90 



Trout {Sabno fario) eat the seeds greedily. The name iniUteach 

 is frequently applied to grass generally as well as to Triglochin 

 pahistre (which see). Feur uisge, water-grass. 



Briza. — Quaking-grass. Gaelic and Irish : cojiaji, — conan, a 

 hound, a hero, a rabbit, — may possibly be named after the cele- 

 brated " Coiian Maol" who was known among the Feine for his 

 thoughtless impetuosity. He is called " Aimlisg na Feimie,'' the 

 mischief of the Fenians. This grass is also called feur g07iach, 

 hungry, starving grass. "A weakness, the result of sudden 

 hunger, said to come on persons during a long journey or in 

 particular places, in consequence of treading on the fairy grass " 

 — (Irish Superstitions). Feur sithein slthe, — literally, a blast of 

 wind; a phantom, a fairy. The oldest authority in which this 

 word stt/ie occurs is Tirechan's * Annotations on the Life of St 

 Patrick,' in the Book of Armagh, and is translated " Dei terreni," 

 or gods of the earth. Crith f/ihir, quaking-grass. Griglea7in 

 (in Breadalbane), that which is in a cluster, a festoon ; the 

 Gaelic name given to the constellation Pleiades. 



Cynosurus. — Etym. kvwv, a dog, and oipa, a tail. 



C. cristatus — Crested dog's-tail. Gaelic : gomear^ or go'm 

 fJieur^ and sometimes conan (from coin, dogs, and feur, grass). 

 Irish : feur choinein, dog's grass. 



Festuca. — Gaelic : feisd. Irish : feiste. Latin : fastus and 

 festus. French : feste, now fete. English : feast, as applied to 

 grass, good pasture, or food for cattle. 



F. ovina — Sheep's fescue - grass. Gaelic and Irish: feur 



chaorach, 



" Mm-Pieur chaorach. " — M'Intyre. 



Soft sheep grass. 



This grass has fine sweet foliage, well adapted for feeding sheep 

 and for producing good mutton — hence the name. But Sir 

 H. Davy has proved it to be less nutritious than was formerly 

 supposed. Mhifheur (Armstrong), is applied to any soft grass 

 — as Holcus mollis — to a flag, a bulrush; as ^^ mhifheur gun 

 uisge" a bulrush without water (in Job). 



Triticum, according to Varro, was so named from the grain 

 being originally ground down. Latin : tritus, occurring only in 

 the ablative {tero). Greek : retpw, to rub, bruise, grind. 



T. sestivum (and other varieties) — Wheat. Gaelic and Irish : 

 cruithneachd — cruineachd. This name seems to be associated 

 with the Cruithne, a tribe or tribes who, according to tradition, 

 came from Lochlan to Erin, and from thence to Alban, where 



