128 The Scott is Ji Naturalist. 



" Ni bhiodh achd, aon dhearc ar an ralaidh" 

 There used to be only one acorn on the oak. 



Canon Bourke thinks it is derived from ro, exceeding, and ail, 

 growth ; or ri, a king, and al or ail — that is, king of the growing 

 plants. The Highlanders still call it righ na coille, king of the 

 wood. The Spanish name roble seems to be cognate with 

 robur. 



Q. ilex — Holm-tree. Gaelic and Irish : craobh thuilm, gen- 

 itive of tolm, a knoll, may here be only an alteration of "holm." 

 Darach sior-udine, evergreen oak. 



Q. suber — The cork-tree. Gaelic : crann ctirceain. Irish : 

 era Jin aire. Aire, a cork. 



Fagus sylvatica — Beech. Gaelic and Irish : craobh fhaibhile. 

 Welsh : ffaivydd. Fai, from <£ayw, to eat. <f>rjy6^ t the beech-tree. 

 This name was first applied to the oak, and as we have no 

 Qiiercus esculus, the name Fagus is applied to the beech and not 

 to the oak. Oruin (O'Reilly), see Thuja articulata. Beith na 

 measa, the fruiting birch. Meas, a fruit, as of oak or beech — like 

 " mess," " munch." French : manger, to eat. 



F. sylvatica var. atrorubens — Black beech. Gaelic : faibhile 

 dubh (Fergusson), black beech, from the sombre appearance of 

 its branches. The " mast " of the beech was used as food, and 

 was called bachar, from Latin, bacchar ; Greek, fiaKxapts, a 

 plant having a fragrant root. A name also given to Valeriana 

 celtica (Sprengel), Celtic nard. 



Carpinus — Celtic : car, wood ; and pin, a head, — it having 

 been used to make the yokes of oxen. 



C. betulus — Hornbeam. Gaelic : ieamhan bog, the soft elm. 

 (See Ulmus campestris.) 



Corylus avellana — Hazel. Gaelic and Irish : cdlltuinn, cdll- 

 dainn, callduinn, cailtin, colluinn. Welsh : callen. Cornish : col- 

 widen. Perhaps from Armoric : call. Gaelic : colli. Irish ; 

 coill, a wood, a grove. New Year's time is called in Gaelic, 

 colli ; li oidhche coille, 1 ' the first night of January, then the hazel is 

 in bloom. The first night in the new year, when the wind blows 

 from the west, they call ddir na coille, the night of the fecunda- 

 tion of trees ("Statistics," par. Kirkmichael). In Celtic supersti- 

 tion the hazel was considered unlucky, and associated with loss 

 or damage. The words call, col, collcn, have also this significa- 

 tion ; but if two nuts were found together (cnb chbmhlaich), good 

 luck was certain. The Bards, however, did not coincide with 

 these ideas. By it they were inspired with poetic fancies. 



