93 



Silent and great was the prince 



Like an oak-tree hoary on Lubar, 

 Stripped of its thick and aged boughs 



By the keen lightning of the sky, 

 It bends across the stream from the hill, 



Its moss sounds in the wind like hair. 



Om, omna, the oak (O'Reilly). "Corniac, King of Cashel, Ire- 

 land, a.d 903, says of omna that it equals fuamna, sounds, or 

 noises, because the winds resound when the branches of the oak 

 resist its passage. According to Varro, it is from os, mouth, and 

 men, mind, thinking — that is, telling out what one thinks is likely 

 to come. Cicero agrees with this, ' Osmen voces hominum.' " — 

 Canon Bourke. Compare Latin : omen, a sign, a prognostica- 

 tion, — it being much used in the ceremonies of the Druids. 

 Omna, a lance, or a spear, these implements being made from 

 the wood of the oak. Greek : 86pv, a spear, because made of 

 wood or oak. Eitheach, oak, from eithim, to eat, an old form of 

 ith. Latin : ed-ere, as "oak" is derived from ak (Old German) to 

 eat (the acorn). The "oak" was called Quercus esculus by the 

 Latins. Rail, railaidh, oak. 



" Ni bhiodh achd, aon dhearc ar an ralaidh." 

 What they had, one acorn on the oak. 



Canon Bourke thinks it is derived from ro, exceeding, and ail, 

 growth ; or ri, a king, and al or ail — that is, king of the growing 

 plants. It was under an oak that St. Bridget established her 

 retreat for holy women. The place was therefore called Kildara, 

 or Cell of the Oak. 



" The Oak of St. Bride, which demon nor Dane, 

 Nor Saxon nor Dutchman could rend from her fane." 



The Highlanders still call it Righ na coille, king of the wood. The 

 Spanish name roble seems to be cognate with robur. Furran, oak 

 (O'Reilly). 



The oak — the badge of the Cameron men. 



ft. ilex — Holm-tree. Gaelic and Irish : craobh thuilm, genitive 

 of tolm, a knoll, may here be only an alteration of "holm." 

 Darach sior-uaine, ever-green oak. 



ft. suber — The cork-tree. Gaelic : crann arcan. Irish : 

 crann dire. Arc, a cork. 



Fagus sylvatica — Beech. Gaelic and Irish : craobh fhaidbhile. 



