Ogham Coll: the hazel, ninth letter of the Irish alphabet

The letter and its form

Coll is the ninth letter of the ogham and the fourth of the Huath family: four short strokes placed on the left side of the baseline. Its value is that of a /k/, considered certain. It is well attested on stones, in many proper names.

It should not be confused with the next letter, Ceirt, which notes a slightly different consonant, a rounded /k/ (/kʷ/), transcribed Q.

The tree or plant

“Coll” is the Irish word for the hazel (Corylus avellana); it is related to the Welsh collen and the Latin corulus, from an ancient Indo-European root. It is one of the rare letter names that unambiguously designate a tree, along with those of Beith, Fearn, Sail and Dair.

The hazel is a shrub that sends up shoots from the stump, and is coppiced to produce flexible rods. In Ireland, excavations show that hazelnuts were one of the oldest foods of hunter-gatherers: pits filled with burnt shells have been found at Mesolithic sites in Ireland and Scotland. This gives the hazel a depth of time few trees can claim.

What the medieval sources say

The three series of kennings are gentle: “the finest of trees” (Morann series), “friend of nutshells” (Mac ind Óc series) and “the sweetest of trees” (Cú Chulainn series). The sweetness of the hazelnut is as evident here as the quality of the wood.

The treatise therefore does not need to force the meaning: the tree is in the name, in the formulas and in actual use. That is why the hazel is one of the solid landmarks of the medieval tradition of the ogham.

Culture and folklore

In medieval Irish literature, nine hazels grow around a mysterious well (the well of Segais, or of Connla), and their nuts, falling into the water, feed a salmon. Whoever eats this “salmon of knowledge” gains wisdom: in the Finn cycle, it is the young Finn (Fionn mac Cumhaill) who cooks it and burns his thumb. These stories are literary myths, not attested practices.

In Europe, the hazel is also used to cut divining rods for water diviners. This practice has been attested since the Renaissance, but no controlled experiment has shown that it detects water: the movements are explained by the ideomotor effect. See dowsing for more.

Modern divinatory reading

In modern divinatory ogham, Coll is the letter of wisdom, creativity and study: the knowledge one gathers patiently. This reading comes from twentieth-century handbooks and from Robert Graves’s calendar (1948), whose historical foundation is disputed.

It may invite the question: what knowledge do I want to cultivate, and what idea is ripening within me? There is neither a guarantee of talent nor a prediction of success in it.

A reflection exercise

Choose a subject that has attracted you for a long time. Write down three questions you have about it and the first source (a book, a person, a place) where you could look for answers. Draw or choose the letter Coll and schedule twenty minutes this week for it. The exercise is one of study, without magic.

Frequently asked questions

Also read

The meanings mentioned belong to tradition and symbolism. They are neither promises of results nor medical advice. Back to Guide to Ogham.