Beith (letter)

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Ogham letters
	Aicme Beithe		Aicme Muine
ᚁ	Beith	ᚋ	Muin
ᚂ	Luis	ᚌ	Gort
ᚃ	Fearn	ᚍ	nGéadal
ᚄ	Sail	ᚎ	Straif
ᚅ	Nion	ᚏ	Ruis
	Aicme hÚatha		Aicme Ailme
ᚆ	Uath	ᚐ	Ailm
ᚇ	Dair	ᚑ	Onn
ᚈ	Tinne	ᚒ	Úr
ᚉ	Coll	ᚓ	Eadhadh
ᚊ	Ceirt	ᚔ	Iodhadh
	Forfeda
ᚕ	Éabhadh
ᚖ	Ór
ᚗ	Uilleann
ᚘ	Ifín	ᚚ	Peith
ᚙ	Eamhancholl

Note: This article contains .

Beith is the Irish name of the first letter of the Ogham alphabet, ᚁ, meaning "birch". In Old Irish, the letter name was Beithe, which is related to Welsh bedw(en), Breton bezv(enn), and Latin betula. Its Proto-Indo-European root was *gʷet- 'resin, gum'. Its phonetic value is [b].

The Auraicept na n-Éces tells of a tradition that Lugh son of Ethleann brought seven birches to Ireland, and that the first Ogham inscriptions were made on birch bark, and that the letter is named first for this reason. The verse associated with the letter is

Feocos foltchain in beithi "of withered trunk fairhaired the birch"

Peith ᚚ, a late addition to the Forfeda, is a variant of Beith, with a phonetic value of [p], also called beithe bog "soft beithe", [p] being considered a "soft" variant of [b]. It likely replaced Ifín ᚘ, one of the "original" five Forfeda.

See also

• Berkanan

 

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