Eadhadh is the Irish name of the nineteenth letter of the

Ogham Ogham (also ogam and ogom, , Modern Irish: ; , later ) 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 language ( scholastic ...

alphabet, ᚓ. In

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

, the letter name was Edad. Its phonetic value is The original meaning of the letter name is unknown, but it is likely an artificially altered pairing with Idad, much like Gothic '' pairþra, qairþra.''

Interpretation

The

kennings A kenning ( Icelandic: ) is a figure of speech, a figuratively-phrased compound term that is used in place of a simple single-word noun. For instance, the Old English kenning () means , as does (). A kenning has two parts: a base-word (a ...

for this letter value are quite cryptic. Medieval "arboreal" glossators assign ''crand fir no crithach'' "'true tree' or

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

" (''Crann Creathach'' in

modern Irish Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

) to this letter, though this has little to recommend it by way of either the kennings or the etymology. McManus suggests an original value of

Primitive Irish Primitive Irish or Archaic Irish (), also called Proto-Goidelic, is the oldest known form of the Goidelic languages, and the ancestor of all languages within this family. This phase of the language is known only from fragments, mostly persona ...

''*eburas,'' from the

Proto-Celtic Proto-Celtic, or Common Celtic, is the hypothetical ancestral proto-language of all known Celtic languages, and a descendant of Proto-Indo-European. It is not attested in writing but has been partly Linguistic reconstruction, reconstructed throu ...

*''eburo-'' probably originally meaning "rowan". This is the root of the

''ibar'' which refers (with qualifications) to a number of different evergreen trees. He makes sense of the kennings for ''edad'' in relation to its pairing with ''idad''. Given ''éo'' as the likely

word for "yew tree" (see idad) and the variant forms of

''é/éo'' "salmon", we can understand the "exchange of friends" kenning; at the time the kenning was constructed this would have been understood as a word play involving exchange of meaning between the paired ''edad'' (''é/éo'' salmon because of the value of the letter and ''idad'' (''éo'' yew). Medieval glossators on ''edad'' also suggested a connection to the discerning '

Salmon of Wisdom The Salmon of Knowledge () is a creature in the Fenian Cycle of Irish mythology, sometimes identified with Fintan mac Bóchra, who was known as "The Wise" and was once transformed into a salmon. Fenian Cycle The Salmon story figures prominentl ...

'. McManus also suggests that "brother of birch" may be a kenning erroneously displaced to the penultimate of the original twenty letters, from the penultimate forfeda which had an original letter name ''pín'' that when changed later to ''ifín'' necessitated the invention of peithe also called ''beithe bog'' "soft ''beithe''", hence "brother of birch". This is informed conjecture, however, and will probably not be resolved unless a full complement of kennings from the ''Con'' ''Culainn'' tradition is ever discovered (at present their values for many of the forfeda for that tradition are unattested). It could also simply be that ''beithe'' is to ''peithe'' (a rhyming pair of ogham letters) as ''edad'' is to ''idad,'' and that ''edad'' is brother of ''beithe'' for this reason.

Bríatharogam

In the medieval kennings, called '' Bríatharogaim'' or ''Word Ogham'' the verses associated with ''edad'' are: ''érgnaid fid'' - "discerning tree/chap" in the ''Bríatharogam'' ''Morann mic Moín'' ''commaín carat'' - "exchange of friends" in the ''Bríatharogam'' ''Mac ind Óc'' ''bráthair bethi'' (?) - "brother of birch (?)" in the ''Bríatharogam'' ''Con'' ''Culainn''.

Auraicept na n-Éces ''Auraicept na nÉces'' (; "The Scholars' Primer" ) is an Old Irish text on language and grammar. The core of the text may date to the early eighth century, but much material was added between that date and the production of the earliest surviv ...

Calder, George, Edinburgh, John Grant (1917), reprint Four Courts Press (1995),

References

Ogham letters {{alphabet-stub