Ogham: Notches on Stone – the Script of the Celts

Ogham (pronounced roughly "ohm") is the oldest known script of the Celts, above all in early medieval Ireland and parts of Britain (roughly 4th–7th c. AD). It consists of groups of notches and strokes arranged along a central line – usually the edge of a stone.

How Ogham works

The alphabet comprises 20 basic signs (later expanded), grouped into four groups (aicme) of five letters each. A sign is a certain number of strokes to the right, left or across the edge. It is read from bottom to top. Each letter bears a name, traditionally after trees – hence the (however overrated) byname "tree alphabet".

What it served for

Most Ogham inscriptions are short and stand on boundary and memorial stones. They almost always name names: "(stone) of X, son of Y". Ogham marked property, grave and remembrance – a script for the essentials, in stone for eternity.

"Wits must he have who wanders wide, but all is easy at home."Hávamál 5, after Henry A. Bellows 1923 (public domain)

Ogham and the runes

The comparison to the Germanic runes is obvious: both are early, consist of straight lines (ideal for carving and cutting), bear letter names and often stand on memorial stones. Whether they influenced each other is unclear – both probably arose independently from contact with the Latin script. Two peoples, the same idea: to fix language in stone.

Ogham is the Celtic art of carving language into stone – sober, elegant and related to the Germanic runic script. More on the runes in our rune overview.

Read more with us

Runes & their meaning · Celtic Religion · The Druids · The Celtic Warriors · Celtic Princely Graves.

Sources & literature

Damian McManus, A Guide to Ogam; Corpus of Ogham inscriptions (CIIC/Macalister); Bernhard Maier, The Religion of the Celts; quote public domain (Bellows 1923).

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