Faerie Ogham
Ogham is the language of Faeries in FaerieMUD. It is the simplest of the Elfin Family of languages, which also includes the language of Cave Elves? (also known as "low elfin" or more derogatorily "pig dwarvish") and the language of the High Sidhe? (also known as "high sylvan").
Ogham (like all languages) is a form of matter (that which remains the same through change). As such it can be represented as a developmental number -- 39?. This corresponds roughly to a pidgin or trade language. (By way of comparison, the other languages in the Elfin family are Cave Elvish (developmental number, 59?) and High sylvan (developmental number, 80?).
The Language of Pixies
Faeries and sprites? and nixies? all use Ogham almost exclusively. And brownies?, dryads? and naiads? also use it most of the time.
The level of Ogham should be considered roughly what it takes to get by in a language without much ability to express emotion or abstract ideas. It should be considered a model for most pidgin dialects or trade languages or for people who have acquired a minimum understanding of a language (just enough to get by).
The Alphabet
The letters of the Ogham alphabet are particularly well suited to carving into stones and grave markers. They also are easily hidden in pictures or other places where someone wants to leave a message which will only be seen by someone looking for it.
The language is always based on a centerline (such as the edge of a stone obelisk or a vertical line in a painting or drawing). Most of the letters are represented by notches on that centerline or by lines emanating from or crossing that centerline.
The exception is Pethboc, whose four lines crossing the centerline are boxed off to distinguish it from Eadha.
The 18 main letters of the Ogham alphabet are: Beth, Luis, Fearn, Saille, Nion, Uath, Duir, Tinne, Coll, Muin, Gort, Pethboc, Ruis, Ailm, Onn, Ura, Eadha, and Idho.
English (or Latin) Equivalents
- Beth -- B
- Luis -- L
- Fearn -- F
- Saille -- S (or SH)
- Nion -- N
- Uath -- H (also serves as an inflective)
- Duir -- D
- Tinne -- T
- Coll -- C
- Muin -- M
- Gort -- G
- Pethboc -- P
- Ruis -- R
- Ailm -- A
- Onn -- O
- Ura -- U
- Eadha -- E
- Idho -- I
Letters equivalent to Latin Z, TH and NG are also included, although these are not among the 18 principal letters.
The Periodic Table of Ogham
Like all matter, Ogham can be represented by a periodic table ending at the element which corresponds to its developmental number (in this case yttrium?).
Group IA? Group IIA? Group IIIB? Group IVB? Group VB? Group VIB? Group VIIB? Group VIIIB? Group VIIIB? Group VIIIB? Group IB? Group IIB? Group IIIA? Group IVA? Group VA? Group VIA? Group VIIA? Group Zero bey bey -r, -n, -c ba lu pe ti eh ma fey duotone, -h, -pbbt beth luis pethboc tinne eadha muin fearn -duir B L G R O A U I H S N C P T E M F -D Z TH NG
Word Divisions
Because the faeries don't mind ambiguity, word division is not very clear in Faerie Ogham. Correct pronunciation and even writing often blurs words together in a confusing mishmash. The faeries think the resulting ambiguities are just fine and look at those who complain about it as being way too serious about their language and their communication.
Many Faerie Ogham words end in -d, -r, -n or -c, which makes it easier to understand (particularly for outsiders) when all the words are run together. Some outsiders put word spaces into their Ogham speech or writing. Indeed, when the faeries talk about other races' "accent" they are usually refering primarily to the unnecessary insertion of word spaces.
Nixies, dryads and naiads and even brownies and sprites have learned the trick of voicing the last letter of a word (sometimes represented by putting an "-h" after a consonant to indicate the extra voicing) to make the meaning less ambiguous. True faeries think this is silly and sometimes make fun of other races' need for exact meanings by turning the -h into a raspberry (represented as "-pbbt" by sidhe linguists of a very literal bent).
Some folk wisdom holds that these raspberries are the source of the belief that faeries are responsible for distributing dew in the early morning. (The idea is that a whole bunch of faeries must have been having a big discussion and that their raspberries distributed lots of tiny droplets wherever they had their great debate.) This is almost certain apocryphal given that faeries talking among themselves seldom, if ever, use the raspberry. Such word endings are almost exclusively used to make fun of other races, their need to eliminate ambiguity, and their need to be serious.
In the unlikely event a faerie wants to be clear and doesn't want to make fun of others, they sometimes distinguish between alternating words by pitch. They seem to pick two different tones and alternate every other word between those two pitches. This results in a kind of sing-song sound to fairie speech which many outsiders associate with the "sound" of faerie speech (although it is by no means universal). It also is reflected in faerie music and may be the reason most faeries believe songs communicate better than non-musical speech.
Certain syllables are also added to the end of words, defining a word-ending which is fairly unambiguous. The best example is -duir, which means door or gateway. Because many of the races which use Ogham believe gates and portals are very important, they often express a variety of things in terms of doors. (A good example is the faerie words for oak, which was seen as a gateway between the world of earth and the world of air: "earduir" or "aerduir," which literally mean earth-door or air-gate.)
Representing Word-Endings on the Periodic Table
Period Word-Ending -1 -r, -n or -c 0 duotone, -h or -pbbt 1 -duir 2 -D
Inflection
Inflection in Ogham is limited. Significant inflective structures do not occur in FaerieMUD languages until developmental levels from 57? through 71?. There is a limited degree of inflection possible using -i, -h and -s which are used for simple inflective purposes:
The -i ending is used to pluralize verbs. The -s ending is used to pluralize nouns. The -h ending after a consonant (causing it to be voiced) is used to disambiguate word endings (see above).
Representing Inflection on the Periodic Table
Group VIII Group VIII Group VIII iron cobalt nickel? idho uath saille -i -h -s plural (verbs) word ending plural (nouns)
See also Elfin Family, Holy Grove, and Matter.
— Scotus - 03 Jun 2001
