294 
and explain this derivation by supposing Patrick to have 
been purchased by four masters—a fact which has probably 
no foundation except this conjectural etymology. 
The derivation from ceathair, therefore, is evidently un- 
satisfactory, as leaving unexplained an essential element of 
the word; and the meaning of the name said to have been 
given to St. Patrick by his Irish masters is still open to 
inquiry. 
Dr. Todd, therefore, was desirous of offering a conjectural 
explanation of the difficulty to the consideration of those mem- 
bers of the Academy who are interested in philological studies. 
He was disposed to think that the name Cothraighe was nothing 
more than a Gaelic corruption of the Latin name Patricius. 
This opinion he supported by the consideration that the 
Irish or Gaelic dialect of the Celtic has no native words 
beginning with p; a remark made long ago by Edw. Llwyd 
(Comparative Etymology, p. 20); and that words, which 
in Latin or in Welsh begin with p, are in Irish, almost 
without exception, written with c, ‘This law being admitted, 
it follows at once that Patric would, by an Irish Celt, be 
corrupted into Catric, and that by aspirating or softening the 
t and final c, according to another well-known law of the 
language, would become Cathrighe, or Cothraighe, the exact 
name as given by St. Fiech, who is the most ancient autho- 
rity for it, and who flourished in the latter part of the sixth 
century. 
In confirmation of the assertion that the use of c in words 
where other dialects had p, was a law of the Irish language, 
Dr. Todd adduced the following instances:— 
WELSH. IRISH. 
Pa, pe, pia. What (quis, que, quod). Cia, ce, cid. 
. Petuar. Four (quatuor). Ceathar. 
Pymp. Five (quinque). Cuig. 
Penn. A head. Cenn, or Ceann. 
Plant. Offspring, children. Cland, or Clann. 
Pren. A tree. Crann. 
Mab. A son. Mac. 
