66 



" Ach foghlumaibh cosamhlach do'n chrann fhige.'" 

 Learn a parable from the fig-tree. 



Moms — Greek : />topo9, moros. Latin : morus^ a mulberry. 

 Loudon, in his 'Encyclopedia of Plants,' says it is from the 

 Celtic tnbr^ dark-coloured. There is no such Celtic root ; it may 

 be from the Sanskrit, 7?mrc/i, Scotch, mirk, darkness, obscurity; 

 and the Greek name has also this meaning. The fruit being of 

 a darkish red colour. Old Ger. and Danish : mur-ber. 



M. nigra — Common mulberry. Gaelic and Irish : crann- 

 maol-dhearc, tree of the mild aspect, or if dearc here be a berry, 

 the mild-berry tree. Maol (Latin, inollis) has many significa- 

 tions. Bald, applied to monks without hair, as Maol Choliwi, 

 St Columba ; Maol losa, Maol Brtghid, St Bridget, &c. A pro- 

 montory, cape, or knoll, as Maol Chifintire, Mull of Cantyre. 

 Malvern, maol, and bearna, a gap. To soften, by making it less 

 bitter, as " dean maol e," make it mild. Hence mulberry, mild- 

 berry (Canon Bourke). 



Amentifer^ and Cupulifer^. 



Catkin-bearers — Gaelic : caitcan, the blossom of osiers. 



" 'Nis treigidh coileach a ghucag 



'S caitean brucach nan craobh." — M'Dgnat.d. 



Now the cock will forsake the buds 

 And the spotted catkins of the trees, 



Quercus — Said in botanical works to be from the Celtic, quer, 

 fine. There is no such word in any Celtic dialect, and even 

 Pictet has failed, after expending two pages on it, to explain it. 



Q. robur — ("Robur comes from the Celtic, ro, excelling, and 

 bur, development" — Canon Bourke). The oak. Gaelic and 

 Irish : dair, genitive darach, sometimes written darag, diir, dru. 

 Sanskrit : d7'u, druma, druta, a tree, the tree ; dam, a wood. 



** Simhach' us mor a bha 'n triath, 



Mar dharaig 's i liath air Lubar, 

 A chain a dlu-dheug o shean 



Le dealan glan nan speur, 

 Tha 'h-aomadh thar sruth o shliabh, 



A coinneach mar chiabh a fuaim." — OssiAN. 



Silent and great was the prince 



Like an oak-tree hoary on Lubar, 

 Stripped of its thick and aged boughs 



By the keen lightning of the sky, 

 It bends across the stream from the hill, 



Its moss sounds in the wind like hair. 



