74 



Juniperus — Said to be "from the Ctliic Jeneprus, which sig- 

 nifies rough or rude" (Loudon), a word 7iot occurring in any- 

 Celtic vocabularies that I have consulted. It seems to be the 

 Latinised form of the Celtic root m, iubh, iur, yw (see Taxus). 

 From the same root comes yew in English. Irish : iubhar- 

 beinne (O'Reilly), the hill yew; iubhartalamh^ the ground yew; 

 ubhar-chraige, the rock yew ; all given as names for the juniper. 

 Jtmiperus is mentioned by both Virgil and Pliny. Both the 

 Greeks and Romans reluctantly admitted that they were in- 

 debted to the Celts for many of their useful sciences, and even 

 their philosophy (see Diogenes Laertius), as they certainly were 

 for their plant and geographical names. 



J. communis — Juniper. Gaelic and Irish : aiteil, aitinn, 

 aitiol. 



" Ach chaidh e fein astar latha do'n fhasach agus thainaig e agus shuidh 

 e fuidh craobh aiteil." — i Kings xix. 4, 



And he went a day's journey into the desert, and he sat under a juniper 

 tree. 



The juniper of Scripture, Genista 7)ionosper7na, was a kind of 

 broom. Aiteil, from ait. Welsh : aeth, a point, furze. Irish : 

 aitean7i, furze, from its pointed leaves. Bior leacain (in Arran), 

 the pointed hill-side plant. Staoiji (in the North Highlands), 

 caoran staoifi, juniper berries {staoin, a little drinking-cup). 



The badge of Clans Murray, Ross, M'Leod, and the Athole 

 Highlanders. 



J. sabina — Savin. Gaelic : samhan (Armstrong), alteration of 

 "sabina" the "sabina herba" of Pliny. Common in Southern 

 Europe, and frequently cultivated in gardens, and used medicin- 

 ally as a stimulant, and in ointments, lotions, &c. 



Taxus — According to Benfey is derived from the Sanskrit, 

 taksh, to spread out, to cut a figure, to fashion. Persian tak. 

 Greek : to^o^., an arrow. Irish and Gaelic : ttiag/i, a bow made 

 of the taxos or yew, now applied to the hatchet used in place of 

 the old bow. 



T. baccata — Common yew. Gaelic and Irish : iiiihar, 

 iubhar, iughar, from iui. Greek : /o?, an arrow, or anything 

 pointed. Arrows were poisoned with its juice; hence in old 

 Gaelic it was called iogh, a severe pain, and ioghar (Greek, 

 txwp, ichor) pus, matter. The yew was the wood from which 

 ancient bows and arrows were made, and that it might be ready 

 at hand, it was planted in every burial-ground. 



