Basque? This is wholly outside of anything in which I claim the slightest expertise, but I thought I recalled reading somewhere that Basque is the only european language unrelated to any other known tongue. So any connective would be a fascinating corrective.

only a very little bit. i have my last name in ogham, embossed on a copper plaque, as a decoration on my fireplace --along with a copper bedwarmer, and plaque that says "failte" (welcome) so i know about 5 characters of ogham, (7 letters in my name, 2 repeats.)

the plaque is a converation starter, needless to say! a local store offered them, (custom made of course!)many moons ago.

Jared Diamond, in Gun, Germs and Steel mentions it.

writing and alphabets were invent in fertile crecsant. (and china, and other places) but most of europe copied either the idea, or the actual alphabets from earlier users.

by the time the idea (or meme!) of alphabets got to ireland, most of the detail were lost, ogham is an invented alphabet from a people who had never seen a printed word, but though the idea was a good one! with the idea in mind, they created a (what is now, clearly) a crude alphabet. but how good a plane could you build, if you had never seen one, but had been told they did exist?

by all accounts, ogham was a crude alphabet, and lost favor when better ones became available.. as for reading it.. i suspect it was't as hard as it looks.. we read text, and come across Y2K, or MMII, and and know exactly what is meant.

i suspect that literate societies didn't have a clear alphabet, to keep writen knowledge a bit of secret.. a kind of jargon (think of software manuals for computers!)

<<basquing>>

Basque is verbed, and I, just acquainted with the politic noun. No, I'm afraid, no; I bask in another's lime. Here, as elsewhere, no expert, I.