mirror of
https://github.com/symbl-cc/symbl-data.git
synced 2025-10-28 04:01:11 -04:00
6 lines
1.0 KiB
Plaintext
6 lines
1.0 KiB
Plaintext
Ogham is a Unicode block containing characters for representing Old Irish inscriptions.
|
||
|
||
Ogham /ˈɒɡəm/ (Modern Irish [ˈoːmˠ] or [ˈoːəmˠ]; Old Irish: ogam [ˈɔɣamˠ]) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the so-called "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries), and later the Old Irish language (so-called scholastic ogham, 6th to 9th centuries). There are roughly 400 surviving orthodox inscriptions on stone monuments throughout Ireland and western Britain; the bulk of them are in the south of Ireland, in Counties Kerry, Cork and Waterford. The largest number outside of Ireland is in Pembrokeshire in Wales.
|
||
The vast majority of the inscriptions consist of personal names.
|
||
According to the High Medieval Bríatharogam, names of various trees can be ascribed to individual letters.
|
||
The etymology of the word ogam or ogham remains unclear. One possible origin is from the Irish og-úaim 'point-seam', referring to the seam made by the point of a sharp weapon. |