{{Short description|Letter of the Ogham alphabet}} {{distinguish|text=the Semitic letter bet, which is sometimes spelled "beth"}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Contains special characters|Ogham}} {{Table Oghamletters}} '''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 Latin ''betula''. Its Proto-Indo-European root was *''gʷet-'' 'resin, gum'. Its phonetic value is {{IPA|[b]}}.<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>
==Interpretation== The ''Auraicept na n-Éces'' contains the tale of the mythological origins of ''Beith''<ref>Auraicept na n-Éces Calder, George, Edinburgh, John Grant (1917), reprint Four Courts Press (1995), pp. 273-4, {{ISBN|1-85182-181-3}},</ref>
{{cquote|This moreover is the first thing that was written by Ogham, [illustration of seven b's, in Ogham script] i.e. (the birch) b was written, and to convey a warning to Lug son of Ethliu it was written respecting his wife lest she should be carried away from him into faeryland, to wit, seven b’s in one switch of birch: Thy wife will be seven times carried away from thee into faeryland or into another country, unless birch guard her.
On that account, moreover, b, birch, takes precedence, for it is in birch that Ogham was first written.}} ''Peith'' (<span style="font-size:125%;">ᚚ</span>) is a later addition to the Forfeda, a variant of ''Beith'' with a phonetic value of [p]. It is also called ''beithe bog'' "soft ''beithe''", {{IPA|[p]}} being considered a "soft" variant of {{IPA|[b]}}. It replaced ''Ifín'' <span style="font-size:125%;">ᚘ</span>, one of the "original" five Forfeda likely named initially ''pín'' (influenced by Latin ''pinus'') with an original value [p] but whose phonetic value was altered to a vowel diphthong due to later medieval schematicism.<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>
==Bríatharogaim== In the medieval kennings, called ''Bríatharogaim'' (sing. ''Bríatharogam'') or ''Word Oghams'' the verses associated with ''Beith'' are:
''Féocos foltchaín:'' "Withered foot with fine hair" in the ''Bríatharogam Morann mic Moín''
''Glaisem cnis:'' "Greyest of skin" in the ''Bríatharogam Mac ind Óc''
''Maise malach:'' "Beauty of the eyebrow" in the ''Bríatharogam Con Culainn''.<ref>Auraicept na n-Éces Calder, George, Edinburgh, John Grant (1917), reprint Four Courts Press (1995), {{ISBN|1-85182-181-3}}</ref>
== Notes == While medieval and modern neopagan arboreal glosses (i.e. tree names) for the Ogham have been widely popularised (even for fade whose names do not translate as trees), the Old Irish ''In Lebor Ogaim'' (the ''Ogam Tract'') also lists many other word values classified by type (e.g. birds, occupations, companies) for each fid. The ''filí'' (Old Irish ''filid'', sing. ''fili'') or poets of this period learned around one hundred and fifty variants of Ogham during their training, including these word-list forms.<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>
Some of the notable Old Irish values of these for ''Beith'' include:
'''Enogam/Bird-ogam''': ''besan'' "pheasant?" (this translation may be incorrect as the text predates the approximately sixteenth century introduction of pheasants to Ireland<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Matheson|first=Colin|date=1963|title=The Pheasant in Wales|journal=British Birds|volume=44|issue=12|pages=452–455}}</ref>)
'''Dathogam/Colour-ogam''': ''bán'' "white"
'''Ogam tirda/Agricultural ogam''': ''biail'' "axe"
'''Danogam/Art-ogam''': ''bethumnacht'' "livelihood"
'''Ogam Cuidechtach/Company Ogam''': ''Bachlaid'' "Priests"
==References== {{Reflist}}
==See also== *Berkanan
Category:Ogham letters
{{alphabet-stub}}