20 Mr. PETBIE'S Inquiry into the Origin and 



I have now done with this third volume of General Vallancey's Collectanea, 

 having omitted nothing in my extracts from it which could be deemed of the 

 slightest importance in this inquiry. I shall not, however, trespass on the 

 reader's time or patience by any formal refutation of theories, supported by 

 such evidences or arguments as have been now laid before him: to do so 

 gravely would, I feel, equally involve me in ridicule with their author ; and to 

 treat them with levity would be foreign to my tastes and the spirit of this in- 

 vestigation. Besides, if there be any that could be convinced by such reason- 

 ings, they would not be likely to have their faith shaken by any commentary 

 that I could make upon them. There is, however, one portion of his remarks, 

 which it may not be improper to notice, namely, that in which he appeals to 

 Irish authorities for facts in support of his hypothesis, but which I shall prove 

 to be wholly fallacious. The first authority so adduced is that of the cele- 

 brated Cormac Mac Cullenan, who, according to General Vallancey, states, in 

 his ancient Glossary, that the word gul or gaill was the name of the ancient 

 Round Towers, and, that they were so called by the colonists who settled first 

 in Ireland. I regret to be obliged to state that there is no passage in Cormac's 

 Glossary to that effect, and that the passage from which he gives a garbled 

 quotation, will not bear his interpretation. I here present it to the reader at 

 full length, from my own copy of Cormac's Glossary, which has been collated 

 with all the vellum MS. copies of the work, preserved in our public or private 

 libraries : 



^all .1. coipce cloice, uc epc: nip cincaij comaioce comeca pelB puioiu coiccpice co 

 companouiB jail. 



5 Q ll> cecapba pop omjaip .1. jail cloice ceoamap, uc ppeowimup: ip aipe ip bepap jail 

 oipuioiu, poBic ip 5 a| H ceca po puioijpec i n-6pe. ^aill .1. Ppamc : ^c^i oan, amm DO paep- 

 clanoaiB Ppanc .1. cpep jallia ; acup ip a canoope coppopip po h-ammni jeo ooiB ; ^a\l enim 

 JJpece lac 6acme oicicup ; inoe 5 a ll'cte inapca. Sic oin jail ip amm oo ela : moe Pep ITluriiun 

 oixic: cocall cop n-gall, jairii in Bpam. 



^all, oon, amm DO cailec, oinoi ip jallup, acup ip a jalia capicip po h-ainmnijeo .1. a 

 cacBapp a cino. 



Thus translated by Mr. O'Donovan : 



" Gall, i. e. a standing stone, ut est ' Neighbours taking care of cattle are not in fault by marking 

 a conterminous boundary with pillar stones.' 



" Gall has four meanings, viz., in the first place a pillar-stone, ut prcediximus: the reason that such 



