i6 



Ervum hirsutum — Hairy vetch or tare (from et'v, Celtic— ^rj7, 

 Latin, tilled land). Gaelic : peasair an arbhar, corn peas. Welsh : 

 pysen y ceirch, — ceirch, oats. Gaelic : gall pheasair, a name for 

 lentils or vetch. Gall, sometimes prefixed to names of plants 

 having lowland habitats, or strangers. 



*' Lan do gkall pheasair," — Stuart, 2 Sam. 

 Full of lentils. 



Faba vulgaris — Bean. Gaelic : ponair. Irish : poneir. Cor- 

 nish : ponar (from the Hebrew ^^i:*, pul, a bean (Levi). Gaelic : 

 ponair frangach, French beans ; ponair airfieach, kidney beans ; 

 ponair chapuill, buckbean {Menyanihes trifoliata). 



" Gabh thugad fos cruithneachd agus eorna, s.g\x?, ponair, agns peasair, agus 

 meanbh-pheasair, z.gws, peasair fhiadhain, agus cuir iad ann an aon soitheach, 

 agus dean duit fein aran duibh. " — Stuart, Ezekiel iv. 9. 



"Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentiles, and 

 millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof." 



Orobus tuberosus — Tuberous bitter vetch (from Greek, opw, 

 oro, to excite, to strengthen, and /3ov5, an ox). Gaelic and Irish : 

 ^^/>/;z^«/ (Armstrong), — cair,d\g; meal, eY)]oy ; also mall; Welsh: 

 moel, a knob, a tuber — i.e., the tuberous root that is dug ; corra- 

 meille (M'Leod and Dewar). 



" Is clann bheag a trusa leolaicheann ^ 

 Buain corr an co's nam bruachagan." — M'Intyre, 

 Little children gathering . . , 

 And digging the bitter vetch horn the holes in the bank. 



Corra, a crane, and meillg, a pod, the crane's pod or peas. 

 Welsh : pys y garanod, crane's peas ; garan, a crane. " The 

 Highlanders have a great esteem for the tubercles of the roots ; 

 they dry and chew them to give a better relish to their whisky. 

 They also affirm that they are good against most diseases of the 

 thorax, and that by the use of them they are enabled to repel 

 hunger and thirst for a long time. In Breadalbane and Ross-shire 

 they sometimes bruise and steep them in water, and make an 

 agreeable fermented liquor with them, called cairm. They have 

 a sweet taste, something like the roots of liquorice, 'and when 

 boiled are well flavoured and nutritive, and in times of scarcity 

 have served as a substitute for bread " (Lightfoot). 



^ Leolaicheann, probably Trollius eiiropccus (the globe flower), from Ol, 

 olachan, drink, . drinking. Children frequently use the globe flower as a 

 drinking-cup. Scotch : higgie gowan, Luggie, a small wooden dish ; or it 

 may be a corniption from trol or trollen, an old German word signifying 

 round, in allusion to the form of the flower, hence Trollius. 



