The Gaelic names of plants (Scottish, Irish and Manx) / collected and arranged in scientific order, with notes on their etymology, uses, plant superstitions, etc., among the Celts, with copious Gaelic, English, and scientific indices, by John Cameron.
- Cameron, John
- Date:
- 1900
Licence: In copyright
Credit: The Gaelic names of plants (Scottish, Irish and Manx) / collected and arranged in scientific order, with notes on their etymology, uses, plant superstitions, etc., among the Celts, with copious Gaelic, English, and scientific indices, by John Cameron. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Ulmus— Elm. Celtic: ailm. The same in Anglo-Saxon, Teutonic, Gothic, and nearly all the Celtic dialects. Hebrew : elah; translated oak, terebinth, and elm. U. campestris—Gaelic and Irish : leamhan, slamhan (Shaw), liobhan. Manx: Ihiotion. Welsh : llwyfen. According to Pictet, in his work, “Les Origines Indo-Europeennes ou les Aryas Primitifs,” p. 221, “To the Latin : ‘Ulmus’ the following bear an affinity (respond)—Sax.: ellm; Scand.: almr; Old German : elm; Rus.: ilemu; Polish: ilma; Irish: ailm, uilm, and by inver- sion, ‘leatnh,’ or ‘leamhanl” He says the root is nl, meaning to burn. The tree is called from the finality of it, “to be burned.” The common idea of leamhan is that it is from leamh, taste- less, insipid, from the taste of its inner bark; and liobh means smooth, slippery. And the tree in Gaelic poetry is associated with, or symbolic of, slipperiness of character, indecision. Cicely Macdonald, who lived in the reign of Charles II., describing her chief, wrote as follows :— “ Bu tu ’n t-iubhar as a’ choille, Bu tu ’n darach daingean, laidir, Bu tu 3n cuilionn, bu tu ’n droighionn, Bu tu ’n t-abhall molach, blath-mhor, Cha robh meur annad de ’n chritheann, Cha robh do dhlighe ri fedrna, Cha robh do chhirdeas ri leamhan, Bu tu leannan nam ban aluinn.” Thou wast the yew from the wood, Thou wast the firm strong oak, Thou wast the holly and the thorn, Thou wast the rough, pleasant apple, Thou had’st not a twig of the aspen. Under no obligation to the alder. And had’st no friendship with the elm. Thou wast the beloved of the fair. Ficus--Nearly the same in most of the European languages. Greek : a-vgr]. Latin : ficus. Celtic : fige. F. carica— Common fig-tree. Gaelic and Irish : crann fige or fights. “Ach foghlumaibh cosamhlach o’n chrann fhige.—Mat : xxiv, 32. Learn a parable from the fig-tree. Inde-Indeach (O’Reilly). Not the common fig-tree, but the Indian fig is Ficus Indica. But another plant was known by the old](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b24879368_0113.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
