Just when you thought you knew everything there is to know about your Celtic background, you see some Celtic motif with Ogham written somewhere on it! Well, that little word seemed pretty obscure to me when I ran across it, but it was related to something Celtic, and being American Irish, I just had to learn more about it. If your interests run a little to the arcane, you may find Ogham (pronounced owum) to be just the thing to fire up a sleepy St.Patrick's Day party! Beware though, this could have a sedative effect depending on the crowd you run with.
As it turns out, Ogham is an alphabet used by early Celts beginning in about the fourth century C.E., although it's point of origin matches the obscurity of it's name. Even scholars (who eat this stuff for breakfast) can't really pin down whether this alphabet was based on Roman or Runic styles of writing, and the fact that it corresponds to neither Roman nor Runic letter orders really stokes the raging debate! They do agree that it was modeled on some other script form based on phonological evidence (which is beyond the scope of this little blog). This alphabet is related to Primitive Irish; a language used in the fourth to sixth centuries, but may predate the fourth century. Inscriptions available for viewing today, mostly around the Irish Sea, are on large stones but it is thought that prior to stone cutting, symbols of this alphabet were carved on more perishable items such as tree branches. It is, therefore, concluded that this alphabet was used well before the inscriptions in stone we are able to see today. These are translated mostly as names, or lineage and were most likely used as territorial boundary markers.
The Ogham alphabet is comprised of twenty feda, or characters, which are divided into aicmi, or families. Each aicme is named after the first feda in it. The characters are made with downward, upward and perpendicular strikes, and notches are used for vowels. In manuscript tradition, five more characters were added, known as the forfeda. Need a drink of water? . . . this part was a little dry! But cheer up . . . on to folklore!
I came across three seemingly distinct legends of the origin of Ogham, but on some level in the misty past they may be interrelated. One legend has it that Ogham is named after the Irish god Ogma whose crowning attribute seems to have been eloquence. Another story tells of a Scythian king by the name of Fenius Farsa who traveled to the plane of Shinar in order to study the various Languages generated at Nimrod's Tower (the Tower of Babel). Finding that the languages had largely dispersed, he sent his top scholars on worldwide journeys to investigate. With the information that was gathered, he took the best of each language and created Goidelic (Gaelic), a language of perfection. He then created Ogham as the perfect writing system to accompany it. A third legend recounts how a certain Ogma mac Elathan created this system of writing for the scholars and poets of his day. It is said that the very first message written in Ogham consisted of seven b's carved on a birch branch hence the association of the first letter of Ogham with the birch tree. All the letters of Ogham came to be associated with tree names, although only four of the twenty letters have readily recognizable tree names. In fact, the word feda used for the characters of this alphabet also means tree! By the tenth century Ogham was referred to as the Celtic Tree Alphabet and is closely associated with tree names to this day.
Many people today hold that Ogham has a mystical layer as well. Used by Druids, Ogham is said to have been a means of secret communication and divination. There are those who use forms of Ogham to this day for these purposes! Because trees were considered sacred in prechristian Celtic societies, an entire system exists assigning meaning to each tree represented by the feda of Ogham. For instance, the first letter beithe, meaning birch, is said to carry with it protective attributes. There is also a thirteen month calendar which designates each month as being governed by a tree feda.
Well, my curiosity has been sated, if only for a while. Please know that this is just an overview of my initial understanding of the obscure little word Ogham. If this has peaked your interest, have a look at the links I have provided, all of which I have visited to write this blog. You'll find a lot more information on sources like the Book of Ballymote. Or, you can just come back and visit me! There is a tremendous amount of information to explore - I just need to sit back and digest a little before I continue my treasure hunt!
As it turns out, Ogham is an alphabet used by early Celts beginning in about the fourth century C.E., although it's point of origin matches the obscurity of it's name. Even scholars (who eat this stuff for breakfast) can't really pin down whether this alphabet was based on Roman or Runic styles of writing, and the fact that it corresponds to neither Roman nor Runic letter orders really stokes the raging debate! They do agree that it was modeled on some other script form based on phonological evidence (which is beyond the scope of this little blog). This alphabet is related to Primitive Irish; a language used in the fourth to sixth centuries, but may predate the fourth century. Inscriptions available for viewing today, mostly around the Irish Sea, are on large stones but it is thought that prior to stone cutting, symbols of this alphabet were carved on more perishable items such as tree branches. It is, therefore, concluded that this alphabet was used well before the inscriptions in stone we are able to see today. These are translated mostly as names, or lineage and were most likely used as territorial boundary markers.
The Ogham alphabet is comprised of twenty feda, or characters, which are divided into aicmi, or families. Each aicme is named after the first feda in it. The characters are made with downward, upward and perpendicular strikes, and notches are used for vowels. In manuscript tradition, five more characters were added, known as the forfeda. Need a drink of water? . . . this part was a little dry! But cheer up . . . on to folklore!
I came across three seemingly distinct legends of the origin of Ogham, but on some level in the misty past they may be interrelated. One legend has it that Ogham is named after the Irish god Ogma whose crowning attribute seems to have been eloquence. Another story tells of a Scythian king by the name of Fenius Farsa who traveled to the plane of Shinar in order to study the various Languages generated at Nimrod's Tower (the Tower of Babel). Finding that the languages had largely dispersed, he sent his top scholars on worldwide journeys to investigate. With the information that was gathered, he took the best of each language and created Goidelic (Gaelic), a language of perfection. He then created Ogham as the perfect writing system to accompany it. A third legend recounts how a certain Ogma mac Elathan created this system of writing for the scholars and poets of his day. It is said that the very first message written in Ogham consisted of seven b's carved on a birch branch hence the association of the first letter of Ogham with the birch tree. All the letters of Ogham came to be associated with tree names, although only four of the twenty letters have readily recognizable tree names. In fact, the word feda used for the characters of this alphabet also means tree! By the tenth century Ogham was referred to as the Celtic Tree Alphabet and is closely associated with tree names to this day.
Many people today hold that Ogham has a mystical layer as well. Used by Druids, Ogham is said to have been a means of secret communication and divination. There are those who use forms of Ogham to this day for these purposes! Because trees were considered sacred in prechristian Celtic societies, an entire system exists assigning meaning to each tree represented by the feda of Ogham. For instance, the first letter beithe, meaning birch, is said to carry with it protective attributes. There is also a thirteen month calendar which designates each month as being governed by a tree feda.
Well, my curiosity has been sated, if only for a while. Please know that this is just an overview of my initial understanding of the obscure little word Ogham. If this has peaked your interest, have a look at the links I have provided, all of which I have visited to write this blog. You'll find a lot more information on sources like the Book of Ballymote. Or, you can just come back and visit me! There is a tremendous amount of information to explore - I just need to sit back and digest a little before I continue my treasure hunt!
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