Facts About The Ogham Alphabet v. 1.0

by Iain Mac an tSaoir

I. Background of the Study

Amongst the great many topics upon which tomes of misinformation are heaped, is the topic of the Ogham alphabet. Some people like to pontificate about how how entire books were at one time written in the Ogham alphabet. Other will make the claim that Ogham is proof that "Celts" were coming to the America's many thousands of years ago. There is no proof of either assertion. The purpose of this article is not to state that ogham isn't very old. It is not to say that some of the markings found in the New World aren't bonafide examples of ogham script. Some may be. Yet, they need not date to unbelievably far reaches into the past to be here.

In fact, Northern European voyagers were frequenting North America at an early date in the first millenia. Some of these were Norse travelers (1). There is no reason why Celtic peoples must be all that much earlier in their arrival to the New World.

The problem presented, however, is twofold. On one hand, there are folks such as Barry Fell, who began his studies of ogham (his actual field of study was marine biology as I recall). Dr. Fell's work, America B.C. (2) does cite definite and true examples of ogham and other scripts in the New World. However, on the whole, his work is held in disrepute because of several flaws such as positing Celtic peoples in Europe long before there were Celts, showing Gallic-Celtic influence on AmerInd language based on pronounciation when no one knows how Gallic words were pronounced; and many others, the least of which is an incredible ability to decipher ogham sentences and paragraphs from naturally occuring cracks and fissures in rock. Berry Fell also states that the Ogham in America dated to centuries before Christ in modern Gaidhlig (Scots). It was nearly two millenia between when Fells supposed Ogams were theoretically inscribed (800 BC), and the *beginnings* of Scots Gaelic (Gaidhlig) in about 1000 AD.

On the other hand, study of how and where ogham script developed is given diservice by modern metaphysical practitioners. Again, this is not to say that people cannot gain benefit from using them in such ways as are practiced in some communities. It is, however, to say that, just because it is done now, doesn't mean it was done that way 3 or even 2 thousand years ago.

II. Some Religious and Cultural Considerations

In some places ogham script is ascribed to a member of the Tuatha De Danann. This member is Oghma, after whom Ogham is said to be named. There is the implication perhaps that Oghma, also known as the 'Sun Poet' was He who controlled the words of men, probably the learned men. Because of these things, Oghma is said to be the God of Eloquence and Literature (3). Dr. OhOgain points out in his work an early Irish reference to Oghma as , "a man most knowledgable in speech and poetry."(4) As we know from other studies, the learned men were poets. This whether they were the Druids of the pre-Christian Gaels, or the Filidh after the Christian priests assumed religious responsibilities previously performed by Druids. However, while perhaps the Celtic people of Gaul may not have commited things to writing, such was not necessarily the case in Ireland. While the Irish most certainly valued a well developed memory, there is no sign of true logocentricity amongst them. Yet, all of the literary sources which show writing, books and Ogham in Ireland, come from well into the Christian period. The Leabhar Buidhe Lecain for example dates from around 1400 AD. Somewhat older, the Leabhar na Nuachonghbala dates from around 1100 AD. Amongst the earliest is the Immrain Bran from around 800 AD, in which, although the basis and many threads date from an earlier time, the story itself is very Christianized by the time it is recorded in the form we have today. Yet Christian sources themselves state that there was writing in Ireland prior to Christainity. The Leabhar na Nuachonghbala itself mentions libraries called 'Tech Screpta'. The texts states that the tales were carved on rods made of hazel. These rods are called 'rods of the Fili'. The term 'Fili' is telling in that it dates them linguistically to the time after the Druids were replaced by the Filidh. Some, like Ellis, draw on another writer Aethicus, to show that pre-Christian Irish possessed writing. Yet even this writer dates only as early as roughly 417 AD (5). Furthermore, Aethicus refers to the books as 'ideomochos', infering that they were of a style new to him, but books none the less. This should not be surprising, nor does it indicate Ogham script. In fact, as the Frys point out, as far as manuscripts are concerned, the very mechanics of Ogham makes it "useless" for manuscripts (6), or anything other than what they are found on, burial and land boundary markers. Even the classical historians concede that, while the early Celtic peoples wrote, they used Greek letters to do so. In fact, it would seem that the only practical use for Ogham was on boundary and grave (7).

Peter Berresford Ellis writes:

"The Celts of Ireland were not to suffer conquest by Rome. References to Ireland before the rise of native literacy with the Christian period are brief and inaccurate. The native literary traditions do not commence until the sixth century AD, apart from memorial and boundary stones found mainly in the south of the country and written in Ogham alphabet. As we have seen elsewhere in the Celtic world, the transmission of learning was conducted orally. Again, it has to be emphasized that this was not done through ignorance of the art of writing but because of conservative rules of the society. If there was any earlier written tradition, indicated by references to libraries of Ogham cut on woods, or rods or yew or oak, nothing has survived. Only Ogham inscriptions on stone have survived. It has been conjectured that the wands were bound in the form of a fan, held together by a pivot at one end, to be conveniently opened or closed. Such Ogham books were referred to as tamlorga filidh (staves of the poets) or flesc filidh (poet's rods). In the tale about two ill-fated lovers, Baile and Aillinn, it is related that when a yew and an apple tree grew over the lover's graves, they were cut down and made into wand-books on which the poets cut their sad story in Ogham. Certanly the rhythmical syllabic verse of the sixth century Irish clearly points to a long literary tradition, although some have argued that this might represent the archaic form of oral tranmission rather than a written tradition."(8)

III. Date Ogham Was Developed

Ogham is mentioned in the old texts (which could actually be redactions by monks). There are also enumerable sets of characters, made up of incised markings on artifacts of various kinds to be found throughout "Old Europe" from approximately 2000 BCE on (9). Thus, just because Oghma controlled the utterances of the educated, and just because the educated used poetic form to help maintain and pass on their knowledge, and just because the pre-Christain Gaels possessed books, does not mean that they used Ogham prior to around 400 AD. In fact, 400 AD is about the time when according to scholars, Ogham was developed. Peter Berresford Ellis writes:

"Because all remains date from the Christian period, it had been argued that Ogham was not devised until that time and that it was based on the Latin alphabet. Others, like Dr. Barry Fell of Harvard, see Ogham inscriptions practically everywhere - both in Spain and even in America, and date the 'inscriptions' to 500 BC! We can be assured, however, that Ogham does not survive from before the fifth century AD" (10)

And again:

"Ogham(ogam) is the earliest form of Irish writing in which alphabetical units are represented by varying numbers of strokes and notches marked on the edge of stones monuments; it may also have been used on lengths of wood or bone, although none has survived. It is a cipher based on the Latin alphabet and the bulk of survivals are dated around the fifth and sixth centuries AD. Ogham inscriptions do not date prior to the Christian period in Ireland..." (11)

Dr. Simon James states:

"OGAM: THE FIRST IRISH WRITING ....Ogam (or Ogham) was a unique Irish writing, thought to have been inspired by contact with Latin writing, and especially Roman numerals. Made of simple strokes, it was easily cut on stone or wood, along a central line - usually the edge of a slab. Messages carved on wood are mentioned in the Tain, but the surviving texts are mostly names on tombstones (another imported Roman idea). Exactly when Ogam first appeared is still unclear, but sometime during the fourth century AD seems likely: Ogam stones were erected during the fifth to seventh centuries. They are found mainly in southern Ireland and western parts of Britain where the Irish settled. In Britain the Ogam text is often accompanied by a Latin version." (12)

Dr. Miranda J. Green writes:

"Druidic teaching was oral. The Irish druids 'sang over' (for-cain, a word which can also mean 'prophesy, predict') their pupils; the pupils repeated the lesson in chorus. In the Irish texts there is an occasional reference to druidic books (McGrath 1979: 29f.). A script known as Ogam came into use about the fourth century AD, based on the Latin alphabet and consisting of strokes or notches which were cut into wood, bone or stone (McManus 1991: 1ff.). "(13)

The statements of the classical historians seem to be born out by the archaeological evidence as well. This is because, except for the ogham script, there are no inscriptions of anything peculiar to Gaelic peoples themselves. I say specifically Gaelic peoples because, the areas wherein Ogham is found are those areas that are, or at one time were, Goidelic. As Ellis writes, there are only 369 known ogham inscriptions anywhere. The bulk of the inscriptions are found in Ireland, many are found in Wales and in Scotland, which was subject to Gaelic colonization at late dates, a few in Cornwall, and a couple in England - which are the easternmost area for ogham inscriptions (14). In areas where people had been marking stones for 3000 years, it seems odd that there would not be ogham script from a date earlier than 400 AD, if it did in fact exist. Not only are there no examples of a script from before that time, but what does exist is based on Latin. In other words, letters to sound correlation are based on the way such was found in Latin. Latin and Gaelic (and other Celtic languages as well) are from two different branches on the Indo-European tree, they developed differently, and maintained different rules (15). Everything else written herein may only go to show that pre-Christian Celts had books, but that we don't know what kind of alphabet they used to write their books. That Ogham was based on Latin narrows the date for when it was developed. That date corresponds exactly with the coming of Christainity, and the codification of Brehon Law where boundaries between lands became mandated - in short, exactly when, under laws influenced by Christians, the only evidence for Ogham comes into existence. Granted, there are a great many variations of Ogham script. In fact, the Christian era Book of Ballymote also possesses a great number of different Oghams. Yet each of these Oghams are based on Latin. This does not mean that the sounds came with latin, nor that possible associations with those sounds, such as the names of trees, as espoused in the Book of Ballymote came along with Christianity. Only that the script itself came through Roman influence, which by and large, was effected in the insular areas, by the Church.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the jury is still far from out on whatever predecessors the Ogham may have had, or how they were used. Still, there are but three things regarding ogham, that are provable. Those are:

1. Ogham is based on Latin.
2. Ogham, as it is known to us, arose in the fifth century.
3. The only uses we have evidence for are funerary and as pertain to boundaries of lands.

All in all, the position of academia on the matter is best summed up by Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, where they write:

"The history of Ireland's Celtic Iron Age and of the first four and a half centuries AD was not written down at the time, because the Celts did not write, indeed they did not see the need to write. They commited things to memory and passed them on orally. This is what is called the oral tradition. Probably the áes dana, that is, the intellectual class knew how to write but deliberately did not commit their knowledge to script so as to concentrate the power of memory and to ensure the purity of the knowledge as it was passed down orally. There was also as element of keeping the secret in order to maintain superiority over others. When the Celts did begin to commit anything to permanence in the form of writing, their first script was a cumbersome and unimaginative use of short horizontal or diagonal lines on stone slabs, known as Ogham or Ogam script, and limited to the recording of names and genealogies. It emerged in the early centuries AD and was a crude system that served to represent Greek or Latin letters. Generally thought to have been Irish in origin, Ogham inscriptions have been found in other Celtic parts, such as Wales, the Isle of Man and Scotland. As the script for recording historical events, listing laws, or defining religious procedures, for example, it can be seen from the photograph of an Ogham stone that is would have been well-nigh useless." (16)

Sources: (1) The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages A.D. 500-1600, Samuel Eliot Morison

(2) America B.C. ; Barry Fell

(3) The Druids, Peter Berresford Ellis, pg 126

(4) Myth, Legend and Romance, Dr. Daithi OhOgain, pg 350

(5) The Druids, Peter Berresford Ellis, pg 166

(6) A History of Ireland, Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry

(7) The Celtic World, edited by Miranda J. Green, pg 743 - 750

(8) The Celtic Empire - the First Millenium Of Celtic History, Peter Berresford Ellis, pg 176

(9) The Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe; Maria Gimbutas
The Language of the Goddess; Maria Gimbutas

(10) The Druids, Peter Berresford Ellis, pg 164

(11) The Celtic Empire - the First Millenium Of Celtic History, Peter Berresford Ellis, 216

(12) The World of the Celts, Simon James, pg 163

(13) The Celtic World, edited by Miranda J. Green, pg 431:

(14) The Druids, Peter Berresford Ellis, pg 164

(15) The Archaeology of Language, Dr. Colin Renfrew

(16) A History of Ireland, Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry

by Iain MacAnTsaoir

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