35 8 The Scottish N'aturalist. 



large; manta, demure, bashful). Mieghard, Mugwort {mugau, 

 in Irish, a mug, or mugart, a hog). Irish : bofulaii ban, or 

 buafannaii ban, the white toad, or serpent {bnaf, a toad ; biiafa, 

 a serpent ; Latin : bnfo, a toad); buafannan Hath, the grey toad 

 or serpent. Welsh : llwydlys, grey weed. 



A. absinthium — Common wormwood. Gaelic : buramaide. 

 Irish : borraniotor, also biwbun {bnrrais, a worm or caterpillar ; 

 maide, wood) — i.e., wormwood. Searbh luibh, bitter plant. 



" Chuir e air mliisg m3 le searbh-luibheaji.''^ — Stuart. 

 He liath made me drunk with wormwood. 



" Mar a b/uinnaid.'" 

 Like the wormwood. 



It was formerly used instead of hops to increase the intoxi- 

 cating quality of malt liquor. Roide, gall, bitterness. Gi'aban 

 (from Gothic, grub, dig).^ Welsh : bernwd chwerw/ys, bitter 

 weed. 



A. abrotanum — Southernwood. Gaelic : nieafh chaltuinn. 

 {Meath, Latin mitis, faint, weary, effeminate. Its strong smell 

 is said to prevent faintness and weariness. Caltuinn, from ceil, 

 Latin: cald ; Italian: cala ; French: cale, a bay, sea-shore, a 

 harbour.) It grows in similar situations to A. maritima. Irish : 

 surabhan, suramont, and Welsh, siwd?'?nwf. The sour one [siir, 

 sour), and " southernwood," also from the same root. Welsh : 

 llysier cyrff, ale-wort {cyrff, Latin, cervisia, ale), it being fre- 

 quently used instead of hops to give a bitter taste to malt 

 liquors. 



Gnaphalium dioicum, G. sylvaticum — Cudweed. Gaelic : 

 cat luibh, the cat's weed. GnabJi, or ciidnih his, the weed that 

 wastes slowly (from yvacfiaXLov), a word with which Dioscorides 

 describes a plant with white soft leaves, which served the purpose 

 of cotton. This well describes these plants. They have all 

 beautifully soft woolly leaves ; and, on account of the permanence 

 of the form and colour of their dry flowers, are called " Ever- 

 lasting." 



Filago germanica — Common cotton rose. Gaelic and Irish : 

 liath lus raid, the gall (or wormwood) grey weed. » 



^ Tlie occasional occurrence of Gothic roots in plants' names in tlie Western 

 HigliLands and Isles, is accounted for by the conquest of these parts by the 

 Norwegians in the ninth century, and ths fact of their rule existing there 

 for at least two centuries under the sway of the Norwegian kings of Man and 

 the Isles. 



