Unicode Jewels: Ogham Alphabet Made Personal

I’ve just had a super new ring made for me by Irish designer Breda Haugh. It’s in sterling silver with a single pink sapphire stone set around Ogham symbols.

Silver Sapphire Ogham ring by Breda Haugh
Silver pink sapphire Ogham ring by Breda Haugh. Breda specializes in design based on historical and cultural themes.

Wikipedia tells us that Ogham is “an Early Medieval alphabet used to write the early Irish language (in the so-called “orthodox” inscriptions, 1st to 6th centuries AD), and later the Old Irish language (so-called scholastic ogham, 6th to 9th centuries)”, and that “according to the High Medieval Bríatharogam, names of various trees can be ascribed to individual letters.”

Here are the Ogham inscriptions on my ring explained in terms of the trees and their personal significance (I was born in September and my son’s name is Fionn by the way):

Ogham meanings on my ring explained
Ogham inscriptions on my ring explained.

And guess what? Thanks to Unicode you can digitally create your own story in Ogham too. Here is the Ogham Unicode block (via Wikipedia):

Ogham Unicode block (via Wikipedia)
Ogham Unicode block (via Wikipedia)

Evertype even offers a Unicode Ogham script font for you to use: Everson Mono Ogham.

I love it when the old meets the new in a different, stylish way that resonates personally, culturally and historically with our roots.

And, if there’s a digital way to make that experience easier for you to create, then all the better!

More information on Ogham

To find out more about the historical origins of Ogham and the relationship with trees, check out these sources:

Ultan Ó Broin
Ultan Ó Broin (@localization), is an independent UX consultant. With three decades of UX and L10n experience and outreach, he specializes in helping people ensure their global digital transformation makes sense culturally and also reflects how users behave locally. Any views expressed are his own. Especially the ones you agree with.

RELATED ARTICLES

Weekly Digest

Subscribe to stay updated

 
MultiLingual Media LLC