Coll is the ninth letter of the ogham alphabet, written ᚉ, and it is linked to the hazel. Of all the fews it is the one most tied to wisdom and knowledge, an association with deep roots in Irish myth. This page covers the letter, the hazel in Celtic tradition, and what Coll is taken to mean. For the whole alphabet see the ogham letters guide, and for every symbol at a glance, the ogham symbols page.
The letter Coll
Coll is the fourth few of the second group, or aicme, written as four strokes set to one side of the central line: ᚉ. Its sound is a hard C, like K. In the traditional order it follows Tinne and comes before Ceirt.
The hazel in Celtic tradition
The hazel is the tree of wisdom in Irish tradition, and one famous story explains why. Nine hazel trees were said to grow around a sacred well, dropping their nuts into the water, where they were eaten by the Salmon of Knowledge. Whoever ate that salmon would gain all the world’s wisdom, a prize that eventually passed to the young Fionn mac Cumhaill. Hazelnuts stood for concentrated knowledge and inspiration, and forked hazel rods were also the classic tool for dowsing, used to search for water and hidden things.
That link between the hazel, knowledge, and insight is the source of everything the letter Coll came to mean.
What Coll means in ogham
In modern ogham practice, Coll is read as wisdom, knowledge, and inspiration, a sign to seek understanding and to trust hard-won insight. The reading follows directly from the hazel’s place in myth. As with all the fews, the tree’s link to wisdom is old, while the tidy one-line meaning is a modern reading. See the ogham symbols and their meanings page for the full set.
Hazel in the Celtic tree calendar
Hazel is one of the signs in the Celtic tree calendar, covering roughly August 5 to September 1. That calendar is a modern system, traced to the poet Robert Graves in 1948 rather than to ancient Celtic astrology, but it stays popular. If you were born in the hazel period, the Celtic tree calendar and find your birth tree guides cover the sign in full.
FAQ
What does Coll mean in ogham?
Coll is read as wisdom, knowledge, and inspiration. The meaning comes from the hazel, the tree of wisdom in Irish tradition, famous from the story of the hazelnuts and the Salmon of Knowledge. The tree’s link to wisdom is old, while the specific one-line divinatory meaning is a modern reading.
What tree is Coll?
Coll is the hazel, a small tree valued for its nuts and its forked rods. In Irish myth it was the tree of wisdom, its nuts feeding the Salmon of Knowledge, and hazel rods were the traditional choice for dowsing.
Why is hazel linked to wisdom?
The link comes from the myth of the sacred well ringed by nine hazels, whose nuts fell into the water and were eaten by the Salmon of Knowledge. Eating that salmon granted all wisdom, so the hazel and its nuts became a symbol of concentrated knowledge and inspiration.