Ailm

Ailm is the Irish name of the sixteenth letter of the Ogham alphabet, ᚐ. Its phonetic value is [a]. The original meaning of the name cannot be established with certainty.^[1] The Bríatharogam kennings all refer to the sound [a] and not to the meaning of the letter name, either as the sound of a "groan", or to the Irish vocative particle, á. Thurneysen suggests that Ailm, Beithe was influenced by Alpha, Beta. However, beithe is an Irish word, and there is no reason to consider ailm a sole, loaned letter name among the original feda; Thurneysen did not suggest this letter name involved such a borrowing.^[2] The word is attested once outside of the Ogham grammatical texts, in the poem "King Henry and the Hermit",

caine ailmi ardom-peitet

Ogham letters ᚛ᚑᚌᚐᚋᚁᚂᚃᚓᚇᚐᚅ᚜
Aicme Beithe ᚛ᚐᚔᚉᚋᚓᚁᚂᚃᚄᚅ᚜			Aicme Muine ᚛ᚐᚔᚉᚋᚓᚋᚌᚎᚏ᚜
ᚁ	[b]	Beith	ᚋ	[m]	Muin
ᚂ	[l]	Luis	ᚌ	[ɡ]	Gort
ᚃ	[w]	Fearn	ᚍ	[ɡʷ]	nGéadal
ᚄ	[s]	Sail	ᚎ	[st], [ts], [sw]	Straif
ᚅ	[n]	Nion	ᚏ	[r]	Ruis
Aicme hÚatha ᚛ᚐᚔᚉᚋᚓᚆᚇᚈᚉᚊ᚜			Aicme Ailme ᚛ᚐᚔᚉᚋᚓᚐᚑᚒᚓᚔ᚜
ᚆ	[j]	Uath	ᚐ	[a]	Ailm
ᚇ	[d]	Dair	ᚑ	[o]	Onn
ᚈ	[t]	Tinne	ᚒ	[u]	Úr
ᚉ	[k]	Coll	ᚓ	[e]	Eadhadh
ᚊ	[kʷ]	Ceirt	ᚔ	[i]	Iodhadh
Forfeda ᚛ᚃᚑᚏᚃᚓᚇᚐ᚜
	ᚕ	[ea], [k], [x], [eo]	Éabhadh
	ᚖ	[oi]	Ór
	ᚗ	[ui]	Uilleann
	ᚘ	[ia]	Ifín
	ᚙ	[x], [ai]	Eamhancholl
	ᚚ	[p]	Peith
v t e

which translates to

Beautiful are the pines which make music for me.^[3]

This single reference is the reason ailm is sometimes associated with pines. However, the poem likely post-dates origins of the medieval tradition of arboreal glosses of the ogham letters, so is more probably influenced by this tradition than an independent source for the meaning of ailm.^[4]

Bríatharogam

In the medieval kennings, called Bríatharogaim or Word Ogham the verses associated with ailm are:

ardam íachta - "loudest groan" in the Bríatharogam Morann mic Moín

tosach frecrai - "beginning of an answer" in the Bríatharogam Mac ind Óc

tosach garmae - "beginning of calling" in the Bríatharogam Con Culainn.^[5]

References

1. McManus, Damian. (1991). A guide to Ogam. Maynooth: An Sagart. ISBN 1-870684-17-6. OCLC 24181838.
2. McManus, Damian (1988). "Irish Letter-Names and Their Kennings". Ériu. 39: 161. JSTOR 30024135.
3. Murphy, Gerard (1956). Early Irish lyrics: eighth to twelfth century. Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 18.
4. McManus, Damian (1988). "Irish Letter-Names and Their Kennings". Ériu. 39: 127–168. JSTOR 30024135.
5. McManus, Damian (1988). "Irish Letter-Names and Their Kennings". Ériu. 39: 127–168. JSTOR 30024135.