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Ogham (Modern Irish (:ˈoːmˠ) or (:ˈoːəmˠ); ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the so-called "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries), and later the Old Irish language (so-called scholastic ogham, 6th to 9th centuries). There are roughly 400 surviving orthodox inscriptions on stone monuments throughout Ireland and western Britain; the bulk of them are in the south of Ireland, in Counties Kerry, Cork and Waterford.〔McManus (1991) is aware of a total of 382 orthodox inscriptions. The later scholastic inscriptions have no definite endpoint and continue into the Middle Irish and even Modern Irish period, and record also names in other languages, such as Old Norse, (Old) Welsh, Latin and possibly Pictish. See Forsyth, K.; "Abstract: The Three Writing Systems of the Picts." in Black et al. Celtic Connections: Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of Celtic Studies, Vol. 1. East Linton: Tuckwell Press (1999), p. 508; Richard A V Cox, The Language of the Ogam Inscriptions of Scotland, Dept. of Celtic, Aberdeen University ISBN 0-9523911-3-9 (); See also ''The New Companion to the Literature of Wales'', by Meic Stephens, page 540.〕 The largest number outside of Ireland is in Pembrokeshire in Wales.〔O'Kelly, Michael J., 'Early Ireland, an Introduction to Irish Prehistory', p. 251, Cambridge University Press, 1989〕 The vast majority of the inscriptions consist of personal names. According to the High Medieval ''Bríatharogam'', names of various trees can be ascribed to individual letters. The etymology of the word ''ogam'' or ''ogham'' remains unclear. One possible origin is from the Irish ''og-úaim'' 'point-seam', referring to the seam made by the point of a sharp weapon.〔(MacManus, §8.6)〕 ==Origins== The earliest inscriptions in ogham date to about the 4th century AD,〔O'Kelly 1989, p. 250〕 but James Carney believes its invention is rather within the 1st century BC.〔Carney, James. ''The Invention of the Ogam Cipher'' 'Ériu', 1975, p.57, Dublin: Royal Irish Academy〕 Although the use of "classical" ogham in stone inscriptions seems to have flowered in the 5th and 6th centuries around the Irish Sea, from the phonological evidence it is clear that the alphabet predates the 5th century. A period of writing on wood or other perishable material prior to the preserved monumental inscriptions needs to be assumed, sufficient for the loss of the phonemes represented by ''úath'' ("H") and ''straif'' ("Z" in the manuscript tradition, but probably "F" from "SW"), ''gétal'' (representing the velar nasal "NG" in the manuscript tradition, but etymologically probably "GW"), all of which are clearly part of the system, but unattested in inscriptions. It appears that the ogham alphabet was modelled on another script,〔Macalister, R.A.Stewart, ''The Secret Languages of Ireland'' reprinted by Craobh Rua Books, Armagh 1997.〕 and some even consider it a mere cipher of its template script (Düwel 1968:〔Düwel, Klaus. "Runenkunde" (runic studies). Stuttgart/Weimar: Metzler, 1968. OCLC 183700〕 points out similarity with ciphers of Germanic runes). The largest number of scholars favours the Latin alphabet as this template, although the Elder Futhark and even the Greek alphabet have their supporters.〔''The Secret Languages of Ireland'' as above.〕 Runic origin would elegantly explain the presence of "H" and "Z" letters unused in Irish, as well as the presence of vocalic and consonantal variants "U" vs. "W" unknown to Latin or Greek writing. The Latin alphabet is the primary contender mainly because its influence at the required period (4th century) is most easily established, viz., via Britannia, while the runes in the 4th century were not very widespread even in continental Europe. In Ireland and in Wales, the language of the monumental stone inscriptions is termed Primitive Irish. The transition to Old Irish, the language of the earliest sources in the Latin alphabet, takes place in about the 6th century.〔Thurneysen, Rudolf ''A Grammar of Old Irish''. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. 1980, etc. pages 8–11.〕 Since ogham inscriptions consist almost exclusively of personal names and marks possibly indicating land ownership, linguistic information that may be glimpsed from the Primitive Irish period is mostly restricted to phonological developments. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「ogham」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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