Ogham

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The Ogham alphabet was an alphabet used to write an early form of Irish and the Pictish language in Ireland and Britain. In form it was quite simple; the symbols were fixed on a continuous line, and from the line one to five lines were drawn, on either side or passing through it, at right angles to it or at a slant. The number of lines, their position, and their orientation gave the value of the letter. Like the runic alphabet, this was an alphabet whose letter shapes were designed specifically to be carved on wood or stone. R.A.S. Macalister suggested that its shapes may have been used for fingerspelling in a sort of sign language as well. The name ogham apparently relates to Ogmios, a Celtic deity of rhetoric and poetry.

Although the origins of the Ogham alphabet are disputed, it seems reasonable to assume that the system has its roots in existing alphabets, most likely the Latin alphabet, though the Runes, the Greek alphabet have also been suggested to have been known to the devisers of Ogham. Ogham is structurally alphabetic, but its names and the order of its letters are unrelated to any of the neighbouring writing systems. Ogham was an early, and accomplished, expression of early Irish linguistic thinking, however unwieldy its graphemes may seem to us. The linguistic underpinnings are not difficult to see: the vowel order is probably based on the distinction back-to-front: back vowels /a, o, u/. These are followed by front vowels /e, i/.

Ogham was created not later than the 4th century AD; our earliest documents seem to date from the 5th and 6th centuries AD. It can be found on rocks, stones, and pottery in Ireland, Wales, Devon, Cornwall, and the Isle of Man.

The order and usual transliteration of the Ogham alphabet is: B L F S M | H D T C Q | M G NG Z R | A O U E I | EA OI UI IO AE P. Their names are Beith, Luis, Fearn, Sail, Nion; Uath, Dair, Tinne, Coll, Ceirt; Muin, Gort, nGÃÂÃÂ©adal, Straif, Ruis; Ailm, Onn, ÃÂÃÂr, Eadhadh, Iodhadh; ÃÂÃÂabhadh, ÃÂÃÂr, Uilleann, IfÃÂÃÂn, Eamhancholl, Peith.

Unicode table

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F
1680   ᚁ ᚂ ᚃ ᚄ ᚅ ᚆ ᚇ ᚈ ᚉ ᚊ ᚋ ᚌ ᚍ ᚎ ᚏ
1690 ᚐ ᚑ ᚒ ᚓ ᚔ ᚕ ᚖ ᚗ ᚘ ᚙ ᚚ ᚛ ᚜ ᚝ ᚞ ᚟

Bibliography

Daniels, Peter T. and William Bright. 1996. The world's writing systems. NY and Oxford: OUP 1996. (=DB)

McManus, Damian. 1991 A guide to Ogam. Maynooth: An Sagart.

Horse Creek Petroglyph, Ogham like inscription in West Virginia, USA ÃÂÃÂ but it isn't Ogham.