Ifín ᚘ (also spelled ''iphin'') is one of the ''

forfeda The ''forfeda'' (sing. ''forfid'') are the "additional" letters of the Ogham alphabet, beyond the basic inventory of twenty signs. Their name derives from ''fid'' ("wood", a term also used for Ogham letters) and the prefix ''for-'' ("additional"). ...

'', the "additional" letters of the

Ogham Ogham (Modern Irish: ; mga, ogum, ogom, later mga, ogam, label=none ) is an Early Medieval alphabet used primarily to write the early Irish language (in the "orthodox" inscriptions, 4th to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish langua ...

alphabet. Its sound value according to the '' Auraicept na n-Éces'', '' De dúilib feda'' and ''

In Lebor Ogaim ''In Lebor Ogaim'' ("The Book of Ogams"), also known as the Ogam Tract, is an Old Irish treatise on the ogham alphabet. It is preserved in R.I.A. MS 23 P 12 308–314 (AD 1390), T.C.D. H.3.18, 26.1–35.28 (AD 1511) and National Library of ...

'', are ''io'', ''ía'', and ''ia'', respectively. The Auraincept glosses the name according to the "arboreal" tradition as ''spinan no ispin'' "

gooseberry Gooseberry ( or (American and northern British) or (southern British)) is a common name for many species of ''Ribes'' (which also includes currants), as well as a large number of plants of similar appearance. The berries of those in the genu ...

thorn Thorn(s) or The Thorn(s) may refer to: Botany * Thorns, spines, and prickles, sharp structures on plants * ''Crataegus monogyna'', or common hawthorn, a plant species Comics and literature * Rose and Thorn, the two personalities of two DC Com ...

". The letter's invention dates to the

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic ( sga, Goídelc, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ga, Sean-Ghaeilge; gd, Seann-Ghàidhlig; gv, Shenn Yernish or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive writt ...

period, several centuries after the peak of Ogham usage. Since the Ogham alphabet dates to the

Primitive Irish Primitive Irish or Archaic Irish ( ga, Gaeilge Ársa), also called Proto-Goidelic, is the oldest known form of the Goidelic languages. It is known only from fragments, mostly personal names, inscribed on stone in the ogham alphabet in Ireland ...

period, it had no sign for in its original form. ''Ifín'' may originally have been added as a letter expressing called ''Pín'' (probably influenced by Latin ''

pinus A pine is any conifer tree or shrub in the genus ''Pinus'' () of the family Pinaceae. ''Pinus'' is the sole genus in the subfamily Pinoideae. The World Flora Online created by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and Missouri Botanical Garden accep ...

''). Due to the "schematicism of later Ogamists" (McManus 1988:167), who insisted on treating the five primary forfeda as vowels, had again to be expressed as a modification of called Peithe, after ''

Beithe Beith (ᚁ) is the Irish name of the first letter (Irish "letter": sing.''fid'', pl.''feda'') of the Ogham alphabet, meaning "birch". In Old Irish, the letter name was Beithe, which is related to Welsh ''bedw(en)'', Breton ''bezv(enn)'', and Lat ...

'', also called ''beithe bog'' "soft ''beithe''" or, tautologically, ''peithbog'', and the earlier letter designed to express ''p'' was renamed to ''i-phín'', and considered as expressing an ''i-'' diphthong.

Unicode

Both Ifín and Peith have

Unicode Unicode, formally The Unicode Standard,The formal version reference is is an information technology Technical standard, standard for the consistent character encoding, encoding, representation, and handling of Character (computing), text expre ...

allocations: *Ifín ᚘ U+1698 *Peith ᚚ U+169A

References

*Damian McManus, ''Irish letter-names and their kennings'', Ériu 39 (1988), 127-168. {{DEFAULTSORT:Ifin Ogham letters