200 PIG 



its back towards one ; if a fisherman, in many parts of the North, 

 meets a pig on his way to the fishing, he will turn back, as it 

 would be fatal to his success ; even to meet a sow the first thing 

 or animal in the morning, boded bad luck for that day ; pigs 

 carrying straw about in their mouths it is said portend or 

 prognosticate rain. Cameron, in his Gaelic names for plants, 

 etc., gives " Sow-thistle " in Gaelic as Bainne muice : it has been 

 alleged that the word " sow " here is not the animal, but the verb 

 to scatter as seed ; " dandelion " has for one of its Gaelic names 

 " Caistearbhan-nam-muc," the pigs' sour-stemmed plant ; mug wort 

 is mughard (Ir. mugart, a hog) ; the hip (rose) is called " mucag " 

 from its pig-like bristly seeds ; the plant sow-bread is given in 

 Gaelic as "culurin," from cul or cullach, a boar, and aran, 

 bread, lit. the boar's bread. Cularan is also said to mean pig- 

 nut, cucumber; while the dandelion is "searban or searbhan 

 muic," lit. pig's-oats (W. S.), after given " searbhan-muic," pig's 

 tribute ; the blue-bell or wild hyacinth in Gaelic is called " Fuath 

 mhuic," the pig's fear, hatred, or aversion, the bulbs being very 

 obnoxious to swine ; in Irish it is given as " Buth or bugha a 

 muc " ; the common asparagus is also given in Irish as Creamh 

 muic fiadh, the wild boar's leek or garlic (see Deer) ; the green 

 fern in Irish is called " Craobh-nam-fiadh," wild boar plant or 

 tree ; the endive in Gaelic is " Searbhan muic," the pig's tribute 

 (? searbhag means that which is bitter) ; while the wall hawk- 

 weed in Irish Gaelic is " Sruthan-nam-muc," the pigs' burnie or 

 runnel. " Lus na muc " is thought to be a name for the deadly 

 nightshade, pigs, it is said, being able to eat it with impunity ; 

 " Coirean-muice " is pig wort. 



In Irish Gaelic a pig's stye is " Mucoil," i.e., Muc foil or fail. 

 In Shakespeare we find "stye" called "Frank." Zeuss glosses 

 Hara, pig-stye. A mhuclach, a piggery, is a common proper 

 name. "Tinne," being Irish Gaelic for bacon, tinneiceas, smoke 

 or fire-cured bacon, as above stated. A swineherd chief is 

 " Flaith-muc-fhlaith," a chief over swine-chiefs or herds. But in 

 the Yellow Book of Lecan, mention is made of a land wherein 

 dwelt men with heads of swine upon them, in fact "magic" 

 pigs, of which various accounts are to be found in Old Celtic 

 tales, "muca deabhta Druidheachta," pigs fashioned by magic, 

 and "muca Dearga Drebrinne," the red swine of Drebrenn. 

 Mention, for instance, may be made of three boars which were 

 transformed men, that were named Froechan (the fierce one ?), 

 Banban (the little pig), and Brogarban (?); while three sous of 

 same description were Crain-chrinn (little sow), Coelcheis (thin or 

 lean sow), and Treilech (trealach, worthless). 



Sayings and proverbs as to the pig are fairly numerous even 

 in the Highlands, though Ireland, of course, holds first place. 

 Some are : — 



