17 



Rosacea. 



(From the Celtic. Gaelic, ;w; Welsh, rhos ; Armoric, roscn ; 

 Greek, poSov : Latin, 7vsa.) 



Prunus spinosa — Blackthorn, sloe. Gaelic : /tc'cjs nan air- 

 ncag, the sloe bush. Irish : airne, a sloe. 



" Siiilean air lidh airneag." — Ross. 

 Eyes the colour of sloes. 



Sgitheach dilbh, — tlie word sgith ordinarily means weary, but it 

 means also (in Irish) fear; diibJi, black, the fearful black one, but 

 probably iit this case it is a form of sgeach} a haw (the fruit of the 

 white thorn), the black haw. Welsh : eiriuen ddii, the black 

 plum ; eiryn, a plum. 



" Grim sgitheach an aite criin righ. — M'Ellar. 

 A crown of thorns instead of a royal crown. 



Droighionn dnb/i, the black penetrator (from driiid, to penetrate, 

 pierce, bore). Compare Gothic, ////7/ //«- ; Sanscrit, /////; Latin, 

 trif ; Welsh, draen ; German, dorn ; English, tJioiii. 



"Croin droigìiìch 'on ear's o'niar."- — Old Poem. 

 Thorn-trees on either side. 



P. damascena — Damson. Gaelic and Irish : daiiusin (corrup- 

 tion). 



P. insititia — Bullace. Gaelic and Irish : biilastair. Com- 

 pare Breton, bolos ; Welsh, biolas, sloes. 



P. domestica — Wild plum. Gaelic : plmnbais fiadhainn, wild 

 plum ; pluiubais scargta^ prunes. Latin : pi-uuuvi. 



P. armeniaca — Apricot. Gaelic : apricoc. Welsh : bricyllcn. 

 Regnier supposes from the Arabic berkoch, whence the Italian 

 albicocco, and the English apricot ; or, as Professor Martj'n 

 observes, a tree when first introduced might have been called 

 a "praecox," or early fruit, and gardeners taking the article 

 " a" for the first syllable of the word, might easily have corrupted 

 it to apricots. 



P. cerasus — Cherry-tree. Gaelic : craobh shiris, a corruption 

 of Cerasus, a town in Pontus in Asia, from whence the tree was 

 first brought. 



" Do bheul mar t' sin's." 

 Thy mouth like the cherry. 



Welsh : cciriosen. 



1 Sscach, also a busli. 



