37 



S. arvensis — ^Gaelic : hlioch fochain, the corn milk-plant; blioch, 

 milky ; focha;i, young corn. Welsh : llaet/i ysgalkfi, milk-thistle 

 (ysgal/eii, a thistle). 



Hieracium pilosella — Mouse-ear hawkweed. Gaelic : duas 

 Inch, mouse-ear ; duas Hath, the grey ear. 



H. murorum — Wall hawkweed. Irish : sriibhan na muc^ the 

 pig's snout {snibh, a snout). 



Taraxacum dens-leonis — Dandelion. Gaelic : bearnan bride. 



•* Am bearnan bride s'a pheighinn rioghil." — M'Intyre. 

 The dandelion and the penny-royal. 



Beam, a notch, from its notched leaf; biide^ from brigh, sap, 

 juice, with which the plant abounds; bior nam bride {bior, sharp, 

 tooth-like) ; Jiacal leomhain, lion's teeth. Welsh : dant y Hew, 

 the same meaning as dandelion {dent de lion) and leontodon (Xccui/, 

 a lion ; and o^ov^, a tooth), from the tooth like formation of the 

 leaf. Castearbhan nam muc (Shaw) — The pig's sour-stemmed 

 plant. Irish : caisearbhan^ cais-t" searbhain^ castearbhan {cais^ a 

 word of many significations, but here from cas, a foot ; caiseag, 

 the stem of a plant ; searbh, bitter, sour). 



Cichormm intybus — Succory or Chicory. Gaelic : Ins an t- 

 snicair, a corruption from cichoriimi, which was so named from 

 the Egyptian word chikoiiryeh, Pliny remarks that the Egyp- 

 tians made their chicory of much consequence, as it or a similar 

 plant constituted half the food of the common people. It is 

 also called in Gaelic castearbhan, the sour-stemmed plant. 



C. endiva — Endive. Gaelic : enach ghdraidh {e?iach, corrup- 

 tion of endiva, "from the Arabic name hendibeh'^ (Du Theis), 

 gdradh, a garden). Welsh : ysgali y meirch, horse- thistle. 



Lapsana communis — Nipple-wort. Gaelic : duilieag mhaith, 

 the good leaf; duilieag mhtn, the smooth leaf Irish : duilleog 

 bhrighid, the efficacious leaf, or perhaps St Bridget's leaf, the 

 saint who, according to Celtic superstition, had the power of 

 revealing to girls their future husbands. French : herbe aux 

 manielleSj having been formerly applied to the breasts of women 

 to allay irritation caused by nursing. Duilleog bhraghad, or 

 braighe, the breast-leaf. 



^ " Most certainly br)de comes from its being in flower plentifully on latha 

 fheill-bride.'" — Fergusson. 



Bride is also a corruption of Bbrighii, St Bridget. Latha F/ieill-Brig/ide, 

 Candlemas, St Bridget's Day. 



