Re: CHAT of oghams & runes (was Celtic alphabet? )

Daniel wrote:
>Andreas Johansson:
>
> > Ray:
> > > 2. The Old Germanic runes were divided into four
> > > 'rows of eight' (ættir);
>
> > That should be three _ættir_ - there were only 24 runes!
>
> > > *Arntz assumes that _ætt_ [the first letter is 'ash'],
> > > which originally meant "eight", was understood as _ætt_
> > > meaning "family" and was thus reproduced by the Irish
> > > word of similar meaning.
>
> > In modern Swedish litterature the word used is _ätter_,
> > which is certainly interpreted as "families" by the casual
> > reader.
>
>Um. I haven't followed this thread, so I'm not quite sure
>what you're talking about, but _ætt_ (fem.pl. _ættir_) surely
>means 'family, dynasty'. Always has afaik. "Eight" is _átta_
>with an |á|, not an |æ|.
>
>Sorry if I don't understand what you're trying to say.
Ray wrote that _ættir_ originally meant "groups of eight". I don't know
whether this is true - none of the books on runes I've read (not very many
I'm afraid) has hinted that _ættir_/_ätter_ isn't the same word as modern
Swedish _ätter_ "families".

                                                      Andreas

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