Sail or Saille (ᚄ) is the Irish name of the fourth letter ( Irish "letter": sing.''fid'', pl.''feda'') 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, meaning "

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

". The name is related to Welsh ''helyg(en)'' and

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

''salix''. Its

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 ...

root was *''sal-'' meaning "dirty,grey". Its phonetic value is

Interpretation

The etymology and kennings unambiguously confirm the meaning "

" for this letter name. The ''Morann mic Moín'' kenning is a reference to the sallow grey appearance of the bark of this tree, while the kennings referencing bees and honey are due to its being commonly pollinated by bees.

Bríatharogaim

In the medieval

kenning A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does (). A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...

s, called '' Bríatharogaim'' (sing. ''Bríatharogam'') or ''Word Oghams'' the verses associated with ''sail'' are: ''lí ambi'': "pallor of a lifeless one" in the ''Bríatharogam Morann mic Moín'' ''lúth bech'': "sustenance of bees" in the ''Bríatharogam Mac ind Óc'' ''tosach mela'': "beginning of honey" in the ''Bríatharogam Con Culainn''.

Notes

While medieval and modern neopagan arboreal glosses (i.e. tree names) for the Ogham have been widely popularised (even for feda whose names do not translate as trees), the Old Irish '' In Lebor Ogaim'' (the ''Ogam Tract'') also lists many other word values classified by type (e.g. birds, occupations, companies) for each fid. The ''

filí The fili (or ''filè'') (), plural filid, filidh (or filès), was a member of an elite class of poets in Gaelic Ireland, Ireland, and later Scotland in the Middle Ages, Scotland, up until the English Renaissance, Renaissance. The filid were b ...

'' (

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 ...

''filid'', sing. ''fili'') or poets of this period learned around one hundred and fifty variants of Ogham during their training, including these word-list forms. Some of the notable values of these for ''sail'' include: Enogam/Bird-ogam: ''seg'' "hawk" Dathogam/Colour-ogam: ''sodath'' "fine-coloured" Ogam tirda/Agricultural ogam: ''srathar'' "pack saddle" Danogam/Art-ogam:''sairsi'' "handicraft" Ogam Cuidechtach/Company Ogam: ''Senada'' "Synods"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sail (Letter) Ogham letters