Re: [tied] Ogme/Ogma's etymology

----- Original Message -----

From: Christopher Gwinn

To: cybalist@egroups.com

Sent: Friday, October 13, 2000 12:27 AM

Subject: Re: [tied] Ogme/Ogma's etymology

 

Thanks, Chris. Just a technical question: is Old Irish Ogma an *-(i)jo- stem? If so, how were these stems declined?

 

Piotr

 

 

Irish Ogma comes from Goidelic -i- stem *Ogmiios (and may be matched by
Welsh Eufydd from *Ogmiios) - it is unsure wether the name is a direct loan
from Gaulish, or a Common Celtic survival (I would favor this, noting the
Welsh form Eufydd). Som  have sought a Greek origin for the name Ogmiosw,
but we must note that there is an Irish words ogam meaning "supporting
beam/prop" - a reasonable name for an Irish god who is represented as the
champion warrior of the Tuatha De. Of course, we have the Irish ogam
alphabet (supposed to have been invented by Ogma) which may be related to
the "beam" derivation. Another possibility, noting that Ogma is the
strongman par-excellence, is a development out of PIE *Peug- "to
box/strike."
-C. Gwinn