ogam
[og-uh m, aw-guh m]
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ogham
or og·am
[og-uh m, aw-guh m]
- an alphabetical script used originally for inscriptions in an archaic form of Irish, from about the 5th to the 10th centuries.
- any of the 20 characters of this script, each consisting of one or more strokes for consonants and of notches for vowels cut across or upon a central line on a stone or piece of wood.
- an inscription employing this script.
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Origin of ogham
1620–30; < Irish; MIr ogum, ogom
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for ogam
Historical Examples
On two corners of the stone are inscriptions of the usual Ogam characters.
The SwastikaThomas Wilson
And he wrote these quatrains in Ogam, and then bade them farewell.
The Fairy-Faith in Celtic CountriesW. Y. Evans Wentz
The inscriptions upon such stones, when they are inscribed, are usually in Ogam or Runic characters.
In Search Of Gravestones Old And CuriousW.T. (William Thomas) Vincent
It bears an Ogam inscription on two angles of the same face, and debased Roman characters on the front and back.
In Search Of Gravestones Old And CuriousW.T. (William Thomas) Vincent
With regard to the Ogam inscriptions we cannot make any confident assertions.
ogham
ogam
- an ancient alphabetical writing system used by the Celts in Britain and Ireland, consisting of straight lines drawn or carved perpendicular to or at an angle to another long straight line
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Word Origin
C17: from Old Irish ogom, of uncertain origin but associated with the name Ogma, legendary inventor of this alphabet
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for ogam
ogham
n.
also ogam, ancient Irish form of writing, 1620s, from Irish ogham, from Old Irish ogam, said to be from name of its inventor, Ogma Mac Eladan. But this appears to be from Celt. *Ogmios, perhaps from PIE *og-mo- "furrow, track," thus metaphorically "incised line." This could be the source of the name of the writing style, which looks like a series of cuts or incised lines, and the inventor's name thus might be folk etymology. Related: Oghamic.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper