The aicme Forfeda
The five aicme forfeda are glossed in the manuscripts Auraicept na n-Éces ('The Scholars' Primer), De dúilib feda ('Elements of the Letters') and In Lebor Ogaim ('The Book of Ogam'), by several Bríatharogaim ("word oghams" ), or two word kennings, which explain the meanings of the names of the letters of the Ogham alphabet. Three variant lists of bríatharogaim or 'word-oghams' have been preserved, dating to the Old Irish period. They are as follows:
- Bríatharogam Morainn mac Moín
- Bríatharogam Maic ind Óc
- Bríatharogam Con Culainn
Later Medieval scholars believed that all of the letter names of the ogham alphabet were those of trees, and attempted to explain the bríatharogaim in that light. However, modern scholarship has shown that only eight at most of the original twenty letter names are those of trees, and that the word-oghams or kennings themselves support this. Of the forfeda letter names, only one may be that of a tree or shrub (pín) and their kennings as edited (in normalized Old Irish) and translated by McManus (1988) are as follows:
| Letter | Meaning | Bríatharogam Morainn mac Moín | Bríatharogam Maic ind Óc | Bríatharogam Con Culainn | ||
| ᚕ | EA | Ébhadh | Unknown | snámchaín feda "fair-swimming letter" |
cosc lobair " of an infirm person" |
caínem éco "fairest fish" |
| ᚖ | OI | Óir | 'Gold' | sruithem aicde "most venerable substance" |
lí crotha "splendour of form" |
|
| ᚗ | UI | Uilleann | 'Elbow' | túthmar fid "fragnant tree" |
cubat oll "great elbow/cubit" |
|
| ᚘ | P, later IO | Pín, later Iphín | 'Spine/thorn'? | milsem fedo "sweetest tree" |
amram mlais "most wonderful taste" |
|
| ᚙ | CH or X, later AE | Eamhancholl | 'Twin-of-hazel' | lúad sáethaig "groan of a sick person" |
mol galraig "groan of a sick person" |
|
Four of these names are glossed in the Auraicept with tree names, ebhadh as crithach "aspen", oir as feorus no edind "spindle-tree or ivy", uilleand as edleand "honeysuckle", and iphin as spinan no ispin "gooseberry or thorn".
The kennings for Ébhadh point to the sound éo or é, which is also the word for "salmon". The name appears modelled after Eadhadh and Iodhadh. The kennings for Ór point to the word ór "gold" (from Latin aurum). The kenning of Uilleann, "great elbow", refers to the letter name. Since the Ogham alphabet dates to the Primitive Irish period, it had no sign for in its original form and the letter Pín was added as a letter to express it. McManus states that the name Pín was probably influenced by Latin pinus ('pine'), but a more likely explanation is that it derives from Latin spina ('thorn'), as the kennings indicate a tree or shrub with sweet tasting fruit. According to Kelly (1976) the name spín ( deriving from the Latin ) appears in the Old Irish tree lists as meaning either gooseberry or thorn, so the medieval glosses may be correct on this occasion. The name Eamhancholl means "twinned C", referring to the shape of the letter. The Bríatharogam kenning "groan of a sick person" refers to a value ch, predating the decision that all five forfeda represent vowels.
Apart from the first letter, the forfeda were little used in inscriptions, and this led later ogamists to rearrange them as a series of vowel diphthongs, necessitating a complete change to the sounds of Pín and Eamhancholl (the name Pín also had to be changed to Iphín). This arrangement is how they appear in most manuscripts:
- ᚕ (U+1695) Éabhadh: ea, éo ea;
- ᚖ (U+1696) Ór: oi óe, oi;
- ᚗ (U+1697) Uilleann: ui, úa, ui;
- ᚘ (U+1698) Ifín: io ía, ia;
- ᚙ (U+1699)Eamhancholl: ae.
This arrangement meant that once again the ogham alphabet was without a letter for the sound, making necessary the creation of Peith (see below).
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