144 DOG 



beside the body of his defunct master, eisUvliilc a famous West 

 Highhmd chief, called " Ullin glun-dubh." In coiuiection with 

 the above, the howling of the dog is called " Sgairn." " B'fliad a 

 chluint' an sgairn," their howling was heard afar off — Old Poem ; 

 when hunting the hounds' cry was sometimes named " sgal," when 

 very loud, sgalar or sgal-fhar. In the ancient Celtic tale, The Destruc- 

 tion of Da Derga's Hostel, the howl of a dog named Ossir, Osar, 

 or Ossar is described as " Gair," now generally meaning "laugh," 

 etc. " CJair Ossir (messan Conaire)," the howl of Ossir (Conaire's 

 dog — lapdog) ; Ossir here is in the genitive. The same applies 

 to the cry of wolves. The Irish say that it is not safe to ask a 

 question of a dog, for he may answer, and should he do so, the 

 questioner will surely die. Lady Wilde tells us the Irish peasant 

 believes that the domestic animals know all about us, especially 

 the dog. 



In May 1877, "Nether Lochaber" in the Celtic Magazine, 

 wrote, "One very curious thing in connection with the frequent 

 references to dogs which occur in the old Fingalian ballads as 

 well as in the more modern compositions is this — the shape, the 

 speed, the strength, the endurance of the dog are largely and 

 enthusiastically dwelt upon ... a jack-of-all-trades" ; he gives 

 an elegy, translated from a composition in Gaelic by Duncan Ban 

 M^Intyre on a dog that was drowned. 



A folk-lore tale entitled " Na tri coin uaine," or the three 

 green dogs, will be found in Vol. XIII. of the Celtic Magazine. 

 The names of the dogs are Fios, Luaths, and Trom ; Knowledge, 

 Swiftness, and Weight or Heaviness, three good qualities for more 

 than dogs. Another famous hound has given his name to an 

 island in Ireland, Inis Samer or Samer's Island. Samer or Samar 

 was a greyhound which a jealous husband slew there. Other names 

 for famous hounds are Scar, a splinter, Morbh, surly, Ird or lurd, 

 the slayer, from obsolete iur, slaughter, etc., and Guailleach, 

 strong-shouldered. Conan or Conan maol, bald Conan, was a man 

 whose name meant "little dog," and who always spoke boastfully 

 and bitingly — see " Fingal," Duan VI. In Campbell's Tales, Vol. 

 III., we find Black Arcan's dog had a double-barrelled name, viz., 

 Bran-mac-buidheig. Here it may be worth mentioning that 

 Shakespeare had no good word for the dog, but very much the 

 reverse. Ailbe was the name also of a certain lapdog, while other 

 famous dogs' names worth recording here are Argus (Ulysses); 

 Boatswain (Byron); and Maida (Scott). In Duan IV. of " Fingal" 

 mention is made of Inis-nan-con, isle of dogs, as being the residence 

 of one of Swaran's heroes, and this brings us to the frequent use 

 of cu, dog, among the Celts of Ireland and Scotland in place and 

 personal names, Cu-chulainn, Cu-ulad, Conan, etc., these, it has 

 been suggested may be an echo of the time when the Kynesii or 

 Kynetes, or Dog-men and Celts lived together (Prof. Mackinnon). 

 Among the Britons there was a king called Cunobelinn, the dog 



