GOAT 163 



G 



GAZE HOUND (see Dog). 



GELDING (see Horse). 



GOAT. — Aibhreann (castrated); Bean (milker), boc (male), 

 boc-gaibhre ; Cabhar, cadhla, cadhlan, cadhlas, cadla, caidhean 

 (leader), cergich, cul-bhoc ; Dianag, dionag ; Ealt-ghobhar (trip 

 of), eibhrionnach, eibhrionta, eirionnach ; Gabar, gabhar, gabhar- 

 fhiadhain (wild), gabhrag (flock of), gadhar (Old Ir.), gadhlan, 

 gafr (Welsh), gaur (Old Ir.), gavar, glaistig (goat-devil), gobhar ; 

 Habrun, haburn (three-year-old castrated), heuran ; lubhran ; 

 Laos-bhoc ; Maos, meanbh-chrodh (small cattle), meann (kid), 

 meann-bhoc (buck-kid), meigeadan, meinne, minnean, minnseag, 

 minnseagh, minnseach (young), mins, minsich, mise, miseach ; Pone ; 

 Raisean ; Seaghach, somar (chamois). 



Aiver ; Christine (A. N.) ; Eveck (Lat.) ; Gat, gayte, gothe 

 (A. S.), gyte ; Haiver, haiverel, haiveron, haivrel, hebrun, heburn 

 (Loth.), hever ; Minshoch (fern., two years) ; Meenshogue (Ir.) ; 

 Nanny (fem.) ; Rabuke ; Skybald, skype, skypel. 



The etymology of the word "goat" is given variously as from 

 old word gamh, gamra, gabra, gabr, gafr ; gamh signifies winter, 

 hence gamh thrath or geamhradh ; also from Aryan root ghaida 

 or ghid, to sport, to play ; Old Etruscan, capra. A term " glomhar " 

 means a band put on a goat to prevent the kid sucking her, from 

 glomh, to gag, etc. Haversey and Hafur mean "the isle of goats." 

 Boicionn is just boc fhionn, a goat's skin, while minicionn is a 

 kid's. 



As behoves, mention must be made first of the Scriptural 

 he-goat which was, as given by one writer, "the sin-offering for 

 sins unwittingly committed " (Numb. xv. 27) ; and for sins of 

 the congregation on the day of atonement, when one goat was 

 sacrificed, and another (Azazel), dyed with its fellow's blood, was 

 driven forward and flung over a precipice, called Zuk, as a symbol 

 of pardoned sin. Whitley Stokes in his Thesaurus Palceohihernicus, 

 Old Irish glosses, gives the following : — " It was a custom they (the 

 ancients) had, that two he-goats used to be brought to the Temple 

 and one of the twain was let go to the wilderness with the sin of 

 the people, and curses were put upon him, and the other then was 

 slain there by the people for its sins. This historical he-goat 

 used to be called emissarius, because it used to be sent to the 

 desert." The he-goat is used scripturally as a symbol of strength, 

 and also of impurity. During Masonic rites it is believed that a 

 certain evil spirit assists in the shape of a he-goat, and allows the 

 novices to ride on his back and go " withershins " or deas-iuil 

 three times round the chamber. A favourite Celtic form the Devil 

 is said to assume is the goat called erroneously "Glaistig." It 



