BEAST 67 



word "mathghamhain," generally Anglicised "Mahon" in old 

 English documents, is now said to be commonly rendered 

 " Matthew." The common name " Brown " is just " Bruin." 



BEAST (see also Animal). 



Abhus (wild), ainmhidh ; Beathach, beisd, beithir, beothach, 

 bias, biasd, biast, bitheach, blianach (died from want), bruid ; 

 Caochag (blind) ; Damhra, daoi (wild) ; Ethiar or eithier, a kind 

 of beast (?) ; Feithide, fiadh-bheathach (wild) ; Mial, miol ; Peisd, 

 peist, piasd, piast ; Truth ; Uagh or uamh-bheisd, uile-bheisd. 



On-beast, behst, Diere, Beece (Ir.), the word mial or miol is 

 found as " claon-mila," Hill-slope (haunting) beasts. 



The etymology of the word " biasd " has been thought worth 

 controversy, and, inter alia, has by one writer, the Rev. J. McKay, 

 Canada, been connected, rightly or wrongly, with the word 

 "paisd," a child. It is thought that this is rather far fetched ; it 

 is, however, given here for what it is worth. In Perthshire, Mr 

 McKay says, the expression "graine pheisdean," a lot of children, 

 is not unknown, as the expression "cha robh 'san eaglais an diugh 

 ach graine pheisdean," there was only a few children in the church 

 to-day, has been heard said. It is assumed, from our acquaintance 

 with Perthshire Gaelic speakers, that the word " pheisdean " is 

 only a corrupt pronunciation of "phaisdean," and, by a smaller 

 sound of the letter " a," is easily arrived at. This we think tells 

 against the spelling, as some desire, of the word "biasd" as 

 "peisd." We may add that the Greek word for child is 

 " pais." 



In the Book of the Dean of Lismore we find reference made 

 to "Aidhre an Lamacha," the beast of Lamacha, thought to be 

 an animal famous or noted in the country for its ugliness. It is 

 of course known that " aidhre " also signifies an anim.al of the 

 cow kind. 



In the book of St Albans, " Art of Venerie," we find it stated 

 that the beasts of sports were divided into three classes, Venerie, 

 Chase, and Rascal ; in the first class were included hare, hart, wolf, 

 wild boar ; in the second fallow deer, fox, marten, and roe ; and 

 third badger (gre or grey), wild cat, otter, etc. Rascal means 

 vermin, and here we take leave to state that the classification is 

 open to amendment. In another place we are told that the tail 

 of every beast has distinctive title, such as "single" for deer and 

 wolf; "wreath" for boar; "scut or scud" for hares and rabbits ; 

 " brush, drag " for fox, etc. 



Am fear a bhios air dheireadh beiridh am biasd air. He who 

 is last the beast will catch him. The beast here is thought to be 

 His Satanic Majesty, and the saying equivalent to " Deil tak 

 the hin'most." 



