Ogham Origins
From secret codes and tribal borders to the first written form of Irish, Ogham’s true beginnings are still debated. Was it a tool of power, identity, or quiet resistance? Explore the theories behind the birth of Ireland’s earliest script.
Theory #1 Cipher
One of the most intriguing theories about the origin of the Ogham script is that it was never meant to be just a writing system — but a cipher
Some scholars, like Carney and MacNeill, believe Ogham was developed as a secret alphabet, created by Irish druids or scholars to hide their communications from the users of the Latin script — particularly the Romans.
At the time, Roman Britain was right across the Irish Sea, and the power of the Empire loomed large. According to this theory, Ogham may have been invented for political, military, or religious reasons — a way for the Irish to communicate in secret, outside the surveillance of Roman administration and culture.
Even later, as Roman influence declined and Irish settlers began moving into parts of western Britain, the script could have continued to serve its purpose as a discreet form of communication — unintelligible to Romanised Britons.
Interestingly, evidence of Ogham has been found not only in Ireland but also in Wales, particularly in the southwestern regions such as Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire.
These inscriptions often appear on stones that also bear Latin inscriptions, suggesting a time and place where two cultural systems — the Celtic and the Roman — existed side by side.
In some cases, the same names are written in both scripts, which has led scholars to think that Ogham may have been used to preserve native identity in the face of Roman influence.
The presence of Ogham in Wales reinforces the idea that it was more than a tool for writing — it may have been a form of resistance, a symbolic way to hold on to language, identity, and autonomy in a Romanised world.
Theory #2 Tower of Babel
Fénius Farsaid is a legendary king from Scythia who appears in Irish mythology.
According to certain traditions, Fénius was the one who created both the Ogham alphabet and the Gaelic language.
In some versions of the Lebor Gabála Érenn (The Book of the Taking of Ireland), Fénius and his son Nél traveled to the Tower of Babel to study the many languages that emerged after it collapsed.
In another version, a man named Rifath Scot, son of Gomer, takes their place.
Nél, who was skilled in many languages, ended up marrying Scota, the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh, and their son was Goidel Glas — the supposed ancestor of the Gaels.
The Lebor Gabála Érenn, written in the 11th century, says that Fénius was one of the 72 leaders who helped build the Tower of Babel.
After it fell, he went to Scythia.
In another early Irish text, the Auraicept na n-Éces (The Scholar’s Primer), Fénius is said to have traveled with a group of 72 scholars to study the languages left behind after the fall of the Tower.
While the others went out to gather information, Fénius stayed behind to organize their findings.
After ten years, he created a new language — Goídelc (or Gaelic) — from the best parts of all the ones they had studied.
He named it after Goídel mac Ethéoir.
He also created several language systems, including Bérla Féne (named after himself) and a writing system called Beithe-luis-nuin, better known as Ogham.
This script was used for poetry and eventually evolved into Old, Middle, and Modern Irish
The Auraicept claims that Fénius discovered four writing systems: Hebrew, Greek, Latin, and finally Ogham.
Because Ogham came last, it was considered the most refined.
Theory #3 First Script of Primitive Irish
Some scholars believe that Ogham was originally created as a way to write Primitive Irish, the earliest known stage of the Irish language.
According to this view, the script was developed around the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD, specifically to record the unique sounds and structure of Irish speech at the time.
This theory is supported by linguistic clues found in the Ogham alphabet itself.
The script includes characters for sounds that were part of Primitive Irish but had already disappeared from the language by the time most stone inscriptions were made
These include letters like:
- Úath ("H")
- Straif (likely representing a now-lost "SW" or "F" sound)
- Gétal (possibly an ancient "GW" sound)
These letters never appear in surviving inscriptions, suggesting they belonged to an earlier phase of the language
Their presence in the alphabet indicates that Ogham was created at a time when these sounds were still used in speech, pointing to an early origin for the script.
It's thought that during its earliest use, Ogham may have been written on wooden staves, bark, or bone — materials that would not survive over centuries.
This would explain why the oldest physical examples we have come from a later period, even though the script was likely in use much earlier.
In this view, Ogham began as a native written form of Primitive Irish — developed to capture the sound and structure of the spoken language.
It may have been used for naming, marking boundaries, legal records, or memorials, forming an early system of written identity and memory in ancient Ireland.