Blair Collection > Kelt or Gael

The Kelt or Gael. 47
It runs thus : " Laris Pumpus Arnthal Clan Ce-
chase." Laris or Lars is evidently a proper
name, as we find it in Lars Porsenna, who
" came down from Clusium," and we find
another in Zeuss — " Lars, imperator V^eientium."
It is the same root as Lares, household gods, and
it runs through all the Keltic tongues with the
meaning of floor, or foundation. Pumpus is
probably an epithet of Lars, and I suggest means
fifth, from the Welsh variety, pump, five. Hence
I must admit that all the Pompeys were fifths.
I do admit it, as the Sextuses were sixths, and
the Septimuses sevenths, and so on. Arthnal,
I think, means the tribe of Aruns. Aruns v/as a
son of Lars Porsenna, and his tomb, long taken
for that of the Horatii, is still to be seen at the
next end of the great viaduct leading from
Albano to Laricia. There was an Aruns Tar-
quinius also. Dal, or thai, means a tribe, as
we find in Dalriada, the tribe of the long arms,
who settled in ancient Alban, and gave it its
kings. Then if dal be tribe, it leads at once to
the word and the thing Clan, which in all Keltic
sub-divisions is part of the tribe. We are then
left with only one word, Cechase, which must
be the name of the clan. Then, if I am right
(I have only guessed it, and there is no means
at present of testing the guess), the whole inscrip-
tion would run : " Lars, the fifth of the tribe of
Aruns and the Clan Cechase" — probably the Irish
name of Casey.