cow 111 



the ford-mouth of the dun cow. In Ireland, County Clare, we find 

 Abhain da loilgheach, the river of the two milch cows, for instance, 

 while in County Mayo there is Cathair na mart, the stone fort, 

 castle or seat of the beefes, or beeves, or cows. In Irish Gaelic 

 we find " cathair " and " lis " both translated " fort." Beannan-bo, 

 the cow's hillock, is a mountain in Leitrim, and is said to be full 

 of gold. An Irish term for a horned cow is bo beannach (also 

 Scottish), beann here signifying horn, as being pointed ; a certain 

 poet who thought his jioem worth twenty cows, even with golden 

 horns, said Fiche bo-beann n-oir. Professor Blackie, in 1882, 

 said the Jersey cows were the "ladies of the cow creation," 

 whereupon Mary MacKellar composed some verses supposed to 

 express the feelings of a Highland cow the Professor had formerly 

 expressed admiration for, and which was in a huff over being 

 forsaken. (See Celtic Magazine, Vol. X., pages 557-8.) 



Cow botany may now shortly be referred to. Cameron in his 

 Gaelic names for plants, etc., says the cow-berry, red whortleberry, 

 or cranberry is in Gaelic Bo-dhearc' ; and that the field-gentian 

 is a good cure for a disease which attacks cows, called Cruhain, 

 thought to be induced through poverty of pasture, etc., the Gaelic 

 name is Liis-a-chruhaiu , the crouching plant or the plant of the 

 or for the Cruban, supposed colic or cramp ; in the English-Gaelic 

 part of Armstrong, the Gaelic equivalent for gentian given there 

 is lus-a-chubhain, which, however, may be a misprint. The bog- 

 violet, lus-a-bhainne, or milk-wort, because it acts on cows' milk 

 like rennet and, strained speedily, gives consistency thereto and to 

 cream, cows feeding thereon give richer milk. In Irish the term 

 is lusan baine. The cowslip is, in Gaelic, bainne-bo-bliiddhe, the 

 yellow cow's milk, bainne bleachd, bleacht or bliochd, the milch 

 cow's milk, or buidheachan bo-bleachd bleacht or blioch, the 

 milch cow's daisies or '^^ yellows." Common sorrel is Savihadh-bo, 

 cow sorrel, more properly Sabhadh, etc. Bo-coinneal or choinneal 

 again is the Gaelic, lit. cows' candle, for a plant called "Sauce 

 alone " or mullein. The common sow-thistle or milk-thistle is 

 Cluaran criddh, cow's thistle, while meacan-a-chruidh is cow- 

 parsnip. Honeysuckle is " bainne-gamhnach," farrow-cow milk. 

 In old marriage contracts of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, 

 the term " tidy or tydie " is used for or applied to a pregnant 

 cow giving milk. This is in use in Ayrshire and Clydesdale yet. 



Proverbial sayings, riddles, etc., wise and otherwise, are rife 

 and naturally numerous in reference to cows ; the following, apart 

 from the proverbs proper given at end hereof, are a few. 



Oidhche shamhna theirear gamhna ris na laoigh. 



On Hallowe'en calves are called stirks. A cow with one- 

 year-old calf, and still milking, is also termed a gamhnach, 

 used in this sense by Gillies, " B'fhearr leam fhein na bo 

 laoigh is gamhnach." 



