23 



Ropadh maith lem muinnter nimhe 



Acca hoi tre bithe shir. " 



I should like a great lake of ale 



For the King of Kings ; 



I should like the family of heaven 



To be drinking it through time eternal. 



To prevent the inebriating effects of ale, " the natives of Mull 

 -are very careful to chew a piece of " charmel " root, finding it 

 to be aromatic — especially when they intend to have a drinking 

 bout ; for they say this in some measure prevents drunkenness/' 

 — Martin's "Western Isles." 



ROSACEA. 



•{From the Celtic. Gaelic, rbs ; Welsh, rhos ; Armoric, rosen ; 

 •Greek, poSov; Latin, rosa). 



Prunus spinosa — Blackthorn, sloe. Gaelic: preas nan air- 



neag, the sloe bush. Irish : airne, a sloe. Manx : dri?ie am. 



Welsh: eirinen. Sanskrit: arani. 



"Suilean air 11 himeag.'" — Ross.- 



Eyes the colour of sloes. 



Bugh — O'Clery, in his vocabulary, published a.d. 1643, 



■describes bugh thus : — 



" Bugh, i.e., luibh gorm no glas ris a samhailtean suile bhios gorm no 



:glas." That is a blue or grey plant, to which the eye is compared if it be blue 



r grey. 



"Dearca mar dhlaoi don bhugha." — O Brien. 



"Cosmall ri bugha a shuili." 



His eyes were like slaes. — O'Curry. 



.Sgitheach dubh — the word sgith ordinarily means weary, but it 

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

 -probably in this case it is a form of sgeach, a haw (the fruit of the 

 white thorn), the black haw. Welsh: ysbyddad, draenenddu. 

 "Crun sgithich an aite crun rlgh." — Mackellar. 

 A crown of thorns instead of a royal crown. 



Droighionn dubh, the black penetrator (perhaps from druid, to 

 -penetrate, pierce, bore), account of spines in the Latin "Spinosa." 

 Compare Gothic, thruita: Sanskrit, trut ; Latin, trit ; German, 

 Jorn; English, thorn; Irish (old form), draigen; Welsh, draen; 

 Manx, drine doo. Skeag dot?. 



' ' Croinn droighnich o'n ear's o'n iar. " — Old Poem. 

 Thorn trees from east and west. 



