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Luis (ᚂ) is the second letter (Irish "letter": sing.fid, pl.feda) of theOgham alphabet, derived either fromluise "flame" or fromlus "herb". ItsProto-Indo-European root was either *leuk- 'to shine' or *leudh- 'to grow'. Its phonetic value is [l]. If the letter name follows the same pattern asruise toruis, it is likely that the letter was originally named fromluise, though different kennings point to both meanings.^[1]

Although the non-arboreal primary meanings of this letter name are well established, one of the arboreal glosses for this name in theAuraicept na n-Éces iscairtheand "mountain-ash", i.e. "rowan" (ModernIrishcaorthann). The associated verse is :lí súla "lustre of eye" (from theBríatharogam Morann mic Moín). The Auraincept interprets this as "delightful to the eye isluis, i.e. rowan, owing to the beauty of its berries".

However, the other two primaryBríatharogaim do not easily fit this arboreal association. While this kenning may be based on the association withluise ("flame") due to the bright berries, the other kennings are likely based on the association withlus ("herb, plant"), hence food for cattle.^[2] In line with these kennings, theelm tree (Old Irishlem) is another arboreal gloss forluis from theAuraicept: "Cara ceathra, friend of cattle, to wit, elm. Cara, to wit, dear to the cattle is the elm for its bloom and for down".^[3]

In the medievalkennings, calledBríatharogaim (sing.Bríatharogam) orWord Oghams the verses associated withLuis are:

lí súla - "lustre of the eye" in theBríatharogam Morann mic Moín

carae cethrae - "friend of cattle" in theBríatharogam Mac ind Óc

lúth cethrae - "sustenance of cattle" in theBríatharogam Con Culainn.^[4][5]

While medieval and modernneopagan arboreal glosses (i.e. tree names) for the Ogham have been widely popularised (even for fade whose names do not translate as trees), the Old IrishIn Lebor Ogaim (theOgam Tract) also lists many other word values classified by type (e.g. birds, occupations, companies) for each fid. Thefilí (Old Irishfilid, sing.fili) or poets of this period learned around one hundred and fifty variants of Ogham during their training, including these word-list forms.^[6]

Some of the notableOld Irish values of these forLuis include:

Enogam/Bird-ogam:lachu "duck"

Dathogam/Colour-ogam:liath "grey"

Ogam tirda/Agricultural ogam:loman "rope"

Danogam/Art-ogam:luamnacht "pilotage"

Ogam Cuidechtach/Company Ogam:Laichesa "Heroines"

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