Ailm

Ailm is the Irish name of the sixteenth letter of the Ogham alphabet, ᚐ. Its phonetic value is [a]. The original meaning of the name cannot be established with certainty.[1] The Bríatharogam kennings all refer to the sound [a] and not to the meaning of the letter name, either as the sound of a "groan", or to the Irish vocative particle, á. Thurneysen suggests that Ailm, Beithe was influenced by Alpha, Beta. However, beithe is an Irish word, and there is no reason to consider ailm a sole, loaned letter name among the original feda; Thurneysen did not suggest this letter name involved such a borrowing.[2] The word is attested once outside of the Ogham grammatical texts, in the poem "King Henry and the Hermit",

caine ailmi ardom-peitet
Ogham letters
Aicme Beithe Aicme Muine
ᚁ[b]Beith ᚋ[m]Muin
ᚂ[l]Luis ᚌ[ɡ]Gort
ᚃ[w]Fearn ᚍ[ɡʷ]nGéadal
ᚄ[s]Sail ᚎ[st], [ts], [sw]Straif
ᚅ[n]Nion ᚏ[r]Ruis
Aicme hÚatha Aicme Ailme
ᚆ[j]Uath ᚐ[a]Ailm
ᚇ[d]Dair ᚑ[o]Onn
ᚈ[t]Tinne ᚒ[u]Úr
ᚉ[k]Coll ᚓ[e]Eadhadh
ᚊ[kʷ]Ceirt ᚔ[i]Iodhadh
Forfeda (rare, sounds uncertain)
ᚕ[k], [x], [eo]Éabhadh
ᚖ[oi]Ór
ᚗ[ui]Uilleann
ᚘ[p], [io]Ifín ᚚ[p]Peith
ᚙ [x], [ai] Eamhancholl

which translates to

Beautiful are the pines which make music for me.[3]

This single reference is the reason ailm is sometimes associated with pines. However, the poem likely post-dates origins of the medieval tradition of arboreal glosses of the ogham letters, so is more probably influenced by this tradition than an independent source for the meaning of ailm.[4]

Bríatharogam

In the medieval kennings, called Bríatharogaim or Word Ogham the verses associated with ailm are:

ardam íachta - "loudest groan" in the Bríatharogam Morann mic Moín

tosach frecrai - "beginning of an answer" in the Bríatharogam Mac ind Óc

tosach garmae - "beginning of calling" in the Bríatharogam Con Culainn.[5]

gollark: <@319753218592866315> I was interested in that!
gollark: Or a domino sorting robot.
gollark: What you likely can do is run it somewhat unsafely.
gollark: Also, there are probably some hardware limits.
gollark: Yes, but the CPU can't control cooling if it's melted.

References
  1. McManus, Damian. (1991). A guide to Ogam. Maynooth: An Sagart. ISBN 1-870684-17-6. OCLC 24181838.
  2. McManus, Damian (1988). "Irish Letter-Names and Their Kennings". Ériu. 39: 161. JSTOR 30024135.
  3. Murphy, Gerard (1956). Early Irish lyrics: eighth to twelfth century. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 18.
  4. McManus, Damian (1988). "Irish Letter-Names and Their Kennings". Ériu. 39: 127–168. JSTOR 30024135.
  5. McManus, Damian (1988). "Irish Letter-Names and Their Kennings". Ériu. 39: 127–168. JSTOR 30024135.


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