cow 97 



Macrae — a name which has not missed its mark in literature — 

 alias MacCurchi (Mac' Urchaidh, Mac Mhurachaidh), a famous 

 Kintail bard, after a great loss of cattle ; this song is said to be 

 little short of anything composed in Gaelic, which is indeed praise. 

 The famous poem " Crodh Chailein/' or Colin's cows, will be found, 

 with a translation, as said under the article Deer. Apropos of the 

 Macfarlane's gathering song, a relic of "lifting" times remains 

 in the toast still occasionally given at appropriate meetings of 

 "Geumnaich bha," the lowing of cows. 



Where cows played so prominent a part in the Celtic world as 

 has been shortly above shown, it would be unlikely that they 

 would escape the superstition of the day ; the very cow-fetter or 

 buarach had to be lonnaid chaorainn 's gaosaid stallain, Rowan-tree 

 withe and stallion's hair. It should be carefully looked after 

 and preserved from any other getting at it. 



A Lowland word or term for a cow with her hind legs tied 

 is "barroughed" or "borroughed," evidently derived from the 

 Gaelic word " Buarach," a cow-fetter, i.e., bo arach, a cow spancel. 

 A cow with her fore feet tied is said to be " spenshelled " or 

 " spancelled." Buarach (bo-arach), is also a cow owner or breeder, 

 bo arach buan-blechta, a cow owner of constant milk ; " bo-thain " 

 means a drove of cows, while " buagailteach " means cow-feeding. 

 The word buachar, cow's dung, is bo ghaorr, which was used as 

 fuel when dried, and termed buacharan or bacharan ; other terms 

 are, for a cow that is prone to forsake her pasture to steal into 

 a cornfield, aidhmhilteach ; a tie or collar round the neck is arach 

 or braighdean ; the cow house bathaich, bathaiche, or ba' iche 

 {i.e., ba theach), while the cleansing of a cow after calving is 

 ba' ain or badhar ; a cow-stall is buaigheal, also bualaidh ; while 

 we find "buaghair" and "cailbhearr" mean herd or herder. A 

 cow's dewlap is "sbrogaill." A cow's shed or milking yard is 

 also termed "lias agus macha," the latter term is still used in 

 Kilkenny. A shealing is also said to be "arrairigh" and "airidh," 

 the produce; another name for shealing is "ruighe," while in 

 Irish we have " Bo-both " for cow-house ; we also find " inis " 

 given as a milking yard. Before proceeding further on this 

 part of the subject, we may give "some good points" of a 

 cow, viz. : — 



I bhi leathann os a cionn 



Goirid bho 'n da shuil gu 'beul 



Fionnadh fada dubh 's e dluth 



'S nach b' airde fo'n ghlun na mo reis 



An aiseann fada domhainn crom 



'S i truiste 'na com air an fheill 



Togail innte suas gu barr 



'S i aigeannach na 'naduir fein 



Adharc fhada ghorm no dhearg 



Cluas mhor 'us earball da reir 



