Clare Island Survey, 



GAELIC PLANT AND ANIMAL NAMES, 



AND ASSOCIATED FOLK-LOEE. 

 By NATHANIEL COLGAN. 



Bead Februaky 27. Published April 12, 1911. 



I. Introduction, . 

 ii. Gaelic Plant Names, 

 in. Some English Plant Names. 

 it. Gaelic Animal Names: 

 (a) Sea Animals, . 



CONTENTS. 







AGE 







PAGE 



1 



IV. 



Gaelic Animal Names — continued. 





6 





(A) Land Animals, 



. 21 



lfi 



V. 



Some English Animal Names, . 



. 22 





VI. 



Supplementary Notes, 



. 23 



17 



VII 



Index of Species, 



. 29 



I. Introduction. 

 The Gaelic names entered in the following lists were all found current more 

 or less widely amongst the country folk or fishermen of Clare Island and the 

 mainland shores of Clew Bay during the years 1909 and 1910. They were 

 all, without exception, collected "in the field," and were written down 

 phonetically as soon as the particular plant or animal species or genus to 

 which each name applies had heen satisfactorily made out. Anyone who has 

 ever engaged in this fascinating branch of inquiry, or rather exploration, 

 knows what large demands it makes on one's time and patience, and as the 

 writer could devote to the work only the scanty leisure saved from his 

 special line of research, the marine mollusca of the Clew Bay area, the 

 following lists can make no claim to completeness. They record actually 

 current Gaelic names for about 1 20 species of plants and animals ; yet there 

 can be no doubt that much more remains to be done in this direction even 

 on Clare Island itself, where a visit in the spring season would certainly be 

 rewarded by the addition of several plant names. 



Gaelic folk-speech is unquestionably copious in terms denoting natural 

 objects. But it is easy to overrate this copiousness, as some uncritical 

 enthusiasts have done ; for it must be borne in mind that a very large 

 number of species of plants and animals, which the scientific observer 

 discriminates at a glance, are habitually lumped together by the Gaelic 



R.I. A. PROC, VOL. XXXI. 



A 



