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Ogham

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File:OghamStone.jpg
An Ogham Stone in Northern Ireland
Ogham letters
᚛ᚑᚌᚐᚋᚁᚂᚃᚓᚇᚐᚅ᚜
Aicme Beithe
᚛ᚐᚔᚉᚋᚓᚁᚂᚃᚄᚅ᚜ 		Aicme Muine
᚛ᚐᚔᚉᚋᚓᚋᚌᚎᚏ᚜
ᚁ [b] Beith ᚋ [m] Muin
ᚂ [l] Luis ᚌ [ɡ] Gort
ᚃ [w] Fearn ᚍ [ɡʷ] nGéadal
ᚄ [s] Sail ᚎ [st], [ts], [sw] Straif
ᚅ [n] Nion ᚏ [r] Ruis
Aicme hÚatha
᚛ᚐᚔᚉᚋᚓᚆᚇᚈᚉᚊ᚜ 		Aicme Ailme
᚛ᚐᚔᚉᚋᚓᚐᚑᚒᚓᚔ᚜
ᚆ [j] Uath ᚐ [a] Ailm
ᚇ [d] Dair ᚑ [o] Onn
ᚈ [t] Tinne ᚒ [u] Úr
ᚉ [k] Coll ᚓ [e] Eadhadh
ᚊ [kʷ] Ceirt ᚔ [i] Iodhadh
Forfeda
᚛ᚃᚑᚏᚃᚓᚇᚐ᚜
ᚕ [ea], [k], [x], [eo] Éabhadh
ᚖ [oi] Ór
ᚗ [ui] Uilleann
ᚘ [ia] Ifín
ᚙ [x], [ai] Eamhancholl
ᚚ [p] Peith

Ogham (Old Irish Ogam) was an alphabet used primarily to represent Gaelic languages. Ogham is sometimes referred to as the "Celtic Tree Alphabet."

History

While it is possible that it as first used to write on wooden materials, the use of "classical" Ogham in stone seems to have flowered in the 5th–6th century AD.

Monumental Ogham inscriptions are found in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England, and the Isle of Man, where they were mainly employed as territorial markers and memorials (grave stones). The more ancient examples are standing stones, where the script was carved into the edge (droim or faobhar) of the stone, which formed the stemline against which individual characters are cut.

Ogham text is read beginning from the bottom left-hand side of a stone, continuing upward, across the top and down the right-hand side in the case of long inscriptions. Inscriptions written on stemlines cut into the face of the stone, instead of along its edge, are known as "scholastic", and are of a later date (post 7th century). Ogham was occasionally used for notes in manuscripts down to the sixteenth century. A modern Ogham inscription is found on a gravestone dating to 1802 in Ahenny, County Tipperary. The earliest text explaining use of the Ogham alphabet is the Auraicept na n-Éces, recorded in 1390. This is also the source of our knowledge of the names of the Ogham letters.

The Alphabet

Ogham alphabet
A page of the Book of Ballymote (1390), the Auraicept na n-Éces explaining the Ogham script.

The Ogham alphabet consists of twenty-five distinct characters (feda). The first twenty are considered to be primary, while the last five (forfeda) are supplementary. The four primary series are called aicmí (plural of aicme "family"). Each aicme was named after its first character (Aicme Beithe, Aicme hÚatha, Aicme Muine, Aicme Ailme, "the B Group", "the H Group", "the M Group", "the A Group"). Some of the names and all of the values of the forfeda are open to question.

The "Shield Ogham" (ogam airenach) are a variant given in the Auraicept.

The four primary aicmí are:

Unicode

The Ogham alphabet is allotted Unicode range U+1680 – U+169F (as of version 4.1).

U+1680   Ogham space mark
U+1681 ᚁ Ogham letter Beith
U+1682 ᚂ Ogham letter Luis
U+1683 ᚃ Ogham letter Fearn
U+1684 ᚄ Ogham letter Sail
U+1685 ᚅ Ogham letter Nion
U+1686 ᚆ Ogham letter Uath
U+1687 ᚇ Ogham letter Dair
U+1688 ᚈ Ogham letter Tinne
U+1689 ᚉ Ogham letter Coll
U+168A ᚊ Ogham letter Ceirt
U+168B ᚋ Ogham letter Muin
U+168C ᚌ Ogham letter Gort
U+168D ᚍ Ogham letter Ngeadal
U+168E ᚎ Ogham letter Straif
U+168F ᚏ Ogham letter Ruis
U+1690 ᚐ Ogham letter Ailm
U+1691 ᚑ Ogham letter Onn
U+1692 ᚒ Ogham letter Ur
U+1693 ᚓ Ogham letter Eadhadh
U+1694 ᚔ Ogham letter Iodhadh
U+1695 ᚕ Ogham letter Eabhadh
U+1696 ᚖ Ogham letter Or
U+1697 ᚗ Ogham letter Uillean
U+1698 ᚘ Ogham letter Ifin
U+1699 ᚙ Ogham letter Eamhancholl
U+169A ᚚ Ogham letter Peith
U+169B ᚛ Ogham feather mark (marks beginning of text)
U+169C ᚜ Ogham reversed feather mark (marks end of text)


Examples

  • Ballaqueeney Rushen, Isle of Man (SC 200 680)
     ᚁᚔᚃᚐᚔᚇᚑᚅᚐᚄᚋᚐᚊᚔᚋᚒᚉᚑᚔ   ᚉᚒᚅᚐᚃᚐᚂᚔ 
    BIVAIDONAS-MAQI-MUCOI | CUNAVA[LI]
    "Of Bivaidonas, son of the tribe Cunava[li]"
  • Latin text written in Ogham, in the Annals of Inisfallen of 1193 (ms. Rawlinson B. 503, 40c)
    numus honoratur sine / numo nullus amatur
    "Money is honoured, without money nobody is loved"

Combined Latin alphabet and Ogham inscriptions

  • Knoc y Doonee, Kirk Andreas, Isle of Man (NX 404 022)
    AMMECATI | FILIVS-ROCATI | HIC-IACIT
    "Ammecatus son of Rocatus lies here"
    ᚒᚁᚔᚉᚐᚈᚑᚄᚋᚐᚊᚔᚏᚑᚉᚐᚈᚑᚄ
    [.]B[I]CATOS-M[A]QI-R[O]C[A]T[O]S
    "[am]bicatos son of Rocatos"
  • A 19th century Ogham inscription from Ahenny, Co. Tipperary (Grave stone of Mary Dempsey, dated Jan. 4th, 1802, Raftery 1969)
    Beneath this sepulchral tomb lie the remains of Mary Dempsey who departed this life January the 4th 1802 aged 17 years
    ᚃᚐᚐᚄᚂᚔᚌᚄᚑᚅᚐᚂᚒᚐᚈᚐᚋᚐᚏᚔᚅᚔᚇᚆᚔᚋᚒᚄᚐ / ᚑᚋᚁᚐᚂᚂᚔᚅᚐᚌᚉᚏᚐᚅᚔᚁᚆ
    fa an lig so na lu ata mari ni dhimusa / o mballi na gcranibh
    "Beneath this stone lieth Mári Ní Dhíomasaigh from Ballycranna"

Combined runic and Ogham inscriptions:

  • Kirk Michael churchyard, Kirk Michael, Isle of Man (SC 318 900)
     ᚁᚂᚃᚄᚅᚆᚇᚈᚉᚊᚋᚌᚍᚎᚏᚐᚑᚒᚒᚔ 
    BLVSNHDTCQMGNgStRAOUEI
    (Ogham abecedarium)
     ᚋᚒᚒᚉᚑᚋᚐᚂᚂᚐᚃᚔᚒᚐᚋᚒᚂᚂᚌᚒᚉ 
    MUUCOMALL-AVI-UA-MULLGUC
    "Mucomael grandson/descendant of O'Maelguc"
    ᛘᛅᛚ᛬ᛚᚢᛘᚴᚢᚿ᛬ᚱᛅᛁᛋᛏᛁ᛬ᚴᚱᚢᛋ᛬ᚦᛁᚾᛅ᛬ᛁᚠᛏᛁᚱ᛬ᛘᛅᛚ᛬ᛘᚢᚱᚢ᛬ᚠᚢᛋᛏᚱᛅ᛬ᛋᛁᚾᛁ᛬ᛏᚭᛏᛁᚱᛏᚢᚠᚴᛅᛚᛋ᛬ᚴᚭᚾᛅ᛬ᛁᛋ᛬ᛅᚦᛁᛋᛚ᛬ᛅᛏᛁ᛭
    MAL : LUMKUN : RAISTI : KRUS : ThINA : IFTIR : MAL : MURU : FUSTRA : SINI : TOTIRTUFKALS : KONA : IS : AThISL : ATI+
    "Mal Lumkun set up this cross in memory of Mal Mury her foster-son, daughter of Dufgal, the wife whom Athisl married,"
    ᛒᛁᛏᚱᛅᛁᛋ᛬ᛚᛅᛁᚠᛅ᛬ᚠᚢᛋᛏᚱᛅ᛬ᚴᚢᚦᛅᚾ᛬ᚦᛅᚾ᛬ᛋᚭᚾ᛬ᛁᛚᛅᚾ᛭
    [B]ITRA : IS : LAIFA : FUSTRA : KUThAN : ThAN : SON : ILAN +
    "Better it is to leave a good foster son than a bad son"

Fictional inscription: a Middle Irish saga text recorded in the Book of Leinster (LL 66 AB) mentions the following Ogham inscription:

Gip e tised in faidche, dia m-ba gascedach, geis fair ar thecht dind faidchi cen chomrac n-oenfhir do fhuacra.
"whoever comes to this meadow, if he be armed, he is forbidden to leave the meadow, without requesting single combat."


See also

References

  • Macalister, Robert A.S. Corpus inscriptionum insularum celticarum. First edition. Dublin: Stationery Office, 1945-1949.
  • Katherine Forsyth, The Ogham Inscriptions of Scotland: An Edited Corpus, PhD Dissertation, Harvard University (Ann Arbor: UMI, 1996).
  • M.A. O'Brien, Corpus Genealogiarum Hiberniae, vol. 1, 2nd edition, Dublin 1976.
  • Damian McManus, Ogam: Archaizing, Orthography and the Authenticity of the Manuscript Key to the Alphabet, Ériu 37, 1986, 1-31.
  • Damian McManus, A Guide to Ogam, Maynooth 1991.
  • Barry Raftery, A Late Ogham Inscription from Co. Tipperary, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland 99, 1969.
  • Jost Gippert, Ogam. Eine frühe keltische Schrifterfindung, Praha 1993.
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