Update, 1997-05-25: The Disposition of Comments to the this questionnaire is now available for review.

Ogham Standardization

Introduction

The Ogham script is being standardized in the field of character set technology at national and international level. At national level, a specification for the encoding of Ogham in 8 bits (used by most current Macs and PCs) has been forwarded to NSAI for processing as Irish Standard 434:1999. At the international level, Ogham is about to be sent out for public enquiry as a Draft Amendment to ISO/IEC 10646-1, a 16- and 32-bit standard which will serve all of the scripts in the world. This survey is sent to you in order to elicit your opinion on the character repertoire and the names which will be encoded for the Ogham script. The repertoire and names in the current draft are as follows:

43410646English nameAinm Gaeilge
A000A0NO-BREAK SPACE (434 only)SPÁS DOBHRISTE (434 amháin)
A1----OGHAM LETTER BEITHLITIR OGHAIM BEITH
A2----OGHAM LETTER LUISLITIR OGHAIM LUIS
A3----OGHAM LETTER FERNLITIR OGHAIM FERN
A4----OGHAM LETTER SAILLITIR OGHAIM SAIL
A5----OGHAM LETTER NUINLITIR OGHAIM NUIN
A6----OGHAM LETTER HUATH LITIR OGHAIM hÚATH
A7----OGHAM LETTER DAIRLITIR OGHAIM DAIR
A8----OGHAM LETTER TINNELITIR OGHAIM TINNE
A9----OGHAM LETTER COLLLITIR OGHAIM COLL
AA----OGHAM LETTER CERTLITIR OGHAIM CERT
AB----OGHAM LETTER MUINLITIR OGHAIM MUIN
AC----OGHAM LETTER GORTLITIR OGHAIM GORT
AD----OGHAM LETTER NGETALLITIR OGHAIM nGÉTAL
AE----OGHAM LETTER STRAIFLITIR OGHAIM STRAIF
AF----OGHAM LETTER RUISLITIR OGHAIM RUIS
B0----OGHAM LETTER AILMLITIR OGHAIM AILM
B1----OGHAM LETTER ONNLITIR OGHAIM ONN
B2----OGHAM LETTER URLITIR OGHAIM ÚR
B3----OGHAM LETTER EDADLITIR OGHAIM EDAD
B4----OGHAM LETTER IDADLITIR OGHAIM IDAD
B5----OGHAM LETTER EBADLITIR OGHAIM ÉBAD
B6----OGHAM LETTER OR LITIR OGHAIM ÓR
B7----OGHAM LETTER UILENLITIR OGHAIM UILEN
B8----OGHAM LETTER IFINLITIR OGHAIM IFÍN
B9----OGHAM LETTER EMANCHOLLLITIR OGHAIM EMANCHOLL
BA----(This position shall not be used) (Ná húsáidtear an suíomh seo)
BB----OGHAM SIGN SAIGHEADCOMHARTHA SAIGHDE OGHAIM
BC----OGHAM SIGN BEARNACOMHARTHA BEARNA OGHAIM
BD----(This position shall not be used) (Ná húsáidtear an suíomh seo)
BE----(This position shall not be used) (Ná húsáidtear an suíomh seo)
BF----(This position shall not be used) (Ná húsáidtear an suíomh seo)


Questionnaire: Ogham character names

Some minor inconsistencies have been pointed out in the spelling of the character names in the current repertoire. Once the names have been accepted into ISO 10646 they can never be changed, so it is prudent to raise and discuss this issue now -- before the Irish vote on Ogham in 10646 is sent in to ISO. (The pDAM has not yet been issued so ballotting has not yet begun.)

There are three options: retain the names as they are, revise them to normalized Old Irish, or revise them to normalized Modern Irish. A summary of spellings used in documents available is found as an annex to this questionnaire.

Each of the options is presented below in both English and Irish versions. The English name will be a part of ISO 10646; both names will appear in I.S. 434. The English names must be identical between ISO 10646 and I.S. 434. According to the rules of ISO 10646, accents are stripped off of character names in English. Normal spellings are retained in Irish character names.

Current draftOld IrishModern Irish
BEITHBEITHEBEITH
LUISLUISLUIS
FERNFERNFEARN
SAILSAILSAIL
NUINNINNUIN
HUATHUATHUATH
DAIRDAIRDAIR
TINNETINNETINNE
COLLCOLLCOLL
CERTCERTCEIRT
MUINMUINMUIN
GORTGORTGORT
NGETALGETALGIATAL
STRAIFSTRAIFSTRAIF
RUISRUISRUIS
AILMAILMAILM
ONNONNONN
URURUR
EDADEDADEADHADH
IDADIDADIODHADH
EBADEBADEABHADH
OROROR
UILENUILENUILEANN
IFINIPHINIFIN
EMANCHOLLEMANCHOLLEAMHANCHOLL
SAIGHEADSAIGETSAIGHEAD
BEARNABERNABEARNA


Dréacht reathaSean-GhaeilgeNua-Ghaeilge
BEITHBEITHEBEITH
LUISLUISLUIS
FERNFERNFEARN
SAILSAILSAIL
NUINNINNUIN
hÚATHÚATHÚATH
DAIRDAIRDAIR
TINNETINNETINNE
COLLCOLLCOLL
CERTCERTCEIRT
MUINMUINMUIN
GORTGORTGORT
nGÉTALGÉTALGIATAL
STRAIFSTRAIFSTRAIF
RUISRUISRUIS
AILMAILMAILM
ONNONNONN
ÚRÚRÚR
EDADEDADEADHADH
IDADIDADIODHADH
ÉBADÉBADÉABHADH
ÓRÓRÓR
UILENUILENUILEANN
IFÍNIPHÍNIFÍN
EMANCHOLLEMANCHOLLEAMHANCHOLL
SAIGHEADSAIGETSAIGHEAD
BEARNABERNABEARNA

Please answer YES to only one of the three questions below.
1. Shall the names of the Ogham characters be retained unchanged as they are in the current repertoire?
Yes No

2a. Shall the names of the Ogham characters be revised to normalized Old Irish?
Yes No
2b. Shall such change affect the non-letter character names?
Yes No

3. Shall the names of the Ogham characters be revised to normalized Modern Irish?
Yes No

4. Enter other comments below.


Questionnaire: Ogham character repertoire

Three characters could be added to the repertoire.

The character OGHAM SIGN BEARNA appears in the repertoire because of the use of a stemline gap in manuscript Oghams. Some writers (e.g. Brash 1879) have used, in Ogham fonts, a dotted stemline to represent illegible readings in Ogham inscriptions (since many Ogham fonts draw the stemline).

5. Shall the character looking like a dotted stem-line be added to the repertoire?

Yes No

6a. Shall its name be OGHAM SIGN BA (COMHARTHA BÁ OGHAIM)? (Propose a name if not.)
Yes No
6b. Other Name:


The character OGHAM SIGN SAIGHEAD appears in the repertoire because of its use at the beginning of texts in manuscript Ogham. There does not appear to be a term for this sign from the manuscript period, but subsequent to the preparation of this proposal it has been observed that some writers (including Macalister) have called this a "feather-mark", being the tail end of an arrow (>---->). This is quite sensible, and the term eite ('feather', 'wing', 'fin') could be used to describe this character.

In Auricept na nÉces, a mirror image of this sign is attested at the end of an Ogham text.

7a. Shall the name of the character OGHAM SIGN SAIGHEAD be changed to OGHAM SIGN EITE (COMHARTHA EITE OGHAIM)?
Yes No

7b. Shall the character looking like a reversed OGHAM SIGN SAIGHEAD be added to the repertoire?

Yes No

8a. Shall its name be OGHAM SIGN REVERSED EITE (COMHARTHA EITE THUATHAL OGHAIM)? (Propose a name if not.)
Yes No
8b. Other Name:


A poorly attested twenty-sixth Ogham character, dating from no earlier than the late mansucript period, is a candidate for encoding in the repertoire. In Auricept na nÉces it is drawn -Y- but given no name. A character used for the sound p, drawn as a line beneath and parallel to the stemline is mentioned in Brash 1879, Macalister 1945, and McManus 1992, and is pictured in Laoide 1906 and Dwelly 1920). Ó Dónaill 1978 actually defines "peith" as the Ogham character for p. Whether this character "should exist" or not begs the question a little bit, since it does exist in discussions of Ogham, at least. The question is whether or not it should be given a place in the repertoire for the purposes of representing, for instance, its use in the above four works. One answer is "yes, then Dwelly can go on-line more easily". An equally valid answer is "no, let's not perpetuate it".

9a. Shall the purported twenty-sixth Ogham character be added to the repertoire?
Yes No

9b. Shall its glyph representation be the horizontal line on the left or the Y sign on the right?
 

Left Right

10a. Shall its name be OGHAM LETTER PEITH?
Yes No
10b. Shall its name be OGHAM LETTER BEITH BHOG? (Propose another name if neither of these are suitable.)
Yes No
10c. Other Name:


Comment period

These notes have been sent to you to elicit your expert opinion. (Identified expertise sought has to do with Ogham, Irish grammar and terminology, and other factors.) The opinions received will be reviewed by NSAI/AGITS/WG6 and a Disposition of Comments made (in which you can remain anonymous if you wish); the Disposition of Comments will be forwarded to you so you can see the results of the survey. This Disposition of Comments will determine the Irish national ballot on the Ogham pDAM to ISO 10646 -- which in turn will be considered among the other national ballots.

Your comments are requested no later than 30 April 1997. Comments received after that date may not be taken into account.


Update, 1997-05-25: The Disposition of Comments to the this questionnaire is now available for review.
The committee members of NSAI/AGITS/WG6 are grateful for your participation. When you have filled out this form, you can click one of the buttons below to send it. (If you have received this questionnaire in the post, please mail it to Michael Everson, 15 Port Chaeimhghein Íochtarach, Baile Átha Cliath 2, Éire.)
Your Name:          
Your Email Address: 

Annex

See http://www.evertype.com/standards/og/ognames.html.
Michael Everson, Evertype, Dublin, 2001-11-09