVAIT UN VENT VIOLENT,
D’UN BOUT À L’AUTRE DE L’ÎLE COMME CELA. +
PLUS JAMAIS
DE DURE PEINE !
SERGE
EST MORT QUAND, MAL ENTRAINÉ À RAMER, L’AN DERNIER SON BATEAU FUT RENVERSÉ PAR LE VENT.
PAS DE VENT DE TERRE QUAND IL ÉTAIT ICI !
IL EST TEMPS DE DONNER À PARTIR DU LARGE
L’HOMMAGE
DU BRICK DE SA COMPAGNIE. 17 87
EST DÉCÉDÉ : LE BRIS ENFANT DE L’ARMÉE ROYALE.
L’APPEL FUT SIGNÉ À BORD,
DANS L’ENCLOS AUSSI. LE BUTIN DU TRÉ-
SORIER EST DANS LA TOMBE SON AMI.
MON NOM EST D S
ICI SUR LA STÈLE AU MOIS D’AOÛT
ÉRIGÉE DERRIÈRE. 1771. JE SUIS
AUJOURD’HUI EMBARQUÉ.
LE 8 MAI 1786. HALOTEAU GRÉ-
GOR EST MON NOM.
Translation of the Plougastel-Daoulas rock engravings :
CARO BEACH
ON YONDER BEACHES YOU SAW
THE TRUTH WHEN THERE WAS A RAGING WIND.
THROUGHOUT THE ISLAND, IT WAS LIKE THAT.
NO MORE
HARD PUNISHMENT !
SERGE
DIED WHEN, UNTRAINED AS A ROWER,
LAST YEAR HIS BOAT WAS OVERTURNED BY THE WIND.
NO LAND BREEZE WHEN HE WAS HERE !
NOW IS THE TIME FOR HIS COMPANY’S BRICK
TO PAY TRIBUTE FROM THE OPEN SEA. 17 87.
DECEASED : LE BRIS, SON OF THE ROYAL ARMY.
THE APPEAL WAS SIGNED ON BOARD,
IN THE COURTYARD AS WELL. THE TREA-
SURER’S BOOTY IS IN HIS FRIEND’S GRAVE.
D S
MY NAME IS AUGUST 1771.
ON THE STONE I HAVE BEEN
ERECTED BEHIND TAKEN ONBOARD
HERE. TODAY THE SHIP. HALOTO GRE-
8TH OF MAY 1786. GOR IS MY NAME.
This is my contribution to solving the mystery, but much remains to be explained by historians. I only worked on the writings and the language, not the context.
Sorry, but the last 6 lines should have appeared in 2 separate blocks. Please refer to my preceding mail to find what is written on the smaller square stone, which is referred to on the main inscription, as you can read: “My name is on the stone erected behind here. Today, the 8th of May 1786”.
Noel: I’m quite confused that the main story that explains the sense of the inscription, appears in the most illegible line of the text, which is transcribed by you, as “VARLNE OE RI(BOTET E) VAG GET N AVEL”. Is it detected with the help of the photos given by the Plougastel-Daoulas mairie or with some another photos or personal observation?
It still amazes me that after all that time and a man who claims to have translated it verbatim into Breton, that they still decided to give the prize to two people.
As far as the nature of the rocks is concerned there is still no mention of the carved items like the Crescent Moon and the X’s, or the shapes made there like a Square and Compass, which I have shown clearly in my link.
@Noel are you aware of their meaning as it relates to your storyline?
I have exanche with Noel i don’t agree
GRO CARA
DRE AROR IOSEEV BIOCH
AR URf’ONEZ. LSO HUEL EV
PEN
OEN BI CEMD A BENEN ES RI ISE +
ERGE
AS OMDARO PA DO FET DARO/A
…OT ESMAE GEM JAIET
I VEL AC HE OD GOE TRA BARA O MA
CUL ES ELDAR EI DI MEUS MES
AR PRI GIL OD DER
1787
NAISSANCE de la vierge Marie avec elevation du nuage en forme de pied d’homme
A Nasareth ,fin de la secheresse basse galilée
Une grève cherie
Au travers de la belle-famille de JOSEPH
Par un nuage “pied d’homme” qui s’elevera
En commencant
Par de belles petites volutes
Auprès d ‘une femme qui mettra au monde une reine, Elle!
En attendant cet évènement à venir
Tous et toutes préparent
Les excellentes étonnantes perles de jaiet(jais)
Pour l’eminente pointe de la maison du dieu suprême
Tandis que le pain á l’arrière de la maison
Cuit à grand feu dans de la terre semi argileuse
Pour la consommation des mets de ce jour.
LAO , “nuage “, erreur de frappe pas LSO
I have exchange with Noel i don’t agree
That a celtic language anterieur au ,breton, irlandais et gaelique
Dictionnaire “memoire sur la langue celtique de bullet 1850″
Plenty of people nead some besicles ..sorry for my bad english
ALL word have their tranlation directly in my dictionnary
JAÏET PEARLS virgen symbolic
IOSEEV , Name of joseph in romania now
Cloud” man foot” in the bible. Ur f’ ONEZ LAO , UR =Man ONEZ = foot
f’ possesion as ” ‘s” in english
LAO as GLAO in britain , cloud in english
AROR BIOCH , step family..AROR is” by union” BIOCH family
RI king or queen , Ise ,is SHE!
BARA is bread , also in spain..cooked in the gound ..
An so on
I have all justification for each word ,and bible text..for the cloud.
The heart and cross, sacré coeur
It is a religious text..
How can do??
GRO CARA
DRE AROR IOSEEV BIOCH
AR URf’ONEZ. LAO HUEL EV
PEN
OEN BI CEMD A BENEN ES RI ISE +
ERGE
AS OMDARO PA DO FET DARO/A
…OT ESMAE GEM JAIET
I VEL AC HE OD GOE TRA BARA O MA
CUL ES ELDAR EI DI MEUS MES
AR PRI GIL OD DER
1787
NAISSANCE de la vierge Marie avec elevation du nuage en forme de pied d’homme
A NaZareth ,fin de la secheresse basse galilée
Une grève cherie
Au travers de la belle-famille de JOSEPH
Par un nuage “pied d’homme” qui s’elevera
En commencant
Par de belles petites volutes
Auprès d ‘une femme qui mettra au monde une reine, Elle!
En attendant cet évènement à venir
Tous et toutes préparent
Les excellentes étonnantes perles de jaiet(jais)
Pour l’eminente pointe de la maison du dieu suprême
Tandis que le pain á l’arrière de la maison
Cuit à grand feu dans de la terre semi argileuse
Pour la consommation des mets de ce jour.
In english..
“Sweetheart beach
through JOSEPH’s step family ,
by a man’s foot cloud that will rise
starting
by beautiful little volutes near a woman who will give birth to a queen, SHE !
While waiting for this event to come all are preparing
the excellent amazing jaiet (jet) pearls
for the eminent point of the house of the supreme god,While the bread in the back of the house
Cooked over a high heat in semi-clayey soil
For the consumption for dishes for this day”
1787
Another text
CIL
A O ARMES I UC
MESO
OLTI EN LAR
DAL OT O GREG
TREG DANA
En francais
ALERTE
DU FAIT DES PREVISIONS METEO DANS LA REGION
QUI SE DEGRADENT
TOUS LES HABITANTS SUR LE RIVAGE
DOIVENT SE METTRE A COUVERT AVEC LEURS FEMMES
DANS LES PLUS BREFS DELAIS
En anglais
Cil
A ARMES I UC
MESO
OLTI EN LAR
DAL OT O GREG
TREG DANA
alert
due to the deteriorating weather forecast in the region
the inhabitants on the shore
must take cover with their wives
as soon as possible
Hi!
After two and half years, I dare to say that, finally, now I have something serious and significant to represent.
My translarion:
Through the cross in the sky he will live+ !
He raises the truth high.
Always (entirely) soul is Jesus (within), +
Never again at the quai.
I wish death to be (come), when Jesus, [son] of God, prepares for him
[An] altar at the height, if he is above,
Not putted (set), since elevated he is,
Coming back from the open sea per (by)
The bottom silt 17†87
Obii[t] in Brittany Builar “The Royal”
of (as part of) IV Army, signed on-board,
+Parent (akin, or dear) Klo not present.
(????) to receive repose.
! (Above, is given one of the two versions. The second version of translation:
Through those coasts (slopes) you will see
the truth raised high)
For the rest, follow the link to my latest post:
https://voynichlunarium.wordpress.com/2022/01/15/the-plougastel-daoulas-stone-message-maybe-final-part/
i do not think this is a spoken language i believe that this is a mathematical equation it just run all together without being hyphenated or the symbols .
i have just recently seen this
1680 i believe is hectares 1787-1788 i do not believe are years
“ROC AR B … DRE AR GRIO SE EVELOH AR VIRIONES BAOAVEL”.
R=real number OC= Optimal control AR=Area …..B ?? there is a part missing this is a AB Theory so we are missing A
DRE=degrees are not dense
AR=area GR=unit of mass IO =input/output AR =area SE=standard error
EV= expected value
EL=standard deviation
O=Infinity
H=harmonics
SE=Standard Error
VI=6
RI=relative interior
ON=on/over
E=element of
S=sulphur
BA=space
OA = length
VEL=wedge
OBBIIE: BRISBVILAR … FROIK … AL
O= infinity
BB= two sets ?
IIE:= that is ???
BR=bromine
I=imaginary number
S=sum
BV= bounded variation
IL =equal to
AR=area …
FR= boundary operation
OI=devide by K= constant of variation … AL action limit
ER01AL
E=element of R=Rhenium or is.element() function returns a logical value (true or false) indicating whether the element appears in y.
Ø=average value
AL=action limit
the 1187 with the cross and heart turn is upside down to read it correctly.
its an L8 measurement to center . i believe this is all connected to Leonardo da Vinci .who in his final 3 years lived not far from where this stone was found ..
i believe this may account for his missing two years and i need help im in the mind of a master and i`m getting lost .. i have included my personal FB page so you can see where this has gone
if any one can help i need a file i am missing a lot
all i have is what was posted basically on the BBC page and one image that i can defiantly read ..i looking for more information and a complete scan ,something of the rock so i can see the rest.
thank you
by the way i noticed when i post this and in other places i had forgotten G=gravity