5 1 



flower plentifully on latha fheill-Bride''' (Fergusson). Bride is 

 also a corruption of Bhrighit, St. Bridget. Latha Fheill-Brighde, 

 Candlemas, St. Bridget's Day. Bior nam bride (bior, sharp, 

 tooth-like) ; fiacal leomhain, lion's teeth. Welsh: dant y Hew, the 

 same meaning as .dandelion (dent de lion), from the tooth-like 

 formation of the leaf. Bladh buidhe, yellow flower. Castearbhan 

 nam muc (Shaw) — The pigs' sour-stemmed plant. Irish : cais- 

 ■earbhan, cats t-searbhain, castearbhan (cats, a word of many 

 significations, but here from cas, a foot ; caiseag, the stem of a 

 plant; searbh, bitter, sour). Manx: Lus-ny-Minnag (entrails 

 herb), used as a diuretic, and for liver and kidney complaints. 

 Magenta die made from it. 



Cichorium intybus — Succory of Chicory. Gaelic: lus an t- 

 siiicair, a corruption of cichorium, which was so named from 

 the Egyptian word chicoiiryeh. Pliny remarks that the Egyptians 

 made their chicory of much consequence, as it or a similar plant 

 ■constituted half the food of the common people. It is also 

 called in Gaelic castearbhan, the sour-stemmed plant. 



C. endiva — Endive. Gaelic : eanach gharaidh (eanach, corrup- 

 tion of endiva, "from the Arabic name hendibeh " (Du Thdis), 

 garadh, a garden). Searbhain muc (O'Reilly). Welsh : ysgali y 

 meirch, horse-thistle. 



Lapsana communis — Nipplewort. Gaelic: duilleag mhaith, 

 the good leaf ; duilleag mhtn, the smooth leaf. Irish : duilleog 

 Mrighid, the efficacious leaf, or perhaps St. Bridget's leaf, the 

 saint who, according to Celtic superstition, had the power of 

 revealing to girls their future husbands ; son duilleag, good leaf. 

 French : herbe aux mamelles, having been formerly applied to the 

 breasts of women to allay irritation caused by nursing. Duilleog 

 bhraghad, or braighe, the breast-leaf. Manx : Bollan-y-chee, 

 breast-wort. It was used in the Isle of Man "to promote the 

 flow of milk into the breasts " (Moore). 



" If it was used by the French for rubbing the breasts, nothing 

 seems more likely than that it would be also so used by the 

 Celts of Ireland and Scotland, which would at once give it the 

 name of duilleog braghad" (Fergusson). 



Arctium — Celtic : art, a bear. Greek : apKros, from the 

 rough bristly hair of the fruit. 



