The Scottish Naturalist. i 7 1 



Thuja articulata — Thyine-wood. Gaelic : fiodh-thine. 



" Agus gach uile gjanhfhiodka thine." — Rev. xviii. 12. 

 And all kinds of thyinc-wood. 



Alteration of tkya, from Ovm, to sacrifice. Another kind of 

 pine, Hebrew, oren (Irish and Gaelic, oruin), is translated ash 

 in Isaiah xliv. 14, and beech by O'Reilly. 



Cedar — (So called from its firmness.) Hebrew: pj$, erez. 

 Cedrus Zibani, cedar of Lebanon. Gaelic and Irish : cra?in 

 she u dar, cedar- tree. 



" Agus air uile sheudaraibh Lebanoin." — Isaiah ii. 13. 

 And upon all the cedars of Lebanon. 



The cedar-wood mentioned in Lev. xiv. 4 was probably Juniperus 

 oxycedrus, which was a very fragrant wood, and furnished an oil 

 that protects from decay — cedar-oil (/ceopiov). " Carmina linenda 

 cedro " — i.e., worthy of immortality. 



" Agus fiodh sheudar, agus scarlaid, agus biosop. " 

 And cedar-wood, scarlet, and hyssop. 



Juniperus — Said to be " from the Celtic jeneprus, which sig- 

 nifies rough or rude" (Loudon), a word not occurring in any 

 Celtic vocabularies that I have consulted. It seems to be the 

 Latinised form of the Celtic root ///, iubh, iur, yw (see Taxus). 

 From the same root comes yew in English. Irish : iubhar- 

 beimie (O'Reilly), the hill yew ; iubhar-ialamh, the ground yew ; 

 iubhar-chraige, the rock yew, — all given as names for the juniper. 

 Junipei-us is mentioned by both Virgil and Pliny. Both the 

 Greeks and Romans reluctantly admitted that they were in- 

 debted to the Celts for many of their useful sciences, and even 

 their philosophy (see Diogenes Laertius), as they certainly were 

 for their plant and geographical names. 



J. communis — Juniper. Gaelic and Irish : aiteil, aitinn, 



aitiol. 



" Ach chaidh e fein astar latha do'n fhasach agus thainaig e agus shuidh 

 e fuidh craobh aiteil."' — 1 KINGS xix. 4. 



And he went a day's journey into the desert, and he sat under a juniper 

 tree. 



The juniper of Scripture, Genista monosperma, was a kind ol 

 broom. Aiteil, from ait. Welsh : aeth, a point, furze. Irish : 

 aitea/ui, furze, from its pointed leaves. Bior leacain (in Arran), 

 the pointed hillside plant. Staoin (in the North Highlands), 

 caoran staoin, juniper berries (staoin, a little drinking-cup). 



