Ogham

ogham English Alternative forms en ogham ogam Etymology Borrowed from en ga ogham, from en mga ogam, from en cel-pro *ogmos furrow, path, from en ine-pro *h₂óǵmos. The Irish word is frequently folk-etymologized as ga og-úaim, referring to ogham being supposedly made by the point of a sharp weapon, but this approach faces serious phonological and morphological problems in that:https://ogham.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2023/02/20/what-does-the-word-ogam-mean-and-where-does-the-name-come-from/ What does the word ogam mean and where does the name come from? David Stifter Megan Kasten OG(H)AM 2023-02-20 https://web.archive.org/web/20250306103903/https://ogham.glasgow.ac.uk/index.php/2023/02/20/what-does-the-word-ogam-mean-and-where-does-the-name-come-from/ 6 March 2025 The name of ogham and the supposed second element (mga úaimm seam?) inflected very differently in Early Irish, "ogham" being an o-stem and the second element being a neuter n-stem. mga ogmóir skilled in ogham should have a vowel in between the g and m because vowels lengthened by compensatory lengthening after consonant loss are usually not syncopated in Early Irish. Pronunciation en /ˈɒɡəm/ see the usage notes en LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Ogham2.wav Southern England en /ˈoʊ.əm/ en LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Ogham.wav Southern England en oʊəm 2 Proper noun en Alphabets Ireland The Ogham alphabet, a writing system used to write Irish first attested inscribed on the edge of standing stones from the 4th century AD, with continuous use thereafter. en-GB Dalya Alberge Teacher finds stone with ancient ogham writing from Ireland in Coventry garden The Guardian 2024-05-08 https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/may/08/teacher-finds-stone-ancient-ogham-writing-ireland-coventry-garden 0261-3077 The rectangular sandstone rock that Graham Senior had discovered was inscribed in ogham, an alphabet used in the early medieval period primarily for writing in the Irish language. https://web.archive.org/web/20261022070905/https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/may/08/teacher-finds-stone-ancient-ogham-writing-ireland-coventry-garden 22 October 2026 Usage notes The pronunciation /ˈoʊ.əm/ more closely matches the modern Irish pronunciation of the word ([ˈoːmˠ] [ˈoːəmˠ]), but the pronunciation /ˈɒɡəm/, based on the spelling and the Old Irish pronunciation, is also common in English. Derived terms en Oghamist oghamic Noun A single character in this alphabet. See also en beth luis nion, en beth luis fern References Anagrams en aghmo Omagh go HAM go ham en Alphabets