9 6 



" No na craobha geanm-chnb cosmhuil r' a gheugaibh." — Ezekiel xxxi. 8. 

 Nor the chestnut-tree like his branches. 



Geanm or gean, natural love, pure love, such as exists between 

 relatives — the tree of chaste love, and crib, a nut. The Celts 

 evidently credited this tree with the same virtues as the chaste 

 tree, Vitex agnus castus (Greek, dyvbs: and Latin, castus, chaste). 

 Hence the Athenian matrons, in the sacred rites of Ceres, used 

 to strew their couches with its leaves. Castanea is said to be 

 derived from Castana, a town in Pontus, and that the tree is so 

 called because of its abundance there. But the town Castana 

 (Greek, Kdcrravov), was probably so called on account of the 

 virtues of its female population. If so, the English name chest- 

 nut would mean chaste-nut, as it is in the Gaelic. Welsh : cast an 

 (from Latin, caste), chastely, modestly. The chestnut tree of 

 Scripture is now supposed to be Platanus orientalis, the Chenar 

 plane-tree. 



[JEsculus hippocastanum — The horse-chestnut. Gaelic ■ geanm 

 chnb fhiadhaich (Fergusson). Belongs to the order Aceracece. 

 Was introduced to Scotland in 1709.] 



Populus alba — Poplar. Gaelic : craobh phobuill. Irish : poibleag. 

 German : pappel. Welsh and Armoric : pobl. Latin : populus. 

 This name has an Asiatic origin, and became a common name 

 to all Europe through the Aryan race from the East. 1 Pictet 

 explains it thus — " Ce nom est sans doute une reduplication de 

 la racine Sanscrit pul, magnum, altum.'' Pul pul, great, great, or 

 big, big, as in the Hebrew construction, very big. We still say 

 in Gaelic mbr, mbr, big, big, for very big. Pul pul is the Persian 

 for popular, and pullah for salix. This tree is quite common in 

 Persia and Asia Minor, hence it was as well known there as in 

 Europe. The name has become associated with populus, the 

 people, by the fact that the streets of ancient Rome were deco- 

 rated with rows of this tree, whence the name Arbor populi. 

 Again, it is asserted that the name is derived from the constant 

 movement of the leaves, which are in perpetual motion, like the 

 populace — "fickle, like the multitude, that are accursed." Populus 

 — palpulus, from palpilare, to tremble (Skeat). 



1 See Canon Bourke's work on "The Aryan Origin of the Gaelic Race and 

 Language." London : Longman. 



