Forfeda
The forfeda are the "additional" letters of the Ogham alphabet, beyond the basic inventory of twenty signs. Their name derives from fid and the prefix for-. The most important of these are five forfeda which were arranged in their own aicme or class, and were invented in the Old Irish period, several centuries after the peak of Ogham usage. They appear to have represented sounds felt to be missing from the original alphabet, maybe é, ó, ú, p and ch.
The "aicme" forfeda
The five "aicme" forfeda are glossed in the manuscripts Auraicept na n-Éces, De dúilib feda and In Lebor Ogaim, by several Bríatharogam, or two word kennings, which explain the meanings of the names of the letters of the Ogham alphabet.The forfeda letter names and their kennings, as edited and translated by McManus, are as follows:
Four of these names are glossed in the Auraicept with tree names, ebad as crithach "aspen", oir as feorus no edind "spindle-tree or ivy", uilleand as edleand "honeysuckle", and iphin as spinan no ispin "gooseberry or thorn".
The kennings for Éabhadh point to the sound éo or é, which is also the word for "salmon". The name appears modelled after Eadhadh and Iodhadh. The kennings for Ór point to the word ór "gold". The kenning of Uilleann, "great elbow", refers to the letter name. Since the Ogham alphabet dates to the Primitive Irish period, it had no sign for in its original form and the letter Pín was added as a letter to express it. McManus states that the name Pín was probably influenced by Latin pinus, but a more likely explanation is that it derives from Latin spina, as the kennings indicate a tree or shrub with sweet tasting fruit. According to Kelly the name spín appears in the Old Irish tree lists as meaning either gooseberry or thorn, so the medieval glosses may be correct on this occasion. The name Eamhancholl means "twinned coll", referring to the shape of the letter, and also perhaps referring to its sound being similar to that of coll. The Bríatharogam kenning "groan of a sick person" refers to a value ch, predating the decision that all five forfeda should represent vowels.
Apart from the first letter, the forfeda were little used in inscriptions, and this led later oghamists to rearrange them as a series of vowel diphthongs, necessitating a complete change to the sounds of Pín and Eamhancholl. This arrangement is how they appear in most manuscripts:
- ᚕ Éabhadh: ea, éo ''ea;
- ᚖ Ór: oi óe, oi;
- ᚗ Uilleann: ui, úa, ui;
- ᚘ Ifín: io, ía, ia;
- ᚙ Eamhancholl: ae''.
Inscriptions
Apart from the first letter Éabhadh, the forfeda do not appear often in orthodox ogham inscriptions. Éabhadh was in fact frequently used as part of the formula word ᚕᚑᚔ, but with the value or. KOI means something like 'here' and is the ogham equivalent of the Latin hic iacet ; it is etymologically linked with the Latin cis. It also appears with its vocalic value in later orthodox inscriptions however. Of the other forfeda the next three appear only a few times, and the last letter Eamhancholl does not appear at all. So rare are the other forfeda in inscriptions that it is worthwhile detailing the individual examples :- Óir appears twice:
- Uilleann appears only once, in an inscription in Teeromoyle, again in County Kerry. The inscription reads:
- Pín appears in two, or possibly three, inscriptions.