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[Note: All Basque words are in Italics and Bold-faced Green]
TRANSLATING OGAM *
Introduction
to Linguistic Archaeology for Ireland
(Contact)
THE OGAM ALPHABET
It is suggested that Ogam came to Ireland from North Africa
with the first Gnostic missionaries who preached the early Irish
Christianity. These people believed in magic, just like the pre-Chistian
inhabitants did. As Anthony Jackson (1993) discovered,
this magic took the shape of numerical wizardry with letters (see the Saharan Language). It
is not known if the original Ogam had an organized alphabet but it is
likely. The Gnostic missionaries used the script to spread the Gospel
by marking their Biblical phrases on Neolithic standing stones to convert the
people to Christianity. Around 650 A.D. Benedictine monks and their
grammarians came to Ireland with instructions to create a distinct language
to replace the "iron" language of the Irish, which they called
Cruithin. They found it necessary to augment the early alphabetic script with
five diphthong characters, called Forfeda (see below)
and further develop it to accommodate the linguistic and literary activities
they had in mind. There is no doubt that these people were linguistic
professionals in the best tradition. The Ogam alphabet, as it is known to us today, is
composed of 15 consonants followed by five vowels. This is the only alphabet
known which organizes consonants and vowels in this manner. The Benedictines'
operation manual, the "Auraicept
na n'Eces", parts of which appear to have been written as
early as 700 A.D., in the very early years of Irish Judeo-Christianity,
described the Ogam alphabet as follows:
Translation by Calder This is their number: five Ogmic groups, i.e., five men
for each group, and one up to five for each of them, that their signs may be
distinguished. These are their signs: right of stem, left of stem, athwart of stem, through
stem, about stem. Thus is a tree climbed, to wit, treading on the root of
the tree first with thy right hand first and thy left hand after. Then with
the stem, and against it and through it and about it. (Lines 947-951). McManus clarified this: "This is their number: there are five groups of
Ogam and each group has five letters and each of them has from one to five
scores and their orientations distinguish them. Their orientations are: right
of the stemline, left of the stemline, across the stemline, through the
stemline, around the stemline. Ogam is climbed as a tree is climbed..."
(McManus 1.5). By the time the fifth column of Forfeda symbols had
been added, the script was written horizontally, from left to right but the
above quote still appears to record the original way of vertical writing,
read from the bottom up. I am showing the original 20 symbols in both the
original vertical as well as the later horizontal way of writing. Most of the
early inscriptions on stone in Scotland and Ireland are written in the
vertical form. The Ogam texts in books such as the Auraicept and on the petroglyphs in West Virginia are written in
the horizontal literary tradition. At first sight, the peculiar arrangement
of the letters in the Ogam alphabet appears to be completely unrelated to the
pre-existing Greek and Latin alphabets. McManus searched elsewhere for the
origin and found that "there is a clear connection with the North
Etruscan alphabets". Anthropologist Anthony Jackson from Edinburgh University, however, discovered that the
arrangement was directly related to the ordinal numbers of the letters in the
Latin alphabet:
The total of the ordinal numbers in the Latin alphabet
is 210. The 20 original Ogam characters were divided into four columns,
which, arranged according to a cabalistic system of calculation, totaled 50,
50, 61 and 49 respectively: N 13 + Q 16 = (1x29) R 17 + I 9 = (2x13) 5x11S 18 + C 3 = (3x7) Z 10 + E 5 = (3x5) 3x3x4V 6 + T 19 = (5x5) NG 15 + U 20 = (5x7) 3x4x5L 11 + D 4 = (3x5) G 7 + O 14 = (3x7) 3x3x4B 2 + H 8 = (2x5) M 12 + A 1 = (1x13) 1x23 ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ 50 + 50 = 100 61 + 49 = 110 210 10x5 10x5 (10x10) 1x61 7x7 (10x11) 2x3x5x7 B L V S N / H D T C Q / M G NG Z R / A O U E I. The sequence of the letters within
each column appears to be in relation to the primary numbers, however, the
calculations go beyond the scope of this article. The interested reader is
referred to Jackson's monograph, chapter 7.
Written
horizontally:
Note that the
"f" in the horizontal script should be a "v" as it is in the
vertical script.
The reason why all 15 consonants
are listed first in the alphabet and the 5 vowels following, has to do with
the special arrangement of the words in the monk's dictionary. The primary organization
of their dictionary is according to the consonants. Half of the Basque
language is made up of words starting with vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV,
sometimes VCCV) and it is mainly this half of the language which the monks
used in the construction of the Romance languages and English. These words
were then arranged according to the first consonants in the words, each
consonant was then subdivided again into 25 VCV combinations such as under D:
ada, ade, adi, ado, adu; eda, ede, edi, edo, edu; ida, ide ..... etc. Under
each such VCV were then listed all those words with
their translations which started with these three letters. This arrangement
is still the best way for us to decode Ogam writing. From this it must be obvious that
such a special arrangement applies only to a language that is organized in
the VCV manner and Basque is the only language that fits the mold. The
syntax of modern Irish (i.e. Gaelic or Celtic) is totally unsuited to this
VCV system and consequently this language cannot be written in traditional
Irish Ogam. Consequently, all Ogam writing anywhere must have been in the
Basque language, which means that the "iron" language of
pre-Roman-Catholic Ireland was the universal language we call Saharan or
Basque today. This explains why "Celtic" scholars have been unable
to translate even one single Ogam inscription correctly. FORFEDA
The Forfeda revision made by the
Benedictines, the addition of the five extra diphthong characters, was almost
certainly accomplished in Ireland. Ogam was originally designed for record
keeping and the sending of short messages, not for literary expression.
However, this is what the Benedictine monks of Ireland were using it for. One
of the main "reasons for being" of the Benedictine Order was the
replacement of the ancient pre-Christian, gylanic oriented, language with a
church-approved one. The syntax of the Basque language was ideally suited for
the agglutination of new words, which then appeared to have no relationship
to the original language. The VCV formula made this possible. However,
traditions governing this ancient formula did not allow two vowels to be
written side-by side without a space separation, which demanded separate
words. This rule created problems and restrictions for those writing in the
script. The monks wished to simplify the rules of writing. They created words and names with
diphthongs in them, by the invention of five new "Forfeda" characters
permitting the combination of: each, Now let us look at what the name "forfeda"
really means. The monks obviously were not very happy to be forced to use the
"heathen" Ogam script, but had nothing quite as ingenious, concise and
useful to replace it with, until they had invented their new Celtic language.
In the following analysis of "Forfeda", the first "f" has
to be a "b", a common letter shift; (the second "f" is
correct). FORFEDA,
.bo-or.-.fe-eda;
Notice how the word
"forfeda" breaks up into four three-letter VCV roots,
ebo-ori-ife-eda, each composed of vowel-consonant-vowel (VCV), with the
vowels interlocking to form a chain of interdependent roots. This
interlocking is the main characteristic of Ogam writing, is basic to all Ogam
inscriptions and is indispensable in deciphering. Any missing (purposely removed)
vowels in the words analyzed, are represented by a dot until identified.
Forfeda symbols are never eliminated. The monks later embellished this word
to "Foirfeadha", to make it look as if the word had originated with
the "Celtic" language, which is characterized by an excess of
unnecessary vowels and h's. Some remarks in the Auraicept pertain to the creation of Forfeda characters such as: IN LEBOR OGAIM.
in.-.le-ebo-oro-oga-ahi-im.; (5465 etc)
(Note: there is no break in the interlocking vowels, even though the text is broken into three "words".oi, ui, io and ae, the use of which then also allowed these to be part of the creation of new words starting with eha, ohi, uhi, iho and ahe. The design of the characters they created was totally out of style with the original script. McManus observed that they "missed the opportunity of completing the symmetry of the system by having the fifth series mirror the third in the way that the second mirrors the first" (McManus 1.2). STEPS IN
TRANSLATION
Ogam
translation requires the following steps:
Step 2. Replace the
letters c, q, v, w, y with equivalent Basque letters, c and q become k, v
becomes b, the y Step 3. Arrange these
corrected letters into the VCVCV format, placing dots where vowels are
missing, Step 4. Fit these
letters into the VCV formula, Step 5. List the
various meanings underneath each VCV, Step 6. Arrange the
hidden sentence. he best way to explain the process
is with a few examples of real Ogam inscriptions, take for instance: "Cunovato".(Macalister#11.)
Step 1. The middle part of
the inscription was badly damaged, but after much study Dr. Jost Gippert at
Frankfurt University decided that it should read: "Cunavato"
Step 2. All Ogams in Ireland
are based on the Basque language, however, Basque does not have a
"C" or a "V", so the inscription will now read "Kunabato"
Step 3. When fitting the
letters in the VCVCVCVCV format, it appears that only one, the first vowel, is
missing, which must therefore be represented by a dot. The inscription to be
translated now reads: ".kunabato". Step 4. There are four
consonants so this VCVCVCVCV line is then broken up by hyphens into four
three-letter VCV's in which the V's on either side of the hyphens are the
same (called interlocking): VCV1-V1CV2-V2CV3-V3CV, which therefore represents
four words: .ku-una-aba-ato Step 5. With the
preliminaries out of the way, the next step in decoding an Ogam inscription
is to list the possible meanings underneath each VCV. In the case of the one
missing vowel, all five possibilities must be tried (aku, eku, iku, oku, uku)
as follows:
Step 6. To discover the
hidden sentence we must match up the words which obviously belong together,
starting with the complete VCV's. For instance take the pair aba and ato
and immediately out pops priest and come!, "the priest
says: Come!". Why would he say come!? "To stimulate" (aku)
your "boredom" (una). The translation of CUNAVATO therefore
is:
Occasionally more than one reasonable
meaning appears in which case we have a problem. Lay this work aside and
return to it later; often new insight will be obtained and the proper
translation decided upon. In the following pages you will see hundreds of
decodings and learn that applying the Ogam formula is not an exact science.
Guessing the mood of the monk who made up the word can be fun. A Second
Example
Now I will
decode an Ogam inscription which has two vowels missing (Macalister # 364):
Step 2. barkuni Step 3. .bar.kuni Step 4. .ba-ar.-.ku-uni
Step 5. Three VCV's have a vowel missing. Each
of those represents five VCV's e.g. .ba can be aba,
eba, iba, oba or uba. Go to the VCV dictionary and list
the possible meanings under each of these five VCV's. Do the same with .ar
and .ku The
last one, uni, is complete and only has a few possible meanings. Step 6. When assembling
the sentence built into the inscription, keep in mind who the people were
that carved it. The words that pop out immediately are "evangelist"
and "priest" under eba, which goes together with
"prayer" under are: "the evangelist's prayers" .
What do they do? They give peace of mind, under eku. The sentence
therefore reads: "The evangelist's prayers (give you) general peace
of mind". The four words completed are then: ebanjelari (evangelist) arren (prayer) ekurutasun (peace of mind)
unibertsal (general). A Third Example
The decoding of the more complicated Ogam inscriptions
is difficult to fit into the internet restrictions, however, the reader now
has the idea how decoding is done. My third example is considerably larger
and will therefore be presented in a different manner, which has the
disadvantage of not being able to show how the missing vowel is recovered,
but this is difficult to avoid. Step 1. Bladnach cogradedena
and Bladnach cuilen
McManus, (page 132). Macalister #1086,
1949, shows the second word as Cogracetena, which is incorrect. Both
inscriptions are found on a bronze hanging bowl, likely an incense burner,
dug up from a swamp in County Kerry. "They are inscribed along the upper
surface of the rim and on one of the escutcheons" (Mcmanus 7.6) Step 2. Bladnak kogradedena and Bladnak kuilen. Step 3. .B.lad.nak. .kog.radedena and .B.lad.nak.
.kuilen Step 4. .B.-.la-ad.-.na-ak. .ko-og.-.ra-ade-ede-ena, and
.B.-.la-ad.-.na-ak.
.ku-ile-en. Step 5. This time I
place the given VCV's along the left border: Bladnak: .B. abe abe cross .la ela ela story ad. ade adelatu to prepare .na ena ena that ak. aka akabu ultimate, superior kogradedena: .ko ako akorduan euki to remember og. ogi ogizatitze breaking of the bread .ra ira iragan to suffer ade ade adelatu to prepare ede ede edergi to confide in dena dena Deuna Lord
Step 6. The story of the Cross prepares us for that
ultimate remembrance while preparing for the breaking of the bread (for His)
suffering (while we) confide in the Lord. kuilen: .ku eku ekurutasun peace of mind ile ile ilezin everlasting en. ene eneganatu to come over me
The story of the cross prepares me for
that ultimate everlasting peace of mind (which will) come over me. SOME CLOSING REMARKS
All words and many names in any invented language have
known meanings. This is not the case with the words written in Ogam and this
fact does not make the job of decoding any easier. In addition, no effort was
made to allow easy pronunciation. On the contrary, all ingenuity was aimed at
insuring that the writing looked as awkward as possible so that only
specialists would be able to interpret it. This disguising was done mostly by
applying the VCV Code and the removal of as many vowels as possible. This followed the example of Hebrew where
often no vowels are left at all; such as the name Talmud (Oral Law) being
written as "lmd", originally from tala-muda, tala (watch out) mudatu (to alter): "watch out for alteration",
or freely translated: "pass on unaltered", which is what an oral
law is all about. The meaning of the word Talmud today has been accepted as
something like "instruction". In Scotland, several of the Christian Ogams were
inscribed aggressively over pre-existing animal- and geometrical
symbols/totems which had been carved in the 7th century. These symbols
organized marriages and other co-operative arrangements between groups of
(usually) four tribes (Jackson) and ever since had been regarded with great
respect by the population. The over-writing was probably done to destroy the
"magical powers" of the "heathen" symbols. Deciphering
the Ogams usually poses no real problem as long as the inscription is
complete and legible. RATING THE CONSONANTS
In analyzing Ogam inscriptions and names or words,
especially those from which too many vowels have been removed, it may be
helpful to know which consonants are easier to decode than others. I devised
a rating system that I found helpful. It involves writing down all the
possible VCV combinations and then counting only those that are found in
Aulestia's dictionary. For instance take "F": afa efa ifa ofa ufa afe efe ife ofe ufe afi efi ifi ofi ufi afo efo ifo ofo ufo afu efu ifu ofu ufu
Out of the 25 VCV possibilities of "F", only
the six italicized VCV's are the first letters of existing Basque words: afa
(pleasing, supper), ifa (north), ife (infernal, hell), ifi (from ibi, to be,
to go), ofi (craftsman, official), ufa (panting, blowing, scornful). The
rating of the consonant "F" is therefore 6, making it the second
easiest of all letters to find meanings for. The ratings of all the
consonants are as follows: Ņ-5, F-6, J-7,
NG-13, Z-17, B-18, M-18, D-20, G-20, S-21, The use of the letter
"R" in the inscriptions poses somewhat of a problem because no
distinction is made between "R" and "RR", each having its
own set of 23 VCV combinations. Also the large number of words associated with
each combination of this letter make it sometimes difficult to select the
appropriate word. The analysis of the "R" or "RR" is
therefore usually kept to the last INVENTING LANGUAGES IS OLD HAT It has long been known that
languages were being invented, Wittgenstein wrote: "Man possesses the capacity of
constructing languages, in which every sense can be expressed, without having
an idea how and what each word means - just as one speaks without knowing how
the single sounds are produced" (Tractatus B.C.). That is exactly what was done by the
Benedictines and their grammarians when they made up the western European
languages. Even all the names of their saints and monasteries were
constructed without the uninitiated having the slightest idea what each name
meant. By the time Darwin wrote his "Descent of Man" the language
invention efforts had been forgotten because he commented: "No
philologist now supposes that any language has been deliberately invented: it
has been slowly and unconsciously developed by many steps". How soon we
forget! This will be elaborated upon when I discuss the linguistic activities
of the Benedictines in England. |
==========================================
For further detail, please refer
to:
Nyland, Edo. 2001. Linguistic Archaeology: AnIntroduction. Trafford Publ., Victoria, B.C., Canada.
ISBN 1-55212-668-4. 541 p. [
see abstract & summary]
Nyland, Edo. 2002.
Odysseus and the Sea Peoples: A
Bronze Age History of Scotland Trafford Publ., Victoria,
B.C., Canada.
307 p. [see
abstract & summary].
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