F. ovina — Sheep's fescue-grass. Gaelic and Irish : feur chaorach. 



' ' M\n-fheur chaorach." — Macintyre. 

 Soft sheep grass. 



This grass has fine sweet foliage, well adapted for feeding sheep 

 and for producing good mutton — hence the name But Sir H. 

 Davy has proved it to be less nutritious than was formerly supposed. 

 Min-fheur (Armstrong), is applied to any soft grass — as Holcus 

 mollis — to a flag, a bulrush; as u m\n fheur gun uisge," a bulrush 

 without water (in Job). 



Triticum, according to Varro, was so named from the grain 

 being originally ground down. Latin: tritus, occurring only in 

 the ablative (tero). Greek : nipta, to rub, bruise, grind. 



T. sestivum (and other varieties). — Wheat. Gaelic and Irish: 

 .cruithneachd — cruineachd. Manx: curnaght. This name seems to 

 be associated with the Cruithne, a tribe or tribes who, according 

 to tradition, came from Lochlan to Erin, and from thence to 

 Alban, where they founded a kingdom which lasted down till the 

 seventh century. Another old name for wheat — breothan — may 

 similarly be connected with another ancient tribe, "Clanna Breogan. 

 They occupied the territory where Ptolemy in the second century 

 places an offshoot of Brirish Brigantes." — Skene. Were these 

 tribes so called in consequence of cultivating and using wheat? or 

 was it so called from those tribal names? are questions that are 

 •difficult to answer. It seems at least probable that they were 

 among the first cultivators of wheat and Britain and Ireland.- 

 Breothan, that which is bruised ; the same in meaning as triticum. 

 Other forms occur, as brachtan, 1 being bruised or ground by 

 hand in the "muileann brath,'' the quern; sometimes spelled" 

 breachtan. Mann, wheat food. Fiormann — -fior, genuine, and 

 viann, a name given to a variety called French wheat. Tuireann, 

 perhaps from tuire, good, excellent. The flour of wheat is univer- 

 sally allowed to make the best bread in the world. Romhan, 

 Roman or French wheat ; " branks." 



T. repens — Couch, twitch. Scotch: dog-grass, quickens, &c. 



' Latin : brace or brance. Gallic, of a particularly, white kind of corn. 

 According to Hardouin, bid blanc Dauphine", Triticum Hibernum, Linn. ,var. 

 Granis albis. Lat. , sandala. 



" Gallise quoque. suum genus farris dedere : quod illie brance vocant apud 

 nos sandalum nitidissimi grani." — Pliny, 18, 7. 



