Uath,
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 ...
Úath, hÚath (), is the sixth letter 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 langu ...
alphabet, ᚆ, transcribed in manuscript tradition, but unattested in actual inscriptions. The
kenning
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English ...
"a meet of hounds is ''huath''" identifies the name as ''úath'' "horror, fear", although the
Auraicept glosses "
white-thorn":
:''comdal cuan huath (.i. sce L. om); no ar is uathmar hi ara deilghibh'' "a meet of hounds is ''huath'' (i.e. white-thorn); or because it is formidable (''uathmar'') for its thorns."
The original etymology of the name, and the letter's value, are, however, unclear. McManus (1986) suggested a value /y/ (i.e. the semivowel
.
Peter Schrijver
Peter Schrijver (; born 1963) is a Dutch linguist. He is a professor of Celtic languages at Utrecht University and a researcher of ancient Indo-European linguistics. He worked previously at Leiden University and the Ludwig Maximilian University ...
suggested that if ''úath'' "fear" is cognate with Latin ''pavere'', a trace of PIE ''*p'' might have survived into Primitive Irish, but there is no independent evidence for this.
Bríatharogam
In the medieval
kennings
A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech in the type of circumlocution, a compound that employs figurative language in place of a more concrete single-word noun. Kennings are strongly associated with Old Norse-Icelandic and Old English p ...
, called ''
Bríatharogam
In Early Irish literature a ''Bríatharogam'' ("word ogham", plural ''Bríatharogaim'') is a two word kenning which explains the meanings of the names of the letters of the Ogham alphabet. Three variant lists of ''bríatharogaim'' or 'word-oghams' ...
'' or ''Word Ogham'' the verses associated with ''Úath'' are:
condál cúan - "assembly of packs of hounds" in the Word Ogham of ''Morann mic Moín''
bánad gnúise - "blanching of faces" in the Word Ogham of ''Mac ind Óc''
ansam aidche - "most difficult at night"" in the Word Ogham of ''Culainn''.
[ Auraicept na n-Éces Calder, George, Edinburgh, John Grant (1917), reprint Four Courts Press (1995), {{ISBN, 1-85182-181-3]
References
Ogham letters