The Ogham-Runes and El-Mushajjar
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c L ite atu e Vo l x a t n t r n o . o R So . u P R e i t ed m he T a s . 1 1 87 " p r f ro y f r r , , r , THE OGHAM - RUNES AND EL - MUSHAJJAR A D STU Y . BY RICH A R D B URTO N F . , e ad J an uar 22 (R y , PART I . The O ham-Run es g . e n u IN tr ating this first portio of my s bj ect, the - I of i Ogham Runes , have made free use the mater als r John collected by Dr . Cha les Graves , Prof. Rhys , and other students, ending it with my own work in the Orkney Islands . i The Ogham character, the fair wr ting of ' Babel - loth ancient Irish literature , is called the , ’ Bethluis Bethlm snion e or , from its initial lett rs, like “ ” Gree co- oe Al hab e t a an d the Ph nician p , the Arabo “ ” Ab ad fl d H ebrew j . It may brie y be describe as f b ormed y straight or curved strokes , of various lengths , disposed either perpendicularly or obliquely to an angle of the substa nce upon which the letters n . were i cised , punched, or rubbed In monuments supposed to be more modern , the letters were traced , b T - N E E - A HE OGHAM RU S AND L M USH JJ A R . n not on the edge , but upon the face of the recipie t f n l o t sur ace ; the latter was origi al y wo d , s aves and tablets ; then stone, rude or worked ; and , lastly, metal , Th . e silver, and rarely iron place of the bevel was often taken by a real or an imaginary perpendicular, o re re or h rizontal, bisecting the shortest notches p - Fle as h senting vowel cuts ; or, more generally, by a g , - - - f f . stem line, trunk line , or Rune Sta According to 1 “ Re v . the Charles Graves, The continuous stem line along which t h e Ogham letters are ranged is rid e o ium termed the g ( p ) ; each short stroke , perpendicular or oblique to it is called a twig ea le a a o (fl jg ; in the plural p rcg ) . That auth rity - i also opines that the stem line , as a rule or gu de , like a - i u w o u the Devan gari H nd , was borro ed fr m the R nic ” g ul f. The “ Tract on Ogham s and Irish grammatical 2 treatises contain some eighty different m odifica a t Wormius tions of the Ogham lphabe , while enu m erat e s twelve varieties of the Runes proper -most of them mere freaks of fancy, like similar prelusions 3 in the East . The following is the first on the list , and it is c ertainly that which derives most directly from the old Orient home . 1 th Paper on th e Ogham Charact er . Proceedings of e Royal A m t 9 3 60 . Irish cade y, vol . iv, par , p . “ ” “ 2 t th e t ritt t th e t The Trac is in Book of Ballymo e, w en abou nin h it s t th e t t t . t t cen ury, and assuming presen form in four een h The rea ise ’ is th e t Doct orum U al ce z: U i ch e t n a n e l e a n e l e Precep a ( p p or p r g r or g p ) , th e t th e m s th e t t t Primer (Precep s) of Bards, co po ed in nin h or en h “ ” t u an d foun d th e L t t m cen ry, in Book of ecan, a manuscrip da ing fro “ ” 141 7 It t o m th e t t A D . is said have been co posed in firs cen ury. ’ ’ J O D on ovan s . G (p . xxviii , ohn Irish rammar, Dublin, 3 A t A t H a t See ncien lphabe s and ieroglyphic Char c ers explained, s m L n J H . 1 6 0 . &c . 8 , by o eph a mer ondo , T - EL - M USH A JJA R HE OGHAM RUNES AND . 3 b l F J I] b b c c q m 3 n 3 1c 11 a o u e E f f - t t FFFEH H Ild t i i t fi rfi The num b er and the power of the le t t ei s are “ t h e a t h e given , as above, by uthor of Paper on “ Oghams . I am aware that this form in which the directing - line has been cut up to make steps is held by some scholars to be a sort of artificial ladder ” l Ogham . Yet it is an undoubted reviva of the most archaic type ; and from it the tran sition is t he six easy to modification popularly known , the ” t e en th figured in the Tract on Oghams . p St b l f } s n m u n g { z h d t c q a o u { k Here evidently the only thing needful was to make the stem s t rokes of the primitive alphabet a l h ” continuous F e asg . Let us now compare the Ogham proper with what “ ” may be called the Ogham - Runes ; the latter 5 bein g opposed to Run ogham or Secret Ogham in — s uch phrases as Run ogham n et Fian of the Fen ian s - or ancient Iris h militiamen . The Ogham Runes represent the three groups of letters (fitter) gener ix w s . ally kno n as the Futhorc, from the initial ‘ R I’ P ‘ P H P I t B H . Corres on din O ham - Run es p g g . A. : 5 f 4 4 r aa e fi f . r e fi f i . u t k H n i a s T F h o r b l m y (6) 4 5 L oo 3 8 . mt . , p ’ ’ 5 O Brien O Reill t t t Run b and y (Dic ionaries) , ransla ed y Secret ' W l Ri nn . e sh, 4 T - EL - M U SH A A R HE OGHAM RUNES AND JJ . (The le tters may evidently be inverted with the twigs pointing upwards . ) The ab ove specimen of the Ogham - Runes is quoted 6 ” 7 Lil e ren H e rm oth e n a from Joh . G . j g . In we ” - o find the opinion that this twig Rune, corresp nd 8 w Craob h or u m ing ith the Ogham ( virg lar Ogha ) , o o of i an d c mp sed an upr ght stem side branches , sug ” “ ” a ' gested the stepped, ladder or primitive Ogh m and hence the perfect popular Ogham . This theory m has by no eans been generally accepted . Yet it well ex emplifies the principle upon which the various — Abecedaria were constructed namely, that the symbol for any letter sho wed in the first instan ce a its particular group mongst the three ; and , secondly , r the place which it held in that group . Go an sson 232 n i . (Ba t l , p ) figures an ancient monument on which are a few words written in these Ogham Rfinne trecfen Runes with the twigs ( f ) , the remainder being in the common Runes . Among the class - Runes supposed to have been developed from the Futhorc there is a vast variety n of forms . We eed only quote the variety called H ahal - Runes , whose resemblance is most striking to h ” th e Ogham Craob . O 1' V 1 It is popularly asserted that the inventors , or of rather the adapters the Ogham, gave to its letters 8 0 the names of trees or plants . the Chinese ' 6 “ n lara . 5 0 . Ru , p 7 2 v 23 . l . V o . , p ’ ’ 8 O Don ovan s G a t t 4—4 J . 3 7 See ohn Irish r mmar, In roduc ion, pp h Vir ei Clearacteres Craob Ogham, g THE OGHAM - RUNES AND EL - M USH A J J A R z 5 “ ‘ a M oh is Radic l, or key for , a tree , a plain cross l with two additional oblique strokes 7 h General “ V allan ce y ( Prospectus of a Dictionary , who h makes this remark , seems to have held t at the - w tree form was adapted to the name, hereas the l virgular shape named the letters . The Arabic E “ ” Mush a ar El- Sh a ari jj or j , the branched or the “ - l r i tree ike , ce ta nly arose from the appearance of the letters . In the original Runic Alphabet two letters are an d called after trees, the thorn the birch ; the 9 P i al latter I have shown is like poplar ( pp ) , the only term which spread through Europe deriving directly n Bhur a To from the old Arya home ( j ) . the thorn and the birch the m ore developed An glo - Sax on : alphabet added four yew, sedge , oak , and ash . All the Irish letters are made to signify trees or plants are but at least ten of them not Irish terms . A d mongst foreign wor s , curious to say, is the Be thluis L lute second letter of the , a quicken, or mountain ash ; whilst the same is the case with 77.