Ailm 3480830 90759362 2006-11-28T22:25:14Z Angusmclellan 203730 add a (red for the moment) wikilink {{Table Oghamletters}} {{SpecialCharsNote}} '''Ailm''' is the [[Irish language|Irish]] name of the twentieth letter of the [[Ogham]] alphabet, {{Unicode|ᚐ}}. Its phonetic value is [a]. The "Tree Alphabet" glossators identify it with the [[pine]]. The original meaning of the name is unknown. The [[Bríatharogam]] kennings all refer to the sound [a] and not to the name, either as the sound of a "groan", or to the Irish vocative particle, ''á''. [[Rudolf Thurneysen|Thurneysen]] maintained that ''Ailm'', ''[[Beithe]]'' was influenced by ''[[Alpha]], [[Beta (letter)|Beta]]'', but while ''beithe'' is an actual Irish word, ''ailm'' would have to be considered the only loaned letter name. The word is attested once outside a context of the Ogham alphabet, in the poem "King Henry and the Hermit", :''caine ailmi ardom-peitet'' which translates to :Beautiful are the pines which make music for me Here the poet is most likely directly influenced by the "Tree Alphabet" manuscript tradition. ==References== *Damian McManus, ''Irish letter-names and their kennings'', Ériu 39 (1988), 127-168. {{Writingsystem-stub}} [[Category:Ogham letters]]