the primer
let profit be gno
let bora be strength
let the duality of
the conjugal be ter
let rfoph be veneration
let piety be brops
rihph be cheerfulness
let gal be a kingdom
let religion be fkal
let clitps be nobility
let dignity be mymos
let fann be recognition
let honour be ulio
let gabpal be
compliance
blaqth be sunlight
rain be merc
let pal be day & night
let peace be gatrb
biun be water & fire
let longevity be spax
**
the present time
is put for all times
a deed wonderful
unlawful
he confounded them
he confused them
when one would say
to another
fetch me a stone
it was a stick
he’d bring
**
on that account
the select
language
the additional
language
the language
parted related
in the Great Book
of Woods
**
what is the
language parted
in the Great Book
of the Woods?
this: óig &
máir
this: náir &
náir mas
other is amuis
& gairg
& grin
what is the verb?
it is this:
shining
coming &
showing
there is science
in place
it comes out of
the letters
into words
**
fall, shine, show,
come
out of that
primary nature into words
out of these
letters into words
they speak the
thing
the foundation of
the voice
the ways of the
voices
the letter is a
road
a voice path
they make the
voice in place
**
the wood vowels
that nourish while
in mind
that sing at
giving
that sue for
reward
that judge
greatness or smallness
that sit after
payment
the material for
words
is cut out of them
the sides of oaks
**
half the voice is
thrown out
the stammering
voice
the half voice
place
the half voice way
not because they
would be
speechless
altogether
the mutes
before them &
after them
before them &
after them
**
he the man
she the woman
it the heaven
speech-way
along the way
along the path
which is trodden
let it come
let it go
he is the heavens
she is the stone
it is the head
her nose or her
eye
his tooth or his
mouth
words of a
language
we do not know
we do not think
sweet
we do not use them
she is the steed
a bark of butter
a sieve of corn
**
what is comparison
of sense without sound?
what is comparison
of sound without sense?
comparison of
sense and sound together
that is the proper
comparison
there is good and
nothing to surpass
its measure to
suit the ear
its adjustment to
breathing
a wood of science
a mark of
aspiration
letter to letter
**
the space of time
between
two syllables
is its meaning
is a letter a
species?
in the wood of the
forest
is a letter a
genus?
**
according to sound
which goes
which comes
the fragment
of cut off air
diminution of time
the tongue of silence
double sounds
knowledge of thing
perishes
unless the name is
known
power & want
of power
full power &
half power
written & not
counted
stone turning
music
they step
**
poison of a
serpent
they blow the fire
meal of corn
heaven round earth
the staves of
words
interloping
syllables
plain of deer
copses of wood
duck along a pool
swift and dense
flax seed
*****
ear-lobe
compression
family-like-every-second-one-of
them
all-the-mistakes-which-we-have-committed
*****
a thing is not an
origin for itself
syllables
choral song silent
in its law
the music that is
small music that
is humming
loud music
trumpeting
its mournful cry
thunder or a tree
when it is a
whistle
shriller harder
greater music when
a harp
silent its music
when sweetest it
is silent
**
the limbs of
science are named
not mixed speech
it praises from
the front
it is sent
it is hastened
staves of words
a staff out of a
word
staves in
reasonable speech
in the
mouths
halting from word
to word
**
the interloping
syllable
its flinging of a
man
if a man suffer on
land
the man allows
suffering on him
he goes afterwards
to bathe himself
in the water
he lets himself
down the bank
into the water
tot says the wave
under him
the sound which
waves make
the heavy voice
the man utters
dropping himself
on the water
**
the name has
happened
to the sound
the haft of speech
from which no
speech grows
but speech of
death
the spear point
what is haft
which is after
blade
the after
blade
which is haft
and the haft
which is before
blade
haft is the spear
haft itself will
come
after blade
everything final
haft which is
after blade
the haft is the
haft
which is before
blade
**
it is the head
it is artificial
to say it
while it is on the
man
it is natural to
say it
after striking the
head off him
**
the couple of the
gore
redness and
crimson
leg and foot
the couple of
supporting
eyelashes &
eyebrow
root & breadth
skin & sinew
activity &
surface
one for warding
upon
one for good
warding
cap on knee
lips in strength
& loudness
flesh & blood
which is in the
flesh
top bone & jaw
bones
knuckles &
hair
a man’s limbs
are made of
science
**
on, under,
through, in
past the heavens
its interloping
syllable
heaven about earth
cloud & bow of
heaven
for every sort of
speech
that is
produced
on human lips
It deals with Irish grammar and vernacular, claimed within that book to be descended from speech before the Tower of Babel and more comprehensive than Hebrew, Latin or Greek. The earliest written version we have is from the 12th century CE, with many additions to the early text.
It also contains the texts of the ogham tracts from the Book of Ballymote, the Yellow Book of Lecan and the text of the Trefhocul from the Book of Leinster. Ogham was a system of more-or-less secret writing developed by poets and used, among other ways, on monolithic stone inscriptions, somewhat runic in appearance.
Its thrust is a comparison between grammar and the natural world, including human endeavour, which is at the heart of ogham inscriptions.
My versions are taken in this instance only from that part of the book preceding the ogham tracts, which have been the subjects of my interest and peripatetic study for more than forty years.
It forms the preface to my continuing work on ogham: The Great Book of the Woods. “Ogham is climbed as a tree is climbed.” (Damian McManus)]
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