Eolas agus achnaimhí fé Nua-Ogham agus a clóanna Information and resources relating to the Nua-Ogham script and fonts
Tá an script seo bunaithe ar ogham thraidisiúnta ach ní fíor-ogham atá ann. Rinneadh an togra seo ar a mhaithe féin, ar son áilleacht an cló agus suim i dteangeolaíocht. Ní dheanann an script seo éileamh ar stair sna litríocht nó sna clocha ogham iad féin. Níl ach cosúlacht éadomhain idir an dhá rud. Ní saineolaí ar ogham é an cruthaitheoir agus rinneadh sé seo mar thogra matamaiticiúil.
De bhrí go raibh ogham úsáidte chun Sean-Ghaeilge a scríobh, tá sí go huile is go hiomlán gan mhaitheas chun Nua-Ghaeilge a scríobh. Tá cúpla consan nach úsáidtear sa Nua-Ghaeilge agus níl minicíocht na litreacha inchurtha le méid buille a n-úsáideann siad. Chomh maith leis sin, chun na gutaí fada a scríobh, tá ort dhá guta a chur in aice a chéile, nó dearúid a dheanamh air.Tá sé gan éifeacht. Is ceart go mbeadh sé úsáidte le aghaidh píosaí ealaíne beaga. Cruthadh Nua-Ogham chun an beartas sin a líonadh.
Is mar sprioc ag Nua-Ogham an ogham thraidisiúnta a úsáid mar inspioráid ach leasú a dhéanamh ar chun Nua-Ghaeilge a scríobh leis sa tslí is simplí. Chun é sin a dhéanamh, bhí adharc ar cúig phointe
- Caithfidh cuma ogham a bheith uirthi
- Caithfidh córas simplí a bheith aici chun gutaí fada a scríobh
- Caithfidh córas simplí a bheith aici chun consain shéimhithe a scríobh, gan litir éigean eile.
- Caitfidh gaol a bheith ag ord na haicmí le minicíocht na litreacha
- Caithfidh marcanna poncaíochta a bheith aici
Chun an taobh teicniciúil a léirigh, cuirfidh mé na haicmí i gcúig roinn: na gutaí, na gutaí fada, na consain gan séimhiú, na consain le séimhiú agus na consain shéimhithe.
Tá cuma na ngutaí saghas traidisúnta. Is ponc simplí iad curtha ar an bhfleasc . Ach, tá ord difriúil ag an aicme seo sa Nua-Ogham. In ionad [a,o,u,e,i] tá [a,i,e,o,u] ann. Tá an ord seo nasctha leis an minicíocht na litreacha.
Tá ord na gutaí fada curtha mar na gutaí simplí. Tá siad scríofa le buille dronuilleach thar an bhfleasc. Chun guta fada a scríobh, tóg an gnáth ghuta agus ‘fadaigh é’. i.e. A -> á
Scríobhtar iad go fiar thar an bhfleasc. Nuair atá tú ag scríobh ó bun go barr, scríobhtar é ó barr an taoibh clé go dtí bun an taoibh deis. Tá gach consain san aicme seo nach féidir a shéimhiú. B'fhéidir go mbeadh iontas ag daoine áirithe mar go bhfuil an litir /z/ curtha san aicme seo. Ach tá sé anseo do na daoine a bhfuil fonn orthu an malartú canúna, a úsáideann /z/ mar urú do /s/, a chur in iúl. Tá /h/ curtha leis an aicme seo, ach ag uimhir a ceathair, mar úsáidtear é ach amháin ag tús focal. Má chomhaireann gach séimhiú, bheadh sé an triú litir is minice, ach tá córas eile ann.
Tá siad curtha idir dhá aicme 7a: Aicme ar Chlé – [t,c,d,b,p] Scríobhtar an aicme seo mar líne dronuilleach ón bhfleasc go dtí an clé nuair atá tú scríob suas. 7b: Aicme ar Dheis – [s,g,m,f,v] Scríobhtar an aicme seo mar líne dronuilleach ón bhfleasc go dtí an deis nuair atá tú ag scríobh suas. Ní féidir séimhiú a chur ar /v/, ach tá sé curtha san aicme seo chun an uasmhéid cúig litir san aicme a choinneáil. Mar sin, níl cúpla aige san aicme shéimhithe ar dheis.
Tá an aicme seo scríofa leis an méid buille agus ar an dtaobh céanna mar a gcúpla sna cosain le séimhiú, ach tá siad scríofa go fiar, go mbeadh a n-uilleann mar an gcéine leis na consain gan séimhiú. T -> ṫ , s -> ṡ Tá siad curtha idir dhá aicme arís 8a: Aicme Shéimhithe ar Chlé – [ṫ,ċ,ḋ,ḃ,ḟ] Tá siad scríofa go fiar ón bhfleasc ag dul suas go dtí an clé nuair atá tú ag scríobh suas. 8b: Aicme Shéimhithe ar Dheis – [ṡ,ġ,ṁ,ḟ] Tá siad scríofa go fiar ón bhfleasc ag dul síos go dtí an deis nuair atá tú ag scríobh suas. Tá sé seo an t-aon aicme le níos lú ná cúig ann.
Chomh maith leis na litreacha atá ann chun Nua-Gaeilge a scríobh, tá marcanna poncaíochta curtha le Nua-Ogham.
Do na gnáth-guta, bhí na cúiseanna símplí. San Ogham traidisiúnta, bhí na gutaí scríofa mar poncanna. Déanann Nua-Ogham cóip ar sin, ach le ord nua don Nua-Ghaeilge. Gan smaoineamh ar a minicíocht coibhneasta, tá dearbh-mhinicíocht na gutaí fada an-íseal. De bhrí sin, tá sé níos úsáidí na iad a chur i gcúpla lena nguta fada, ná iad a chur in ord nua. Tá an córas seo níos iomasaí. Piocadh líne fiar thar an bhfleasc do na consain gan séimhiú mar tá an líne dronuilleach úsáidte do na gutaí fada chéanna féin. Níl cúpla ag teastáil ón aicme seo, mar is féidir é úsáid. Tá méid mhór litreacha le fáil sa dá aicme ina bhfuil na consain le séimhiú. Ach, tá na litreacha is féidir shéimhiú a chur orthu an grúpa is mó. Mar sin, tá ciall ann go mbeidís curtha le céile. Chomh maith leis sin, tá sé iomasach chun consain séimhithe a scríobh leis an leagan fiar. Tá spás amháin fágtha leis an naoi litreacha, mar sin tá /v/ curtha anseo freisin. Tá sé níos éasca /v/ a scríobh ná, mar shampla, /z/ mar tá sé níos coitianta. Tá an ponc lán stad mar na marcanna tosaigh agus deiridh curtha le chéile. < + > = . Don chamóg, úsáidtear an marc tosaigh i lár an téacs chun léirigh go bhfuil píosa nua an abairt ag tosaigh gan an seanabairt ag críochnú. ,
Is féidir an cló Ogham Nua 1.0 a úsáid chun an script seo a scríobh ar ríomhaire, leis na gnáth-litreacha Laidin. Chun na consain shéimhithe a scríobh mar seo: ṫ, ṡ, ċ, ġ, ḋ, ṁ, ḃ, ḟ, ṗ. An bealach is fearr chun é seo a dhéanamh ná an aip Autohotkeys a íoslódáil ó www.autohotkey.com/. Tá an script AutoHotkeys le fáil anseo, úsáideann an script ALT+litir chun and ponc séimhithe a chur ar litir, i.e. ALT+c = ċ. Caithfidh tú é a chur san fhillteán Startup mas mian leat go n-oibreoidh sé go huathoibreach. Úsáideann an script ALT+litir chun and ponc séimhithe a chur ar litir, i.e. ALT+c = ċ. Tá eolas le fáil fé shin ag www.howtogeek.com/208224/how-to-add-programs-files-and-folders-to-system-startup-in-windows-8.1/ le Le MS Word, dul chuig INSERT>SYMBOL>MORE SYMBOLS agus pioc an siombal atá tú ag iarraidh cur le shortcut. Is féidir leat ALT+LITIR a chur leis an siombal. Ná déan dearúd ar na leaganacha ceannlitir. Tá an cló ar fáil ag www.github.com/Seangabhar/Nua-Ogham
This script is inspired by the traditional ogham script but it is not “authentic ogham”. This was an exercise done for its own right, for the aesthetic value of the script, and for an amateur interest in linguistics. This script does not claim any basis in classical texts or the original ogham stones themselves. There is no more than a superficial similarity between this and the original. The creator of this script is not an expert on ogham and is approaching this as a mathematical exercise and with an interest in designing an intuitive writing system based on ogham.
While Ogham was used to write primitive Irish, it is wholly unsuitable as a writing system for modern Irish. It has several consonants that are no longer used in modern Irish. And the frequenies of some letters do not correlate with the number of strokes that they use. As well as that, to write long vowels, one must either double up on the short vowel, or ignore them altogether. It is very inefficient. Suitable for very basic aesthetic work and not much else. Nua-Ogham has been created to bridge this gap.
The purpose of Nua-Ogham is to use the traditional ogham script as a template but update it to be used with modern Irish orthography in the most efficient way possible. In doing so these 5 fundamentals were observed.
- It must retain the look and feel of ogham
- It must have an intuitive system for writing long vowels
- It must have an intuitive system for the inclusion of lenited consonants, without the need for a separate letter
- The order of each aicme should relate to the frequencies of the letters
- It must contain punctuation marks
To fully illustrate the technical aspects of the script, I will split them into five sections; vowels, long vowels, un-lenitable consonants, lenitable consonants and lenited consonants.
The design of the vowels could be considered traditional. They are a simple dot punched into the stem line. However, the order has been altered. Instead of the traditional [a,o,u,e,i] it is now [a,i,e,o,u]. This reflects their decreasing frequencies as the number of strokes is increased.
The long vowels are matched up with there corresponding short vowels in terms of stroke number. They are written with one orthogonal stroke across the stem line. It can be thought of in these terms; to write the long vowel á you take the no. strokes from the short vowel and ‘lengthen’ them into orthogonal strokes.
These are written with a diagonal stroke across the stem line. In the upright writing direction, the diagonal is written from top left to bottom right. It consists of all the consonants which it is impossible to lenite. Some eyebrows may be raised at the inclusion of /z/ in this aicme, however this was to facilitate people who may wish to write the dialectal variation which uses /z/ as an eclipsis for /s/. Although this is not found in the standard version of Irish. /h/ is included in this aicme, but at no. 4. This is because it is intended to only be written at word initial positions or for clashing vowels, i.e na héin. If every lenition were to be counted, it is the third most common letter, however there is seperate system for lenition.
These are divided between two aicme.
These are written as orthogonal lines starting from the stem line and going left in the upright writing direction.
These are written as orthogonal lines starting from the stem line and going right in the upright writing direction. Although /v/ is not a lenitable consonant, it is included here to maintain the maximum of five letters per aicme rather than have it in the unlenitable consonants. Therefore, there is no counterpart in the aicme sheimhithe ar dheis.
These are written with the same number strokes and in the same direction as the unlenited counterparts, however they are written diagonally so that their angle is the same as that of the unlenitable consonants.
Once again, they are divided into two aicme
These are written diagonally starting from the stem line and going up and left in the upright writing direction.
These are written diagonally, starting from the stem line and going down and right in the upright writing direction. This is the only aicme to have less than five members since /v/ is included in the aicme ar dheis and cannot be lenited.
As well as the letters required to write modern Irish efficiently, punctuation marks have been included. It is uncertain how useful they may be, but they are included for completeness. The traditional end/beginning markers have also been included. These are written using the font with > and <
This section will explain the reasoning for the design of each aicme.
For the short vowels, the reasoning was simple. In original ogham, the vowels were written as dots, presumably to save time as they are the most common letters. Nua-Ogham merely copies this, and rearranges the order to suit modern Irish.
For the long vowels, the reasoning for the order is thus; regardless of the relative frequency of each long vowel, they are, in absolute terms, uncommon. Therefore, it is more worthwhile to have each long vowel line up with its short vowel counterpart, rather than reorder them. The reasoning for the design is based on two things. The first is that it is intuitive, when making a vowel longer, to make the glyph itself longer. The second is that in some places, traditional ogham vowels are written as straight strokes across the stem line. This lends a familiarity to the long vowels.
For the unlenitable consonants, a diagonal line across the stem line was chosen as its would be counterpart is already used by the long vowels. The fact that unlenitable consonants need no counterparts however means that this design is the perfect choice, and leaves the rest of the paired designs untouched.
The design for the lenitable consonants was chosen for its large number of members. Between the two aicme there is ten possible letters, each with a possible diagonal variant suitable for the lenited counterparts. As there are only nine lenitable consonants, this fitted perfectly. It also left space for the inclusion of /v/ which is common in many loanwords. The reason that /v/ was placed here and /z/ in the non-lenitable is that it takes less effort to carve /v/, the more common letter.
The design for the lenited consonants was chosen to sit with aesthetic of ogham, their diagonal lines following the traditional direction. The design was also chosen because it is close to each of their lenitable counterparts, cementing the link between the sounds. The order was chosen to match up with their corresponding lenitable consonants, this being more intuitive and helpful than if they were ordered based on frequency.
For the full stop, it was intended that this would be symbolic of one sentence ending while another began. Therefore, it is the traditional beginning and end markers linked together.
For the comma, it is intended to show that there is a new part to the sentence without the old one properly ending by using the start symbol in the middle of the text.
The question mark and exclamation mark are placeholders.
The font Ogham Nua may be used to write this script on a computer, using the normal Latin letters. Special steps need to be taken to write the lenited consonants; ṫ, ṡ, ċ, ġ, ḋ, ṁ, ḃ, ḟ, ṗ. The most universal way to do this is by downloading AutoHotkeys from www.autohotkey.com/, which can be used to assign shortcuts to characters. The program needed for all lenited letters to be written using the ALT key has been provided. To have it run on startup this script must be put in the Startup folder. Information on how to do this can be found at www.howtogeek.com/208224/how-to-add-programs-files-and-folders-to-system-startup-in-windows-8.1/. On MS Word, this may be accomplished by assigning ALT + [dotless_letter] to each one. Do this by going to INSERT>SYMBOL>MORE SYMBOLS and selecting the desired symbol you wish to assign. Then click the SHORTCUT KEY button and assign the new shortcut by holding down the keys. Remember to do the capital versions as well and include shift in your shortcut. Alternatively insert alone can be used. If transcribing from the Latin script the find and replace tool is also very useful. The font is avaiable at www.github.com/Seangabhar/Nua-Ogham