Ogham Grammar : Ancient Ireland - Dictionary, Flashcards and Translator

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(Translations occur based on how you type - remember that Ogham is read from bottom up so you need to arrange words accordingly (last word is first and first word is last; in example "gold mountain ash" is actually typed into translator as "mountain ash gold" - "mountain ash" has a representative ogham script and "gold" has a representative ogham script). For best results, use simple words as language has developed a lot since the time of this ancient language. If some images show broken icons, you can highlight the translation word(s) and copy that into the search box. On lengthy search results browsers may indicate broken image icons when, in fact, they are not.)

Ireland History:
Evidence of human presence in Ireland dates back to 7000 B.C. - Mesolithic era - (many suggest human presence stretching back much further). It was not until 4500 B.C. when farmers came to Ireland and crops such as wheat and barley were brought over and planted.^[1]

Ross Island was the first place copper was mined and where the Bronze Age of Ireland began. Ross Castle, for centuries, was the stronghold of the O'Donoghue clan. It was taken in 1652 A.D. by a dictator named Oliver Cromwell (Lord Protector of England, a Protestant absolutist) who commanded an English army in order to prevent Ireland from helping defeated royalists in England from regaining power.^[2] The defeated faction, the Confederation of Kilkenny, had their lands given to Protestant settlers by Oliver Cromwell.^[25]

The Bronze Age in Ireland did not last long due to increasing evidence of a great catastrophic event in 1159 B.C. Clues have been found in 3000 year old oak tree rings indicating the catastrophic event of 1159 B.C. which is close to when Homeric Troy fell, Mycenae collapsed, the start of the Greek dark ages, the Hittite Empire of Anatolia ended, the Shang dynasty of China fell and Babylonian script talked of abandonment by the gods. Some suggest the catastrophy was started from vulcanism or a comet.^[3]

The Romans claimed that the Celts were elitists and would not put anything in writing under the fear that the information would become commonplace and available to everyone.^[5]

Brehons (those who committed the laws of Ireland to memory) administered law. Unlike romanized Europe, even the King did not have control over what the laws were or how they would be administered and was subject to the law as anyone else.^[6]

The Brehon Law was still practiced in Ireland up to the reign of James 1 (1603 A.D. - 1625 A.D.).^[18]

Hospitality was an important part of early Irish society and violating the law on hospitality was a serious offense.^[7]

In feudal Ireland, cows were the most valuable form of livestock and served as a standard unit of currency.^[22]

The first recorded invasion of Vikings into Ireland was in 795 A.D. from Viking settlements in Orkney, Shetland, Hebrides and Isle of Man (previously the Vikings had landed on Shetland and Orkney Islands north of present day Scotland, England, Wales, Iceland, Greenland, Hebrides and Isle of Man).^[23]

King Mael Sechnaill of Tara in 848 A.D. defeated a large force of Vikings and pillaged and burned their settlement at Dublin.^[24]

In the year 997 A.D. the first Irish coinage was struck by the Viking King Sitric of Dublin.^[8]

The Partholonians arrived on the shores of Ireland over 1000 years before Christianity.^[11]

The Partholonians were the first people to invade Ireland after the Flood and are credited to have been the first to establish the following in Ireland: duel, insurance policy, guest house, brewer, religious practices including the first druids and clearing trees for agriculture.^[14]

According to "The Book of the Invasions of Ireland" there were five peoples who had invaded Ireland before the Gael arrived, being: The Cessair, the Partholonians, the Nemedians, the Fir Bolg and the Tuatha de Danann. The Milesians (descendants of Magog, the son of Japheth, son of Noah) were the last and considered to be Gaelic peoples.^[12]

After the Flood the sons of Magog (Scythians) were allotted the lands of Central Asia, but became conquering people and drove the sons of Gomer (Gomer was the older brother to Magog) west into Central Europe.^[13]

Eochai, son of Erc was the first High King of Ireland and was the first to institute a system of justice as the first true civilization of Ireland.^[15]

Feinius Farsaid (the Gaels were the eponymous ansestors of Gaidel Glas, son of Feinius Farsaid, son of Baath, son of Magog) is said to have constructed the Gaelic language (Gaels also known as Milesians) from the 72 languages that had surfaced after the fall of the Tower of Babylon.^[16]

Every Halloween (Samhain) the ancient Celts would sacrifice 1/3 of their milk, corn, firstborn livestock and even firstborn children to the Crom Cruach idol (primeval god whose power helped create the Universe and was of extreme evil). Crom's barbaric rituals involved self-destructive practices such as self-laceration. King Tigernmas reintroduced the worship of Crom to Ireland and died along with 3/4 of the people in the rituals.^[17]

Prior to the fifth century with the arrival of Christianity there were no written records in Ireland. Ogham was developed and is thought to be based on the Latin alphabet.^[4]

The Cycle of Kings (The Historical Cycle) was a loose collection of stories about many of the High Kings of Ireland between the fourth century B.C. and eighth century A.D. which was handed to Christian monks who transcribed them into written form.^[19]

St. Brigid's Cross is an example of how Christianity adopted and modified meanings of many of the pagan symbols (which predated Christianity) such as the sun wheel (a symbol that originated with ancient Celts who brought it with them from Central Asia).^[20]

The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922 was signed under the threat of total war from the English, led by David Lloyd George, who was accompanied by Winston Churchill; more about this in reference.^[26]

Now Ogham:

The Ballycrovane/Faunkill Ogham Stone (in County Cork) is believed to be the largest Ogham stone in Ireland and perhaps the world.^[21]

Ogham consists of twenty letters, each signified by one or more lines carved along a vertical line and read from the bottom of the standing stone to the top.^[9] Ogham has a reading direction that is indicated by a ">" (the root of a tree) where reading starts at.

Ogham's letters have names associated largely to trees and is sometimes referred to as the tree alphabet.^[10] A single letter could be part of a word or could be a word in itself.

Ogham was typically chiseled into standing stones largely found in Ireland. However some Ogham chiseled stones have been found in Scotland and England.

Similiar stones to Ogham stones have been found in northern Spain and Portugal dating to 500 B.C. As well, Ogham chiseled into stone has been found in North America although not yet verified. There appears to be over 100 different types of Ogham and dates as to the rise of Ogham range from 2000 B.C. to post-Christian 5th century Ireland.^[27]

References:
^[1] In Search of Ancient Ireland, Author: Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton, Publisher: New Amsterdam Books, Publication Year: 2002, p.12.
^[2] In Search of Ancient Ireland, Author: Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton, Publisher: New Amsterdam Books, Publication Year: 2002, p.26.
^[3] In Search of Ancient Ireland, Author: Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton, Publisher: New Amsterdam Books, Publication Year: 2002, p.40.
^[4] In Search of Ancient Ireland, Author: Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton, Publisher: New Amsterdam Books, Publication Year: 2002, p.53.
^[5] In Search of Ancient Ireland, Author: Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton, Publisher: New Amsterdam Books, Publication Year: 2002, p.54.
^[6] In Search of Ancient Ireland, Author: Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton, Publisher: New Amsterdam Books, Publication Year: 2002, p.87.
^[7] In Search of Ancient Ireland, Author: Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton, Publisher: New Amsterdam Books, Publication Year: 2002, p.88.
^[8] In Search of Ancient Ireland, Author: Carmel McCaffrey and Leo Eaton, Publisher: New Amsterdam Books, Publication Year: 2002, p.248.
^[9] Ogham An Irish Alphabet, Author: Criostoir Mag Fhearaigh, Publisher: Hippocrene Books, Inc., Publication Year: 1998, p.2.
^[10] Ogham An Irish Alphabet, Author: Criostoir Mag Fhearaigh, Publisher: Hippocrene Books, Inc., Publication Year: 1998, p.6.
^[11] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.16.
^[12] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.22.
^[13] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.24.
^[14] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.40.
^[15] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.44.
^[16] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.69.
^[17] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.99.
^[18] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.137.
^[19] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.205.
^[20] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.235.
^[21] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.256.
^[22] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.281.
^[23] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.294.
^[24] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.295.
^[25] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.307.
^[26] Ireland, Author: Ian Middleton and Douglas Elwell, Publisher: Mysterious World Press, Publication Year: 2006, p.315.
^[27] The Ogham and The Universal Truth of The Trees, Author: Suzanne La Cour and Dean Montalbano, Publisher: Leaping Lizards Publishing Company, Publication Year: 2005, p.6.