FÉNIUS FARSAID AND THE ALPHABETS

Abstract

This paper examines evidence for the existence of an alternative tradition to that found in Auraicept na n?ces concerning the role played by F?nius Farsaid in the invention of the alphabet of Irish and those of the three sacred languages?Hebrew, Greek and Latin. The sources to be considered are Auraicept na n?ces, In Lebor Ollaman, a Middle Irish text in Oxford, Bodleian Library MS Laud 610, glosses on the copy of Auraicept na n?ces in TCD MS E 3.3 (1432) and the Etymologiae of Isidore of Seville.