106

CELTIC ETYMONSOF ENGLISH WORDS.

IN continuation of a previous communication as to the use of the Celtic dialects in determining the
derivation of many English words, I would beg to offer a few remarks on some publications of
modern date on the subject of English etymology. In 1847 Mr. H. Fox Talbot published an
interestingwork, entitled English Etymologies, in which many ingenious derivations are proposed.
a large number

With

of

these

agree:

cannot

my

present

object,

is to show

however,

that

the

Celtic dialects will afford considerable aid in tracing out the origin of English words, which aid
Mr.

Talbot

has not

hemp,

and conceives

Greek

konopeion,

availed

himself

it was

"a

To take a few examples.-

of.

applied

originally

bed with

to tents

hangings

gauze

of

to keep

he derives

Canopy

canvas.

off gnats,'"

from cannabis,

with

Agreeing

that

him

a satisfactory

is not

the
I

etymon,

would suggest that the root may be the Irish ceann, the head: in fact, in that dialect, ceann-bhrat
signifies a canopy, literally " a bead-cloth." Now Webster, who refers in his Dictionary, to the
Greek

derivation

which

coincides

here
exactly

Modern

occasionally

" the

term

cipal

of

not

have

with
assisted
phleps,
"heat,"

by chaloupe

and

its

it may,

and

him

adds

to have

perhaps

there

been

call

be

flush

some

it will

aware

the same
of

Gaff

is too evidently
wav,

or referred
degree

in Irish

late

to remember

as the Hebrew

of

the

is "blood,"

I entertain
a "Iboat,"

origin,

to give

head,"

as well

is not

years)

and,

The

that

the idea of length.

and

an Irish word

may

long

be

boat par
to

for " hook,"

Mr.

it to vela de gavia.-Blush

which

boat" may

"long

at all events,

is

to the prin

applied

it is not the

same word:

as

the longest

to the Mediterranean,

to the former.

similarity

its origin,

of

word

boat"

if he wished

the

is the Spanish

in general

of Celtic
"long

the

says,

of which
signifies

rig peculiar

(apparently

be wel

is a stronger
that fuil

it larga
of

It was

is also a launch.-

in search
that

from

For

a vessel.

would

lancha
is probably

in English

to vessels
caie.

but

length;

possibly,

to Spain

gone

blood,

and a Spaniard
applied

from

last

Now

over

a covering
Talbot

the existence

lanch (of

" long."

long, a ship,

formerly

in cases where

be disputed;

this

generally
a boat, Mr.

expression.-Launch,

lang, meaning
But

as " more

canopy

the Old German

the Irish

large vessels,

so caled

excellence

with

launch was

boat

simply

from

long boat."

in French

rendered

that

to a ship,

boat belonging

the Irish

German

and cognate

launch,

The

with

and he derives

lancha,

some doubt),

defines

mentioned,

it mighlt
be related

Talbot

need

he connects
have

perhaps

to the Greek

" a vein."-For

aware that the Irish gor, Welsh

gwres, signify
twarm he goes to Persia, not
name Gilchrist
he derives quite incorrectly
verb goraim
is " I warm."-The
instead of giolla " a servant,"-of
Christ.
In compilations
such as Mr.
kil, " a church,"

and

from Irish

the Irish

Talbot's book, and Jamieson's valuable Dictionary of the Scottish Language, it is not difficult for
even

a tyro

to detect

a few

errors

or oversights,

nor

is this without

its

use;

but

I would

be far

107
from their great

from detracting

general

well

knowing

merit,

what

labour,

and discrimi

ingenuity,

nation such works require.

now mention

I shall

in whieh

Wedgewood,
"Imitation
he

Principle,"

has

seem

to do.-He

the Celtic
Breton

assigns
eadail,

ken, Welsh

cefn,

Lat.

some."

the Irish

and

Hence,

we

have

on

the

a sermon

indicate

to your

them

in Old

for

that dialect
I

that

perceive

approving

am

a festival
However,

languages,

and

to the

existence

so well

it, as well

derive

Comely he brings
from

venustus

venio !

" kind,"

of many

the

of

which

fear

undoubted

as their modern

as against,
from

the

descendants

of

the Irish

comes (like

courteousness

and

the French
" hand

sense,

Dr.

(O' Caoimh).

aghaidh,

is only as absurd

in a secondary

and,

O'Keeffe

ideas

from

to come; which

is the Latin

It

" courteous,"

family-names,

between

a cat

call

a hare

and

from

puss

so becoming

and

in Irish

given

dictionaries

the Latin

could

Trench
I

comeliness;

le-pus,

in English.

puss

for a cat.

and not

form of patu,

or Armoric

This

clears

name

wat,

at all with

connected

of the Celtic,

dialect

former

of my

I am open

[vol.
but

in my

however,

a " depraved

young

opinion,

up both

to conviction

only

into

converted
me

strikes

sometimes

as

applied

the name Walter,

cat and wat

73]

the

finding

to

Wat.
in

satisfactorily:

me

done

derivation
word

of a number

of Danes

writes

with

the honour

of

ifogmanay.

hog-minny

the "H og-tide"

that

who

has

to my

objects

by

a correspondent

from

p.

viii.,

I believe

girl."

in commemoration

soon after Easter

held

SENax
etymologies,

correspondent

your

confirmed,
to denote

Devonshire

I would

" the face."-

one of our Irish

we

generally

rather

all

theory

is " a hare."

gat

of

root

caomh, meaning

great

it

by Mr.

etymology,

his

A more probable one is the Irish peata, patu, or putan, an old word

the Breton,

However,

the

back;"

of

it to be
addle, in the sense of " to earn :" I believe
is ed, " profit" or " gain."-He
derives again from the

for the word

"the

it

by

accord with

on English

speak

pervades

blinded

of which

to be a dialectic

appears

to him,

to

readers.

and pus

a hare,

recent work
not

error;

no origin

Norman-French,

funny derivation.
a hare,

in a more
in

that do not

connection

thinks

Talbot

Mr.
le puss

is

apparently

roots,

the Latin

to bring

as if we were
debonnair),

he

according

and acies,)

facies

instances

being

Latin

(Irish)

(compare

write

far,

and

Greek,

few

conceive

which,

too

followed

Hebrew,

a
I

used

in

of SENxES refers

slain
good

in a great
sense

on

to

battle.

so many

subjects.
I would now submit a few more etymologies of my own.-Eng. tyke, teague,a country boor.
In Cornish, tuogu signifies " the common people," possibly connectedwith the Breton or Armoric
tiec

"zmaster

husbandman
and the Welsh
find

of
comes

,
from house.

pobl,

the Irish graisg

Whether

bobl, "people,"
(perhaps

Lat.

a family,"
and Irish tigh, " a house,"
in " tag, rag, and bobtail" we may

I leave
grex),

which

to your
comes

readers.
nearer

As

for rag,

to rasc-al.

in the same way

trace

this word

in this sense,
The whole

that
tuogu,

I can only

of these words

108
have

degenerated

from

Ovid's.

has

Horace
Coxcomb,

of

these

their primary

in quoting

I find I was wrong

in his

first Ode

is clearly

identical

of abuse,

like

villain,

and mob.

Vulgar,

as from Horace.

vulgus"

is a phrase

It

of

turba Quiritium."

a conceited

with

terms

" mobile

" mobilium

coegyn,

coguette.-AVelsh

words

into

signification

the expression,

fellow;

the Latin

coegen,

a vain

vain,

empty.

vae-uus,

wench:

the

coey,

Comb

root

to have

seems

been added in English from amistaken reference to a cook. Possibly, however, the term eoxcootb
may

have

been

at first to a court-fool

applied

wearing

the crest or comb

a cap resembling

of a cock.

.Dudgeon.-Welsh, dygen, "{tohate." Wedgewood and his reviewer, Coleridge, being ignorant of
this word,

say that no satisfactory

course

allied

dakar,

" he

(Spanish

to dagger

can be assigued.

etymology

and dirk;

daga)

and also,

In

its other meaning,

as suggested

dudgeon

stabbed."

Dainty.-Welsh

" a tooth,"

dant,

" dainties."

danteithione,

There was,

Pa?frey. -Welsh palfre, and Trishpeall, a horse (given inO'Reilly's Dictionary).

however,
As

a rather

unusual

for the etymons

rein,"

proposed

some,

Gaelic

from

pala

parafreno,

" a baggage

signifying

paraveredus,

freno,

and par

for the amy."

horse

lefrtin,

" by

signifying

the

satisfactory.

and graf;

serobbe,

to vindicate

be happy

word,

by

and Scottish

Irish

grove; A.Sax.

Latin

be considered

they cannlot
The

is of

to the Hebrew

by Parkhurst,

a tree or branch,

eraobh,

and also with

the suspicion

entailed

by

seems

evidently

and Shrewsbury,

Shropshire

name.

the corrupted

But

shrub and

with

cognate
which

old

town

I think

I should

this Celtic

word also explains a very obscure English one, carpenter, French charpentier, generally derived
from Latin
not have
confirm

a waggon.

carpentum,

so applied;

been

the Celtic

If this were
the Latin

whereas

The Welsh

derivation.

the case I cannot

word

see why

for carpenter,

is pren-saer,

with

the Latin

l/4nartius,

carpentaris

or wood-wright,

the same compound

exactly

should
tends

to

termination

as maen-saer, a stone-wright, which last is perhaps the origin of mason; crann-saor is the Irish for
carpenter,

a tree, timber,

from crann,

and saor, awright.

inWelsh,)

topren,

(equivalent

From

crann we

seemingly obtain cranny in English, equivalent to "1wood-chink" originally, unless a more generally
applied root, in Latin cerno,Greek krino, be preferred, as denoting separation. Craobh seems also
the origin of cetper-cailyor Cock of theWoods, which I would read craobh-coileach or tree-cock;
it is, however,
this

to Irish

generally

only

been

explained

the echo-has
for

tastes;

spelled

scholars,

I much

capall-coille,

remarking

prefer

by some
the

each

words.-Welsh
lividus.-Welsh

other

more

or Horse

of

lIac-Alla,

or Son

to mean

the Woods,

Mice alat, or Pig

of
of

in Scottish

Gaelic.

the Rock-a

very

the Rock:

there

I submit

poetic

name

for

is no accounting

former.

It is curious to find theWelsh

resembling

that

than

achludo, to obscure, and Greek achl/o, to become cloudy,

the English

cloud;

and

this

is not

uncommon

with

Celtic

liw, Irish lith, stain, colour, seem to explain our English livid, from Latin
bus (Irish pus), a lip; Latin basium, a kiss. Mr. Curry tells me the Irish

109
word is a corrupt modern one; still it has been recognised for some centuries: perhaps
theWelsh gwefus is the older form of both; yet our word buss, and the Latin basium convince me
that therewas a similar old word in Celtic. The Welsh gwefus, Cornish, gueus, seem to furnish a
root for gusto, and perhaps even taste. The latter is a comparatively modern word in Scotland,
where gust was not very long ago in general use. The obsolete Greek huo, future ku80, had
perhaps a similar origin; itmeant to salute or kiss.-The Welsh caled, Irish cala, hard, I suspect, is
found in sevoral Greek and Latin words, such as Greek chaladza" hail" (hardened snow), generally
derivedl from chalao, a verb meaning to loose; chalepos,hard; chali.r, a pebble; perhaps chalkos,
brass or hardened copper; and chalybs, steel or hardeined iron: Latin callus, hardened flesh;
calculus, a pebble; calx, stone, limestone; calx a heel; ealeo, to tread; and English callous,
calculate, chalk, walk. Our heel, A.Sax. hela, seems cognate with Irish sal; but whether with
cahc, I refer to my readers. By tho bye, ehaladza also meant the hardened internal part of
and

ivory;

how

that

could

be

from

derived

to

chalao,

relax,

leave

to

learned

pundits

to

determine.-Baron-br aet, a kind of cake, is the Irish bairin breac,or speckled cake, (Welsh, bara brech,
or speckled bread,) from the currants formerly diffused therein, but, alas, fashion has banished
them, though the name remains. Bara is connected with Latin far, English, barley, bere, and
The Hebrew

bread.

bar, corn, wheat,

seems

to be the root, and connected

in the Hebrew

verb with

purge and pure, meaning cleaned grain; breac, spotted, is the English freekled.- tsquebauqgh
and usquoebwee
seem tohave been generally confounded; the former is the "water of life," French eau
dc-vie, Irish uisge beatha, from the former part of which we have rather absurdlywhiskey, which is
more frequently perhaps "water of death." The latterwhich was called wrongly usquebaughfor
nisge-buidhe,or yellowwater, was a liqueur composed of several ingredients, with spirit for a basis,
and coloured yellow with saffron,whence its distinctive name.
It

is very

first may

the words

that

singular

crossed

be tar-dathan,

tartan,

and plaid,

kilt,

I am doubtful,

colors,

but

seem

offer

Celtic.

scarcely

it as a conjecture:

the

Whether
dath

is our dye.

The proper name of the second isflleadh-beag, or small folds or plaits, corruipted into philabey.
The Gaelic
not
Irish

know

and Scottish
Of

was

bachelor,

first

seems

plaide

applied

Gaelic,
Dr.

a blanket,

to have meant

the word

whether

may

not

and breithyn,

Sullivan

to young,

so

be

says very

too.

but
The

that was
Celtic

in Welsh,

meaning

correctly,

" The

and consequently

unmarried,

of modern

probably

word
striped

for plaid

would

origin:

I do

be breaoa'n,

in

or chequered.

term, whatever
persons."

have

may

Now,

the Welsh

been

its origin,
bach means

small (Irish beag), bachgen,a boy, like boughal (buachaill) in Irish, (generally referred to Greek
In French, the root took the form bace, bacele, bacelier,
boukol-os, a cattle or herd boy.)
bachelier,
How
maybe

for a young

iuuch nonsense

man

or woman;

(miscalled

seen in the other usual

learning)

derivations

hence
a very

bachelor,
slight

from bas chevalier,

an unmarried
knowledge

person,

of Celtic

bacca laureatus,

an
would

inferior
save us

degree.
from,

baculus aureus, and soforth.

The game of cricket has not been satisfactorily derived.

simply

wicket,

in Welsh

gwieed,

and

that " cricket"

is a corruption.

I am persuaded that it is
It is the wicket-game.-

Cwm,

Welsh, is ahollow; Saxon coomb;our honey-comb, cataeomb,fromGreek katakumbie,the same. Hence

perhaps, Comber,nearBelfast.- Cwrw,Welsh, ale or beer, is perhaps related to Ceres and cerevisia, in
Latin,

and

to krithe', or barley,

in Greek -

Chwys,

schweiss,

sweat, and

sudor,

seem

forms

of the same

chwedlu, to fable, cognatewith A.S. owethan, to

root, inWelsh, German, English, and Latin-Welsh
speak, seems to account for wheedle; chwil, a beetle, for clock; chwiogl, craft, for cogging?2 So,
dulas, dark grey (Irish dubh.glas), accounts for dowlas and Douglas; du black (Ir. dubh) for dun,
dusky; inWelsh, dewn.-Welsh ebilio, to bore, ebill, an auger, explains weevil, and perhaps
wimbl and gimblet; Welsh ffroen, a nose, and ]frwyn, a bridle, Lat. frwnunz, a nose-band, or
ring; Welsh ffur, wily, Lat. fur, Gr. phor, a thief; ifured, a ferret, viverra in Latin;
ff,wd, quick motion, fidgets; ffwdanus, fidgetty; gay, gagen, a chink, and gag, stopping a chlink,
or themouth forced open, cognatewith Gr. chaino, and Eng. yawn. W. gallu, to be able, also may,
can, in English could (or colde,old spelling), Latin valeo, and gallant, valiant, with many others.
Gar, the shank, seems a good root for garan, a crane, and heron, Greek geranos. Gefyn, a
fetter, is English gyve, as Irish geibheal, fetters, is Hebrew KeBeL, a fetter. We get herd from
Welsh gre the same, through gread herding; Latin grex. Welsh gwaes, a pledge, Connects gage,
engage,with cvaand vadimonium. Gwaewfon unites, probably,weaponwith javelin, though the Spanish
jabalina is strictly boar-spear, fromjabal, wild boar.
W.

DRENNAN.