Sail or Saille (áÂÂ) is the Irish name of the fourth letter (Irish "letter": sing.fid, pl.feda) of the Ogham alphabet, meaning "willow". The name is related to Welsh helyg(en) and Latin salix. Its Proto-Indo-European root was *sal- meaning "dirty,grey". Its phonetic value is [s].
The etymology and kennings unambiguously confirm the meaning "willow" for this letter name. The Morann mic MoÃÂn kenning is a reference to the sallow grey appearance of the bark of this tree, while the kennings referencing bees and honey are due to its being commonly pollinated by bees.
In the medieval kennings, called BrÃÂatharogaim (sing. BrÃÂatharogam) or Word Oghams the verses associated with sail are:
lÃÂ ambi: "pallor of a lifeless one" in the BrÃÂatharogam Morann mic MoÃÂn
lúth bech: "sustenance of bees" in the BrÃÂatharogam Mac ind ÃÂc
tosach mela: "beginning of honey" in the BrÃÂatharogam Con Culainn.
While medieval and modern neopagan arboreal glosses (i.e. tree names) for the Ogham have been widely popularised (even for feda whose names do not translate as trees), the Old Irish In Lebor Ogaim (the Ogam Tract) also lists many other word values classified by type (e.g. birds, occupations, companies) for each fid. The filÃÂ (Old Irish filid, sing. fili) or poets of this period learned around one hundred and fifty variants of Ogham during their training, including these word-list forms.
Some of the notable values of these for sail include:
Enogam/Bird-ogam: seg "hawk"
Dathogam/Colour-ogam: sodath "fine-coloured"
Ogam tirda/Agricultural ogam: srathar "pack saddle"
Danogam/Art-ogam:sairsi "handicraft"
Ogam Cuidechtach/Company Ogam: Senada "Synods"