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A superstition was common among the Celtic races that 

 for every tree cut down in any district, one of the inhabi- 

 tants in that district would die that year. Many ancient forts, 

 and the thorns which surrounded them, were preserved by the 

 veneration, or rather dread, with which the thorns were held ; 

 hence, perhaps, the name sgitheach, sgith (anciently), fear ; hence 

 also, droighionn (druidh), enchantment, witchcraft. 



P. damascena — Damson. Gaelic and Irish : dai?nsin, Damascus 

 plum. Manx: airney ghoo, black plum. 



P. insititia — Bullace. Gaelic and Irish : bulastair. Compare 

 Breton, bolos ; Welsh, eirinen bulas. 



P. domestica — Wild plum, Gaelic : plumbais fiadhain, wild 

 plum; plumbais seargta, prunes. Airidh. Welsh: eirinen. 



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

 Regnier supposes from the Arabic berkoch, whence the Italian 

 albicocco, and the English apricot; or, as Professor Martyn 

 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 words, 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. Si/in (O'Reilly). 



" Do bheul mar an t-siris." 

 Thy mouth like the cherry. 



Welsh: ceiriosen. 



P. padus — Bird-cherry. Gaelic : craobh fhiodhag, from fiodh, 

 wood, timber ; Jiodhach, a shrubbery. Glocan. Dun reisk (Threl), 

 probably he means in our Gaelic donn riisg, brown bark. The 

 plum and cherry trees are characterised by their dun-coloured 

 barks. 



P. avium — Wild cherry. Gaelic : geanais, the gean. French ^ 

 guigne, from a German root. Welsh : ceiriosen ddu, black cherry. 



Amydalus communis — Almond. Gaelic : almon. 



" 'Nuair a bhios a' chraobh almoin fuidh bhlath. " — Eccl. xii. 5. 



A. persica — Peach. Gaelic : peitseag, from the English. Neoch- 

 dair. One of the numerous peach family. "The fruit is called 

 nectarine, from nectar, the poetical drink of the gods." The- 



