566 DERIVATION OF "ADDER." 



Derivation of the Name of the Adder, [Viper). — Professor 

 Bell in his history of British Reptiles, when giving the ety- 

 mology of the word adder, as one of the names of the viper, 

 states that it was anciently written Nedre, which he derives 

 from the Saxon N<edre, nether or lower, in allusion to its 

 creeping position ; — a derivation too far-fetched, in my opin- 

 ion, when there is one much better nearer at hand, viz. — 

 "Neidr" the ancient British, and also the modern Welch 

 name of the reptile in question. In the plural form it is 

 much more apparent, — " Nadroedd" (the word is used for 

 the common snake as well as the viper) ; by only altering the 

 Welsh plural termination for the English one, — Nadrs, — the 

 name is formed at once. The change of neidr into adder is 

 not so bad as what has happened to a companion of it, viz., 

 the change of" glein neidr'" into "adder* claim" or "snakes' 

 claim" the " anguinum ovum " of the ancients, the supersti- 

 tious virtues of which are not yet lost in the estimation of 

 many of the ignorant country people, although it has sunk 

 very much in its dignity, being now chiefly accounted valua- 

 ble as a cure for wens or glandular swellings of the neck, in- 

 stead of insuring to its possessor all sublunary prosperity, as 

 it used to do in ancient days. The manner of forming the 

 glein neidr, as preserved by tradition to the present day, and 

 as I have heard it related by several persons, who knew not 

 it had ever been described by any author, differs but little 

 from the account given by Pliny many centuries ago. The 

 modern version being that it is formed of the saliva of adders 

 upon the body of one of their number, which accounts for the 

 perforation in it. After it is fully formed it must be snatched 

 away by the observer (who must have concealed himself from 

 the observation of the adders) ; as soon as he has obtained it 

 he must fly with the greatest speed he can possibly exert, un- 

 til he crosses some stream of water, it matters not how small 

 it be, a running drain or ditch will suffice to stop the pursu- 

 ers : but if he should be overtaken by the adders, it would be 

 instant death to him, as from their excited state their poison 

 would be doubly powerful. I had one of these articles pre- 

 sented to me some years ago, by a believer in its virtues, in 

 whose family it had been for several generations. It is an 

 irregular, roundish bead, about ■§• of an inch long and f of an 

 inch in diameter ; the perforation being about J of an inch 

 in diameter. The colour is a bright green and the substance 

 apparently glassy, and it is deeply striated longitudinally. — 

 James Bladon. — Pontypool. 



Projection of its eggs by the Crane-Fig. — Having seen it 

 stated in some entomological works that the eggs of the 



