Ogham ar pháipéar / Ogham on paper

Our members recently had a practical Ceardlann Mhíosúil writing ogham. It can be a lovely creative endeavour.

The first question in our ceardlann was simple: what is ogham? 

While I’m not an academic expert in this area, I love sharing how Gaeilge connects us to deep webs of meaning. Please note: this is not an academic article, just a look at how to get creative with ogham.

Ogham is the earliest known written form of Irish, dating back to the 4th century approximately. It uses a series of notches along a central ‘stemline’ to form letters.

While medieval scribes often wrote ogham horizontally in manuscripts, we’re focusing on the orientation of stone ogham, which is vertical and read from the bottom up—much like climbing a tree.

Here’s a view of it on the Ballycrovane ogham stone (which I wrote more about):

Writing your favourite Gaeilge word in ogham

I want you to think of a word that you love as Gaeilge. It could be a favourite, or one that brings you a lot of joy. My chosen word is suaimhneas:

suaimhneas can mean calm, peace, ease and more.

Grab a sheet of paper and pen and let’s start to write ogham.

For writing ogham, there are caveats, lots of them:

• Ogham was first developed for the Irish language being spoken at the time. The language evolved quite rapidly, and the use of ogham adapted as they went.
• So the letters of ogham are rooted in the phonology of Primitive and Old Irish. It’s not a clean match to today’s language.
• Don’t use this article to create anything of lasting value (e.g. an inscription). This article is just for fun.
• Lenited consonants are not represented in ogham. For example, my word suaimhneas will drop the “h” lenition and you start from the root: suaimneas (note the dropped “h”). 

The simple first step

Draw a vertical line from the bottom to top of your sheet of paper:

That was easy enough, right?

Write the first letter

Start at the bottom of the vertical line with your first letter.

Here’s a helpful cheat sheet you can refer to:

Since my word begins with “s” I place that at the bottom of my stemline:

Leave a bit of space between each letter so that the lines can be distinguished.

And here’s a representation of my finished “suaimneas”:

If this has inspired your own creative project, please reply below! You can write full phrases (someone even wrote a full book in manuscript ogham!).

You’re welcome to become a member to benefit from our Ceardlann Mhíosúil workshops.

Related links:

• Previous workshop on Ogham – Sticks, stones and Origins
• Gaeilge Inscribed — Ballycrovane Ogham Stone article
• A guide to Ogam – Internet Archive – Damian McManus
• Interview on Irish History Podcast with Dr Nora White (Spotify)