17 



Rosacea. 



(From the Celtic. Gaelic, ;w; Welsh, rhos ; Armoric, roscn ; 

 Greek, poSov : Latin, rosa.) 



Prunus spinosa — Blackthorn, sloe. Gaelic : prcas nan air- 

 neag, the sloe bush. Irish : air?te, a sloe. 



" Suilean air lidh airjteag.'" —Koss. 

 Eyes the colour of sloes, 



Sgitheach dilbh, — the word sgiih ordinarily means weary, but it 

 means also (in Irish) fear; dubh^ black, the fearful black one, but 

 probably in this case it is a form of sgeach^ a haw (the fruit of the 

 white thorn), the black haw. Welsh : eirinen ddjc, the black 

 plum ; mj;/, a plum. 



" Crim sgitheach an aite criin righ. — M'Ellar. 

 A crown of thorns instead of a royal crown, 



Droighionn dubh, the black penetrator (from dridd^ to penetrate, 

 pierce, bore). Compare Qo\\\\q., ihi-uita ; Sanscrit,/;-///; Latin, 

 //'//; Welsh, draen ; German, doj'n ; English, thorn. 



"Croin droignich 'on ear's o'niar." — Old Poem. 

 Thorn-trees on either side. 



P. damascena — Damson. Gaelic and Irish : daimsin (corrup- 

 tion). 



P. insititia — Bullace. Gaelic and Irish : bulastair. Com- 

 pare Breton, bolos ; Welsh, biolas, sloes. 



P. domestica — Wild plum. Gaelic : plnmbais Jiadhainn, wild 

 plum ; plnmbais seargta^ prunes. Latin : pnmiim. 



P. armeniaca — Apricot. Gaelic : apricoc. Welsh : bricyllen. 

 Regnier supposes from the Arabic berkoch, whence the Italian 

 albicocco, and the English apricot ; or, as Professor Martyn 

 observes, a tree when first introduced might have been called 

 a "praecox," or early fruit, and gardeners taking the article 

 "a" for the first syllable of the word, might easily have corrupted 

 it to apricots. 



P. cerasus — Cherry-tree. Gaelic : craobh shiris, a corruption 



of Cerasus, a town in Pontus in Asia, from whence the tree was 



first brought. 



'' Do bheul mar t' sh-is." 



Thy mouth like the cherry, 



Welsh : ceiriosen. 



^ Sgeach, also a bush. 

 C 



