Ogham
The Ogham or ( Old Irish ) Ogham script ( irish [' oɣam ] ) was in Ireland and some western parts of Britain or Scotland ( Scottish Gaelic Oghum ) from 4th to 6th century used to at the edges of Oghamsteinen or to other support material short texts, in most cases personal names to install. The name of the font has strong etymological parallels to Ogma or Ogmios, the old Irish god of oratory. However, whether this God is the namesake of the font, or whether the etymology established the reference in hindsight, is not to be clarified.
The texts
The scribe 's name was always given in the genitive, to characterize the relation of the stone to the person ("This is the stone of ..."). Not fully understood so far, what should the stones mark the end. Either they showed the land to or were, more likely, Tomb of the person designated. After a Middle-Irish (ie much later ) Text Etarcomol is buried and erected at his grave with Ogamschrift. Another example is an Ogham stone in Arraglen ( County Kerry), which carries in addition to a Tatzenkreuz the inscription " Rónán the priest, son of Comgán ".
The script runs from bottom to top and possibly on the other side back down. Most of the names so the language level before the Old Irish (before 600 AD) are in archaic Irish, held. Less often, and especially in Wales, the inscriptions are bilingual: Irish- Latin. Some stones are also runic inscriptions or crosses. Sometimes the names are brief comments attached. Thus, an abbot, a bishop and a priest were ever mentioned once. The word for priest appears in the form QRIMITIR ( genitive of * QRIMITER < Latin presbyter; cf. Old Irish cruimther ). This raises the question to what extent Ogam is to be regarded as " pagan " literature. The research is not unanimous on this point. The Ogam script was deciphered ( "The Book of Ballymote " ) based on a recording in 1400 created " Leabhar Bhaile to Mhóta ". Marked with crosses Ogamsteine provide contradictory evidence, since the cross and Ogamzeichen sometimes ( or almost ) overlay without would determine that, which is the older " Felsritzung ". A clearer indication there may be a stone at Ballyferriter on the Dingle Peninsula, on the one of the Ogamstriche was apparently intentionally kept short so as not to damage the ( existing? ) Cross. One such example is the Priest Stone (east of Dingle ). From Northern Ireland are just two Ogamsteine , both known without Christian symbols. In Scotland Oghaminschriften exist in not entziffernder Pictish language
Example of an inscription:
It follows then: " ( The Stone of ) Coílub, son of Corb, son ( descendant of the tribe ) of Ciarraige ". The mentioned Ciarraige are perpetuated in the name of the county Kerry.
Origins
The Ogamsystem is not an independent alphabet represents the assignment of the sign is most likely an encoding of a known of the former Celtic alphabets, so either the Latin or Greek alphabet. Attempts to return the alphabet on the Germanic runes were unconvincing. The characters were well out of the space occupied in the British Isles since the Paleolithic Zählhölzern (English tally sticks ) derived ( see figure in ). With the help of objects (mostly well- merchandise) counted in groups of 20. The Ogamzeichen are arranged in four groups of five (ie 20). In addition, there are strong parallels between the two graphic sign systems. The individual letters are referred to with tree names that begin with the associated sound.
Dissemination
Oghaminschriften be found in most counties in Ireland, but there is a concentration in the counties of Cork, Kerry and Waterford. Kerry alone has about 1/3 of the total volume and the barony Corca Dhuibhne on the Dingle Peninsula has about 60 Oghamsteine the highest concentration. Outside of Ireland to Oghamsteine found in areas where the Irish settled, like Cornwall and Devon, the Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales although most Scottish Oghams seem to be Pictish origin. The distribution of the inscriptions seem to indicate that the practice in the southwest of Ireland was born. Also, the fact that later inscriptions were found in large numbers here suggests that this area until the end of the tradition a focal point for Ogham remained. The physical condition of the Oghaminschriften varies considerably. This is often caused by the reuse of Oghamsteine in basements or other structures. In fact, More than 40 % of the total found in Ireland Oghamsteine from basements that are especially common in County Cork. More than 40 % of the Ogham stones are found near churches, although it is difficult to determine whether the reference is original.
Historiolinguistische importance
From the point of view historiolinguistischer Ogamsteine are of particular importance for the assessment of the origin of Old Irish. They originated in the period in which the Irish for the typical characteristics such as Anlautmutationen, apocope ( Endsilbenwegfall ), syncope ( single syllable omission ), palatalization trained etc.. They form on the one hand the total corpus for the language level of the so-called archaic Irish, and on the other hand a (indirect ) bridge between the Old Irish and the mainland Celtic languages .
Use
The writing was not used for the recording of myths, legends, or even " Celtic " traditions. However, are difficult to interpret references in the old Irish saying on the use of the Ogamschrift in magical contexts, such as security. In addition, in the legends is sometimes the talk that messages in Ogamschrift were transferred scratched by messengers in wood, but could this been archeologically not be proven. Ogamschriften seem to be available exclusively in stone and play the contents described above.
The writing has been used repeatedly over the centuries, and even expanded to five characters in the Middle Ages. These so-called forfeda, however, were used only in manuscripts. Today they use neo-pagans about the development in the 20th century Celtic tree horoscope.
Unicode
In Unicode Ogham Ogam is to U 169 F encoded in Unicode block U 1680 below. It contains the letters in the font Deja Vu or Segoe UI icon.