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{{Short description|God from Irish mythology}}
{{for multi|the Forgotten Realms character|Oghma (Forgotten Realms)|the star|HD 149026|the company|OGMA}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox deity
| type = Irish
| name = Ogma
| image = Ogma-Lawrie-Highsmith.jpeg
| caption =[[Lee Lawrie]], sculpted bronze figure of Ogma (1939). Library of Congress [[John Adams Building]]
| god_of = [[Speech]] and [[language]], as well as [[eloquence]] and [[learning]]
| weapons = [[Club (weapon)|Club]]
| battles = [[Magh Tuiredh]]
| consort = 
| parents = [[Elatha]] and [[Ethniu]] (or [[Étaín|Etain]])
| siblings = [[The Dagda|Dagda]], Fiacha, Delbáeth, Allód, [[Bres]]
| children = [[Delbáeth]], [[Tuireann]]
}}

'''Ogma''' {{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɒ|g|m|ə}} ({{langx|ga|label=[[Modern Irish]]|Oghma}}) is a god from [[Irish mythology|Irish]] and [[Scottish mythology]]. A member of the [[Tuatha Dé Danann]], he is often considered a [[deity]] and may be related to the [[Gauls|Gallic]] god [[Ogmios]]. According to the [[In Lebor Ogaim|Ogam Tract]], he is the inventor of [[Ogham]], the script in which [[Irish Gaelic]] was first written.<ref name="ogham">{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Mary |title=The Ogham Tract |url=http://maryjones.us/ctexts/ogham.html |website=Celtic Literature Collective |access-date=21 October 2019}}</ref>

==Name and Epithets==
===Etymology===
The name Ogma is believed to originate from the [[Proto-Indo-European]] root ''*ak-'' or ''*ag-'' meaning "to cut," which refers to the method in which ogham was incised into stone and wood. In Ogham, his name would be written&nbsp;{{script|Ogam|ᚑᚌᚋᚐ}}.<ref name="Jones">{{cite web |last1=Jones |first1=Mary |title=Oghma Grianainech |url=http://maryjones.us/jce/ogma.html |website=Jones's Celtic Encyclopedia |access-date=21 August 2019}}</ref>

===Epithets===
Ogma is given three epithets in Irish Gaelic tradition: 
''Grianainech'' “sun-faced” or “shining, radiant countenance” on p. 303 of the ''Táin Bó Cúailnge'' (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) and p.187 of Lebor Gabála Érenn (Book of Invasions); 
''Trenfher'' “Strongman” or “Champion” in sections 59 and 162 of the Do Cath Mag Tuired (Second Battle of Moytura); and 
''Griain-éigis'' “Shining sage or learned man” in section 12 of Foras Feasa ar Éirinn (History of Ireland). 

Many scholars have credited The Dagda's son Cermait's epithet ''Milbel'', or "honey-mouthed" or "eloquence" with Ogma, but this confusion seems to be an incorrect comparison by MacKillop [https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198609674.001.0001/acref-9780198609674-e-937].

==Mythology==
He fights in the first battle of [[Magh Tuiredh]] when the Tuatha Dé Danann take Ireland from the [[Fir Bolg]].<ref>J. Fraser (ed. & trans.), [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/1maghtured.html "The First Battle of Moytura"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090504180957/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/1maghtured.html |date=2009-05-04 }}, ''[[Ériu (journal)|Ériu]]'' 8, pp. 1-63, 1915</ref> Under the reign of [[Bres]], when the Tuatha Dé Danann are reduced to servitude, Ogma is forced to carry firewood, but nonetheless is the only one of the Tuatha Dé who proves his athletic and martial prowess in contests before the king. When Bres is overthrown and [[Nuadu]] restored, Ogma is his champion. His position is threatened by the arrival of [[Lugh]] at the court, so Ogma challenges him by lifting a great flagstone, which normally required eighty oxen to move it, and hurling it out of [[Hill of Tara|Tara]], but Lugh answers the challenge by hurling it back. When Nuadu hands command of the Battle of Mag Tuired to Lugh, Ogma becomes Lugh's champion and promises to repel the [[Fomorians|Fomorian]] king, Indech, and his bodyguard, and to defeat a third of the enemy. During the battle he finds Orna, the sword of the Fomorian king [[Tethra]], which recounts the deeds done with it when unsheathed. During the battle Ogma and Indech fall in single combat, although there is some confusion in the texts as in ''[[Cath Maige Tuired]]'' Ogma, Lugh and the Dagda pursue the Fomorians after the battle to recover the harp of Uaitne, the Dagda's harper.<ref>R. A. S. Macalister (ed. & trans.), ''Lebor Gabála Érenn: Book of the Taking of Ireland'' [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor4.html Part 4] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100715225248/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/lebor4.html |date=2010-07-15 }}, Irish Texts Society, 1941; [[Whitley Stokes (scholar)|Whitley Stokes]] (ed. & trans), [http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T300011/index.html "The Second Battle of Moytura"], [[Revue Celtique]] 12, pp. 52-130, 306–308, 1891; Vernam Hull (ed. & trans), [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/cairpre.html "Cairpre mac Edaine's Satire Upon Bres mac Eladain"] ''Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie'' 18, 1930</ref> Which substantiates the reason that the Dagda gives Síd Aircheltrai to Ogma in De Gabáil in tSída (Taking of the Sidhe Mound) and is also referred to be in residence in Brecc on page 303 in the Táin Bó Cúailnge. 

He often appears as a triad with [[Lugh]] and the [[Dagda]] (The Dagda is his brother and Lugh is his half-brother), who are sometimes collectively known as the ''trí dée dána'' or three gods of skill,<ref>Stokes 1891, pp. 81, 83, 109; A. H. Leahy (ed. & trans), [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/etain.html "The Wooing of Étain"] §18, ''Heroic Romances of Ireland'' Volume II, 1902</ref> although that designation is elsewhere applied to other groups of characters. His father is [[Elatha]] and his mother is usually given as [[Ethliu]],<ref>Fraser 1915, §49; Stokes 1891, p. 77</ref> sometimes as [[Étaín]].<ref>Stokes 1891, p. 69</ref><ref>[https://celt.ucc.ie//published/T300011/text036.html ''The Second Battle of Moytura'' Section 36]</ref> In the Ogam Tract, he is called the son of Elatha and brother of Delbaeth and Bres. Oghma's sons include [[Delbaeth]]<ref>Macalister 1941, §64</ref> and [[Tuireann]].<ref>[[Tom Peete Cross]] & Clark Harris Slover (eds.), [http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/turenn.html "The Fate of the Children of Turenn"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140108072326/http://www.maryjones.us/ctexts/turenn.html |date=2014-01-08 }}, ''Ancient Irish Tales'', Henry Holt & Co, 1936, p. 49</ref>

=== Invention of Ogham ===
In the [[In Lebor Ogaim|Ogam Tract]] Ogma is said to be a man skilled in speech and poetry who invented the Ogham as proof of his ingenuity and to create a speech that belongs to learned men apart from rustics. In the same tract Ogma is called the father of the [[Ogham]] alphabet, and his knife or hand its mother.<ref name="mackillop">James MacKillop, ''Dictionary of Celtic Mythology'', Oxford University Press, 1998, p. 310</ref><ref name=Jones /> The same tract says that sound was the father of Ogham and matter its mother.

==Related figures==
Scholars of [[Celtic mythology]] have proposed that Ogma represents the vestiges of an ancient [[Celtic god]]. By virtue of his battle prowess and the invention of Ogham, he is compared with Ogmios, a Gaulish deity associated with eloquence and equated with [[Herakles]]. J. A. MacCulloch compares Ogma's epithet ''grianainech'' (sun-face) with [[Lucian]]'s description of the "smiling face" of Ogmios, and suggests Ogma's position as champion of the Tuatha Dé Danann may derive "from the primitive custom of rousing the warriors' emotions by eloquent speeches before a battle",<ref>J. A. MacCulloch, ''The religion of the ancient Celts''. New York: Dover Publications, 1911, Ch. V. {{ISBN|0-486-42765-X}}</ref> although this is hardly supported by the texts.{{citation needed|date=June 2019}} Scholars such [[Rudolf Thurneysen]] and [[A. G. van Hamel|Anton van Hamel]] dispute any link between Ogma and Ogmios.<ref name="mackillop" /> [[Eufydd fab Dôn]] is another figure from Welsh mythology whose name is believed to derive from that of Ogmios and therefore may be related to Ogma.<ref name=Jones />

==See also==
*[[Eufydd fab Dôn]]
*[[Ogmios]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Celtic mythology (Mythological)}}
{{Celtic mythology topics|state=uncollapsed}}

[[Category:Irish gods]]
[[Category:Creators of writing systems]]
[[Category:Knowledge gods]]
[[Category:Tuatha Dé Danann]]