Ogham: A symbol of Ancient Ireland

Are you interested in Ancient Irish heritage? Ogham is part of the ancient Irish language and has roots going back to the Celtic Tree alphabet.  While the only remaining evidence of Ogham is found on stone it was also once used on trees and wooden stakes to mark boundaries. 

History of Ogham

A standing Ogham stone located at Adare Manor

The language is based on a medieval tradition ascribing names of trees to individual letters. The symbols are typically a wavy line with straight lines intersecting them, which resembles the silhouette of a tree. 

Although the marks look nothing like the Roman alphabet we use in English today, there are roughly 20 symbols representing consonants and five vowels that correspond to roughly the same sounds, so it's possible to translate.

There are fewer than 400 surviving inscriptions on stone monuments existing in Ireland today and the majority of these are located in the southern parts of Ireland in the counties of Kerry, Cork, and Waterford. 

The curve or “branch” of the Ogham engraving was thought to bring blessings. Read more about the history of ogham here. 

Ogham gifts

Failte (welcome) - Ogham engraved housewarming gift

Ogham designs make ideal gifts for friends with an interest in Irish history and heritage. Our design is engraved on natural slate or Irish Ash makes for a wonderful housewarming gift and ideal to place near the door of your home (indoors or out). 

The word “Fàilte” means welcome and is scribed on the bottom - this is a very popular choice. You can also choose a placename or the name of a house. This website includes an ogham transliterator - a tool that allows you to see what any word or phrase in English would look like in ogham - put your family name in and see what it looks like.

Words representing traditional Irish blessings including are often chosen, including:

Happiness (Sonas)

Love (Grá)

Health (Sláinte)

Dilseacht (Loyalty) 

Cairdeas (Friendship)

Or you can choose to have a person's name engraved to create a unique birthday, wedding, anniversary, retirement gift or gift of thanks.

Browse www.irishgiftsolutions.com for more.