Fanad

For a better image of the background picture above (Fanad Head Lighthouse in Donegal, Ireland), click here.

Thank you for visiting this web site.
The following items are either as yet unpublished or published under the author's copyright.

Complete list of Griffen's publications.

Deciphering the Vinča Script

Here is a paper summarizing this researcher's work in identifying and deciphering the Vinča Script. This script was used in the Balkans in the fifth millennium BCE and represents the first attested writing, well before the developments in Sumer. It also reconstructs the first sentence (found to date) ever written: The Bear Goddess and the Bird Goddess are the Bear Goddess indeed. The paper is an outgrowth of articles in the Journal of Indo-European Studies and the LACUS Forum (see publications) as well as guest lectures at The Citadel and Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. It is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format.

Last updated on 1 August 2007 with Addendum II

vinca script vincha script

Celtic Studies

Books on Celtic Studies

Names from the Dawn of British Legend: Taliesin, Aneirin, Myrddin/Merlin Arthur (available from Llanerch Press)
The Last Battle of the Gododdin: The Hidden Poem in Armes Prydein (available from Llanerch Press)
Phonetic Regularity in Welsh Poetry (available from Edwin Mellen Press)

Celebrating the Celtic Saints: As Candles on a Stand (available from Templegate Publishers)

Articles and Published Papers. Please see list of publications -- click above.
Unpublished Papers by Topic

Ogam and Pictish

The Pictish Art of the Archer Guardian (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the CSANA meeting in St Louis in March 2000
The Grammar of the Pictish Symbol Stones (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the Linguistic Association of Canada and the United States in Houston in July 2000. NOTE: This is the version of the paper that was presented, a shorter version has been published and is cited among the publications
Ogam: Celtic or Pre-Celtic? (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the CSANA meeting at theVirginia Polytechnic Institute in March 2001
On the Age of Ogam (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the CSANA meeting at the University of Notre Dame in May 2002
The Impetus for Ogam and the Issue of Celticity (Acrobat PDF File). This unpublished draft identifies the impetus for ogam in design motifs from Megalithic Ireland and Britain, creating problems for the definition of "Celtic"

Welsh Metrics

Mesotomic Syllables in Old Welsh Poetry (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the CSANA meeting at the University of Washington at Seattle in April 1993. For the nonlinguist, this is the most accessible treatment of mesotomy, which is proving to be an important identifying characteristic of Old Welsh poetry
A Single Accent Rule for Cynghanedd (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the CSANA meeting at UCLA in April 1996

The Rule of the "Exceptions" in Cynghanedd Poetry (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the CSANA meeting at McGill University in May 1997
Anapaestoid Meter in Welsh Poetry (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the CSANA meeting at UCLA in May 1998

The Anapaestoid Tradition in Welsh Poetry (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the 11th International Congress of Celtic Studies at the University College of Cork, Ireland, in July 1999

Historical Insights

Arthur's Name (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the CSANA meeting at the University of Georgia at Athens in April 1994. Expanded and incorporated into part I of chapter 5 in Names from the Dawn of British Legend: Aneirin, Taliesin, Myrddin/Merlin, Arthur

The Gododdin in Armes Prydein (Acrobat PDF File). Presented to the CSANA meeting at CUNY in April 1999
Middle Welsh ap Names: A Dynamic Perspective (Acrobat PDF File). Originally accepted for the 41st International Congress on Medieval Studies in 2006, but withdrawn as researcher could not attend.

The Eradication of *Bryth and the Fate of the Briton (Acrobat PDF File). This unpublished draft examines Welsh terminology in early literature to explain the disappearance of the old singular form *Bryth 'Briton'. In the process, some insight is achieved into the historical situation in the early Middle Ages regarding Picts and Vikings

Mythology and Religion

Saint David Aquaticus (Acrobat PDF File). Paper Presented to the Saint David's Society of St Louis on 3 March 1996. A slightly altered version (without bibliography) was published as "Why was St David called St David Aquaticus?" Y Drych 146:2 (1997), 10-11

Celtic Christianity: A Theological Perspective (Acrobat PDF File). This is a short talk prepared for the SIUE "Food for Thought" lunchtime series on 21 March 2002

Follow That Pig! The Path to Welsh Mythology. (Acrobat PDF File). This is an informal talk given to the Saint David's Society of Greater St Louis on 3 March 2002. It is very short, as it was accompanied by a great many transparencies – too numerous to reproduce here

The Navel of Ireland: A Sacred Geography (Acrobat PDF File). Here is a brief but detailed synopsis of a talk (again, with too many transparencies to reproduce here) in the Dialogues with Senior Citizens program at SIUE on 2 October 2002

Other

Celtic Mutations: Beyond the P's and Q's (Acrobat PDF File). This unpublished draft shows the phonetic relationships within and between the P-Celtic (Welsh) and Q-Celtic (Irish) mutation systems

Gwenllian's Lament. A song in honor of Princess Gwenllian and information on the Princess Gwenllian Society. The Society's web page can be accessed here

THE HAPPY CAMPER!
Click on the Happy Camper to reach a Scouting Resource Page
with a nocturnal and a short vocabulary for German interpreters

FREE NOVEL!!!

Cadet’s Dream
A Neoplatonic Novel

In a surreal dream, the protagonist finds himself at a ball in Charleston’s Hibernian Hall, where he witnesses the suffering of the Lady in the Shiny Green Dress. When she looks to him imploringly, he awakes in a panic and realizes that he must come to an understanding of her anguish before he can do ... whatever it is he is supposed to do. In an extended vision, he descends into what he perceives to be Charleston – or rather, some alternative Charleston – of thirty years earlier, and he joins his soul with that of a distraught cadet returning at midnight to The Acropolis, The Military Academy of the South. Here, Cadet undertakes a journey through love and loss, isolation and unity, and confrontation with religious and political bigotry.

To reach the download page for this free novel, please click on the cover image below: