Beith (letter)


Beith is the Irish name of the first letter of the Ogham alphabet, meaning "birch". In Old Irish, the letter name was Beithe, which is related to Welsh bedw, Breton bezv, and Latin betula. Its Proto-Indo-European root was *gʷet- 'resin, gum'. Its phonetic value is.

Interpretation

The Auraicept na n-Éces contains the tale of the mythological origins of Beith
Peith is a later addition to the Forfeda, a variant of Beith with a phonetic value of . It is also called beithe bog "soft beithe", being considered a "soft" variant of. It replaced Ifín ᚘ, one of the "original" five Forfeda likely named initially pín with an original value but whose phonetic value was altered to a vowel diphthong due to later medieval schematicism.

Bríatharogaim

In the medieval kennings, called Bríatharogaim 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.