103 
unfit. motto for certain scholars of the present day, who would 
persuade us, that all Irish, or Puno-celtic words, holding affinity 
in sence and sound with the Greek, must necessarily be of Greek 
origin! The very schoolboy ought to know, that the early Gauls 
and Greeks were colonially commixed; that, six centuries before 
Christianity, the Phocians had settled at Marseilles, as had several 
of the conquering tribes of Gaui settled in Italy, Greece, and Asia 
Minor ; and that this commixture had produced, to a certain degree, 
an interchange of language, laws, and religion : besides, the Gauls, 
as well as the Greeks, had their Phoenician masters. 
Were Pliny’s interpretation at all allowable, the word ought to 
be traced to the Celtic Dair, oak; but it cannot be so traced. 
Even analogy is against the Greek derivative. In the English lan- 
guage, the Greek v is invariably changed into y, as in tyranny, 
physiology, hydrophobia, &c. so that, according to this unexcep- 
tionable rule, we should read, were Pliny right, Dryaps, silvan 
nymphs, for Druins, Celtic priests! Vossius condemns Pliny’s 
notion, and thinks Drwis the same as the German Tronwis, “ a 
teacher of truth and faith.”’* Goropius, with more accuracy, says 
Tronwis simply means “ a wise man.” In the Irish annals, Magh, 
a Magian priest, is sometimes put for Draot, a Druid. The 
words are synonymous, the Draoz and the Magi of Persia being 
the same.- Our Draoi is the Persian Daroo, sapiens, from the 
Hebrew daras, consulire. “In the ceremonies of the Guebres,” 
says Richardson, round their fire, as described by Lord, “ the Daroo 
giveth them water to drink, and a pomegranate leaf to chew in the 
mouth, to cleanse them from inward uncleanliness.”+ Among: the 
VOL. XIV. Q 
* Eymologicon Lingue Latine, &c. at Druide. 
+ Asiatic Researches. p. 214. 
