# Ailm

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{{Short description|Letter of the Ogham alphabet}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Contains special characters|Ogham}}
{{Table Oghamletters}}
'''Ailm''' is the [Irish](/source/Irish_language) name of the sixteenth letter of the [Ogham](/source/Ogham) alphabet, ᚐ. Its phonetic value is [a]. The original meaning of the name cannot be established with certainty.<ref>{{Cite book|title=A guide to Ogam|last=McManus, Damian.|date=1991|publisher=An Sagart|isbn=1-870684-17-6|location=Maynooth|oclc=24181838}}</ref> The [Bríatharogam](/source/Br%C3%ADatharogam) 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](/source/Rudolf_Thurneysen) suggests that ''Ailm'', ''[Beithe](/source/Beithe)'' was influenced by ''[Alpha](/source/Alpha), [Beta](/source/Beta_(letter)).'' 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.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McManus|first=Damian|date=1988|title=Irish Letter-Names and Their Kennings|journal=Ériu|volume=39|pages=161|jstor=30024135}}</ref> The word is attested once outside of the Ogham grammatical texts, in the poem "King Henry and the Hermit",
:''{{lang|mga|caine ailmi ardom-peitet}}''
which translates to
:Beautiful are the pines which make music for me.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.vanhamel.nl/codecs/Murphy_1956a|title=Early Irish lyrics: eighth to twelfth century|last=Murphy|first=Gerard|publisher=Clarendon Press|year=1956|location=Oxford|pages=18}}</ref>

This single reference is the reason ''ailm'' is sometimes associated with [pine](/source/pine)s. 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''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McManus|first=Damian|date=1988|title=Irish Letter-Names and Their Kennings|journal=Ériu|volume=39|pages=127–168|jstor=30024135}}</ref>

== Bríatharogam ==
In the medieval [kennings](/source/kennings), called ''[Bríatharogaim](/source/Br%C3%ADatharogam)'' or ''Word Ogham'' the verses associated with ''ailm'' are:

* ''{{lang|sga|ardam íachta}}'' – "loudest groan" in the ''Bríatharogam'' ''Morann mic Moín''
* ''{{lang|sga|tosach frecrai}}'' – "beginning of an answer"  in the ''Bríatharogam'' ''Mac ind Óc''
* ''{{lang|sga|tosach garmae}}'' – "beginning of calling"  in the ''Bríatharogam'' ''Con'' ''Culainn''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=McManus|first=Damian|date=1988|title=Irish Letter-Names and Their Kennings|journal=Ériu|volume=39|pages=127–168|jstor=30024135}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

Category:Ogham letters

{{alphabet-stub}}

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