Ogham distinctive writing systems ever developed, an alphabet unique to the early medieval Celtic world in which each letter is represented by a group of strokes cut along the edge of a stone. To learn how to read Ogham, the Celtic alphabet is to enter the world of the early Irish linguistic landscape, the world in which the names of the dead were first committed to stone, and to recognise the importance of the script for the broader study of the Celtic languages and oral tradition. The Ogham script is the earliest form of writing native to Ireland, and the inscribed stones on which it was carved give us a direct window into the linguistic and cultural world of the early Celtic peoples.
The Structure of the Script
The Ogham alphabet has, in its classical form, twenty-five letters, divided into four groups of five, each known by the name of its first letter. The four groups, or aicme, are the Aicme Beithe (the birch group), the Aicme hÚatha (the h-ash group), the Aicme Mhuine (the vine group), and the Aicme Peithe (the birch-bush group), with a fifth letter added later to represent the p sound that had been borrowed from Latin.
Each letter of the Ogham alphabet is represented by a group of strokes cut at a particular angle to the edge of the stone. The strokes are of three kinds: a single stroke to the left of the edge, a single stroke to the right of the edge, a single stroke cutting straight across the edge, a group of strokes cutting through the edge, and groups of two, three, four, or five strokes parallel to the edge.
The Four Aicme
The first group, the Aicme Beithe, includes the letters B (beith, birch), L (luis, rowan), F (fearn, alder), S (sail, willow), and N (nion, ash). These are the letters of the B group, and they are represented on the stone by strokes that angle upward from the edge, by strokes that angle downward from the edge, by strokes that slant through the edge, by short strokes that cut through the edge, and by longer strokes that cut through the edge. The letters are the most common in the Ogham inscriptions, and they include the vowels and several of the more frequent consonants of the early Irish language.
The second group, the Aicme hÚatha, includes the letters H (hÚath, white hawthorn), D (dair, oak), T (tinne, holly), C (coll, hazel), and Q (ceirt, apple). The letters of this group are represented on the stone by strokes that cut through the edge, with the strokes becoming progressively longer and more numerous as one moves through the group.
The third group, the Aicme Mhuine, includes M (muin, vine), G (gort, ivy), NG (ngetal, reed), Z/ST (straif, blackthorn), and R (ruis, elder). The letters of this group are represented on the stone by strokes that angle upward to the right, by strokes that angle downward to the right, by strokes that slant through the edge, by short strokes that cut through the edge, and by longer strokes that cut through the edge.
The fourth group, the Aicme Peithe, includes A (ail, fir), O (onn, furze), U (úr, heather), E (eadhadh, aspen), and I (iogh, yew). The letters of this group are represented on the stone by strokes that angle upward to the right, by strokes that angle downward to the right, by strokes that slant through the edge, by short strokes that cut through the edge, and by longer strokes that cut through the edge.
A fifth letter, P (peith, the birch-bush itself), was added later to represent the p sound that had been borrowed into Irish from Latin. The letter is represented on the stone by a single stroke that slants through the edge, and its late addition to the alphabet is one of the important pieces of evidence for the chronology of the development of the script.
The Direction of Reading
The Ogham letters were traditionally read from the bottom of the stone upward, with the first letter cut across or at the base of the stone and the last letter at the top. The direction of the reading distinctive features of the script, and it important things to remember when learning to read an Ogham inscription.
The strokes were usually cut on the left edge of the stone, with the script running from the bottom of the inscribed edge to the top, but they could also be cut on the right edge, on both edges, or across the face of the stone. The direction of the reading and the edge on which the strokes were cut are matters of considerable scholarly interest, and they have been used to develop theories about the origins and development of the script.
The most common convention is that the acute angle of the stroke points to the bottom of the stone, and the obtuse angle points to the top, although there are exceptions and a careful examination of the stone is always necessary.
The Formula of the Inscriptions
The vast majority of the Ogham inscriptions are memorial in character, recording the names of the dead, the names of their fathers or other relatives, and occasionally their family affiliations. The most common formula is the MAQI (son of) or MAQ (son of) formula, in which the name of the deceased is followed by the word for son and the name of the father, often in the genitive case.
A typical Ogham inscription might read NETTA-LAMINACCA MAQI MUCOI DOVINIA (of Nettalaminacca, son of Dovinios the tribesman), or DOVETI MAQI CALETI (of Dovetos, son of Caletos), or simply MAQI followed by the name of the father. The names are typically bipartite Celtic names of the kind common in the early medieval Celtic world, and they often contain recognizable Celtic elements such as dovo- (dark), netto- (warrior), caleto- (hard), cuna- (hound), ialo- (clear), and vindo- (white).
A Worked Example
A common Ogham inscription on an early medieval Irish stone is BIVAIDONA MAQI MUCOI BIVAIDONAS (of Bivaidonas, son of Bivaidonas). To read this, one begins at the bottom of the inscribed edge and reads upward: B is a single stroke to the right of the edge, I is a group of three strokes to the right, V is a single stroke to the left, A is a single stroke to the right, and so on, through the whole inscription. The translation is not always straightforward, because the names of the early Irish Celtic world are not always directly translatable, and the language of the inscriptions is the Primitive Irish of the early medieval period, which differs in important respects from later Old Irish and modern Irish.
The Scholarly Ogham
A small but important group of Ogham inscriptions are not memorial in character, and they include inscriptions that appear to be in the older Ogham cipher, a system in which the letters of the Latin alphabet are represented by their corresponding Ogham letters. The scholarly or academic Ogham, as this is sometimes called, is found on a small number of stones in Ireland and Wales, and the existence of a scholarly Ogham tradition is well established. The tradition is associated in particular with the Brehon lawyers and the fileadha (poets) of the early medieval Irish learned class, both of whom used the script in their professional work, and the In Lebor Ogam, a tract on the script preserved in manuscripts of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, is one of the principal sources for the tradition.
The Value of Learning to Read
The ability to read Ogham is a valuable skill for any student of the Celtic language family, and it opens up a body of primary evidence that is otherwise accessible only through translations. The Ogham inscriptions are the earliest evidence for the Irish language, and they provide essential information about the phonology, grammar, and vocabulary of the Primitive Irish period. They are also a source of great beauty and a tangible link with the older Celtic world, and the act of reading one of the stones is, in itself, a powerful connection with the past.
Related Topics
- The Ogham and other inscribed stones of the early medieval Celtic world are examined as a primary source for our knowledge of the early Celtic languages.
- The Celtic language family of which Ogham is the earliest form of writing is examined in its Indo-European context.
- The medieval Celtic literary tradition that developed in the manuscript period is explored through the major works of the Irish, Welsh, and Breton traditions.
- The Celtic religion, mythology, and spirituality provides the religious context for many of the inscriptions.
- The history of the Celtic civilization places the development of Ogham in its chronological and political context.