is the Irish name of the twentieth letter of the

Ogham Ogham (also ogam and ogom, , Modern Irish: ; , later ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish language ( scholastic ...

alphabet, ᚔ. In

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

, the letter name was . Its phonetic value is The original meaning of the letter name is uncertain, but it is likely an artificially altered pair with , much like Gothic , and may refer to "

yew Yew is a common name given to various species of trees. It is most prominently given to any of various coniferous trees and shrubs in the genus '' Taxus'': * European yew or common yew (''Taxus baccata'') * Pacific yew or western yew ('' Taxus ...

Interpretation

The medieval glossators all assign "

" as the meaning of the letter name referred to by the kennings, though ''Idad'' is not a word attested in its own right. ''Idad'' as "yew" is glossed by these later commentators as deriving from a modified form of ''ibar'' originally. However, this is unlikely to be the

word that gave the letter its value of "yew", as the cognate

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

''efwr'' and

Gallo-Roman Gallo-Roman culture was a consequence of the Romanization (cultural), Romanization of Gauls under the rule of the Roman Empire in Roman Gaul. It was characterized by the Gaulish adoption or adaptation of Roman culture, Roman culture, language ...

''eburos'' point to a

Primitive Irish Primitive Irish or Archaic Irish (), also called Proto-Goidelic, is the oldest known form of the Goidelic languages, and the ancestor of all languages within this family. This phase of the language is known only from fragments, mostly persona ...

''*eburas,'' and ''ibar'' was used (with qualifiers) to refer to a whole range of evergreen shrubs''.'' It is more likely that the

word that gave the letter its ascribed meaning was ''éo,'' from the

''*iwas'' (cf.

''ywen'',

Gaulish Gaulish is an extinct Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium, ...

''ivo-'',

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. No direct record of Proto-Indo-European exists; its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-Euro ...

''*iwo-'' "yew"). McManus suggests that the original letter names for ''edad'' and ''idad'' were likely *''eburas'' (or *''esox'') and *''iwas'', hence their values and respectively, with confusion arising in the medieval period as the language evolved.

Bríatharogam

In the medieval kennings, called '' Bríatharogaim'' or ''Word Ogham'' the verses associated with ''idad'' are: ''sinem fedo'' - "oldest tree" in the ''Bríatharogam'' ''Morann mic Moín'' ''caínem sen'' - "fairest of the ancients" in the ''Bríatharogam'' ''Mac ind Óc'' ''lúth lobair'' (?) - "energy of an infirm person (?)" in the ''Bríatharogam'' ''Con'' ''Culainn''.

References

{{Reflist Ogham letters