![]() The Ogham Tract records that the Ogham was created by Ogma, the God of Speech and Poetry from the Tuatha Dé Danann, as proof of his ingenuity. ![]() Similarly, there are two legendary accounts of how Ogham was created, one which finds its roots in Irish pagan mythology and a second based in Christianity. Unfortunately, there is quite a bit of evidence to the contrary and this theory has largely been put aside by the academic community. This is based on the idea that each group of signs is five in number and that the combination of left and right hand would be able to produce all 20 of the original signs. There is a third, and less accepted, explanation for the origins which suggests that the language was created out of a system of hand signals, either as a military or social sign language. Under this explanation Ogham is basically a secret code allowing Irish scholars, rulers and druids to communication about political, military or religious matters without the enemy understanding.Īlternatively, some scholars suggest that the script was invented by the first Christian communities in early Ireland, out of a desire to have a unique alphabet for writing short messages and inscriptions in the Irish language. There are two main schools of thought among scholars as to the motivation for the creation of ogham.įirstly, that it was created as a cryptic alphabet which only the Irish could understand and would be unrecognisable to those with knowledge of the Latin Alphabet (ie the Romans). ![]() The etymology of the word remains unclear though the idea that it originals from the Old Irish og-úaim, meaning ‘point-seam’, is preferred as it is consistent with the idea that the runes are incised into stone or wood using a sharp implement or weapon and are intended to be read along a seam. Ogham is an early medieval alphabet from Ireland which is presumed to have been the written language of the druids. ![]()
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