GOAT 165 



Cha 'n fhas fiar no fodar ann 



Ach socliagan (sudheagan or sudhagan) is dearcagan allt ; 



Gobhar air aodainn, 



A 's laosbhoc air a cheann. 



The deers' pass of Bochan Oovai 

 The most cursed of all difficult places. 

 There neither grass nor straw will grow 

 But wild strawberries and blaeberries ; 

 A goat in its face. 

 And a wether-goat at its top. 



Bochan Ubhaidh is a place near Kingussie. Near Inniskillen 

 in Ireland there is a place called Sciath or Sgiath-gabhra, the 

 goats' promontory, sgiath here is a piece of land jutting into the 

 sea. In Cork, Ireland, there is a place called Keamagower, being 

 said to be a corruption of ceim or ceum na gaibhre, the pass of 

 the goat. In the Irish island of Aran, the tie rope between two 

 goats is called braighdean ; this is said to have given a name to a 

 place there. As an example of the difficulty and danger in 

 giving the origin or meaning of many proper names, the following 

 may be cited : " Sleueningorn," which on analysing turns out to 

 be the corrupted Gaelic of Sliabh-nan-gobhar, the mountain of 

 the goats, Goat-hill or Goat-fell. Goat-fell again may be Gaoth- 

 mheall, a proper description of the mountain of that name in the 

 Scottish island of Arran. Ardgour (Aird ghobhar). Goats 

 Heights, is so named from their numbers there at one time. 

 " Aonghus nan Aoirean," said thereof, " Aird ghobhar, 's am bi 

 ganntar, dh'ichteadh na gobhair mu'm feannt' iad." In the 

 Irish idiom gobharin, pronounced gorin, is sometimes given as the 

 plural of goat, hence the n at the end of the above word. Dalna- 

 meen in Athole is just dail na minn, the kid's field. The chamois, 

 having a Gaelic name, is given under this heading, that name in 

 the Gaelic Bible being given as Somer (Heb.) Zemer. It is 

 described in the dictionaries as a kind of goat, though in a gloss 

 to the Scriptures it is said also to be the wild sheep of Arabia 

 Petraea, having strong horns curved backwards goat-like (see 

 Deut. xiv. 5). The fabulous monster called "Uraisg or uruisg" 

 was supposed to be half-goat, half-man, a satyr in short. Bocan, 

 a little buck, signifies " bogie," and boicionn is a goat's skin. An 

 expression or saying impl3ang profound contempt runs — 



Tha e gu siogaideach, rugaideach, marbh ; 

 Cha bhoc 's cha tarbh ach laos-boc. 



He is lean, long-necked, and lifeless. 



He is neither buck nor bull, but a wether-goat. 



In Campbell's Talcs, Vol. III., pp. 91-2, we find the fable of 



