An gaidheal - National Library of Scotland

22Ò THE GAEL. September, 187a.The ridiculous etymology of ^Jr. (iael could have driven them to the seaEdmunds for "Dover" he attempts to long before they got to Kent.reply to, by noticing what the writer Mr. Edmunds makes the followinghereof says in his toijographical volume onthe Jiivfr Haunts of Scotland. Among themis the "Ayr," of Avhich all its ancientstatement in the Gael for last month,"the occurrence of Aber ' ' in Scotland,taking Col. IJobertson's book as my guide,.spellings are given, proving that it andthe "Ary" or " Aray " of Argyleshireare identical in meaning and etymology,and they both give names to a town ontheir banks, yet this gives no countenanceto Mr. Edmunds' absurd derivationthat "Dover" is from the Welshword meaning " water," which of courseevery seaport in the world is. The river"Aire" in Yorkshire is from the sameroot, and is also one of the old spellingsof the .Scotch river "Ayr," namely thesingle letter " A " jjronounced " Awe " asin Lochawe, or the English word "ah."That sin',de letter signifies "water," but isnow obsolete. The remaining (raelic wordis " reidh," now in use, and pronounced"ray," meaning "smooth." Thus wehave the compound word, pronouncedin English the "Aray," or " thes moothwater." Should the writer's derivationbe shown to be a mistake in this rivername, he will not deny it, but acknowledgeit.The emigration of the Celts from (4aulinto Britain is a point now uncpiestioned,and as the southern part of the island isin sight of it, there of course theylanded, and most certainly both f/ic naturn/and actual course they would take, wasto the north part as successive numbersarrived ; and we find traces of the (4aelin river names from Kent to Cumberland,a great many being identical with thoseof the north part, and in their progressthey not only named small, but also thelargest rivers, as has already Ijeen shown.At what period the emigrations from(jaul commenced cannot be fixed withany certainty, but as we know that fiftyfiveyears before the birth of Christ thesouth part of the island was fully peopled,and that in the year a. d. 80 the north partwas so likewise, the first of the Celticrace must have come into Britain at least1,500 years, if not more, before the Christainera. Mr. Edmunds states that theGael got the habit of coming south afterthe Roman power decayed, but that wasprobably 1,500 or 2,000 years after theirarrival from Gaul, and progress northwardin Britain. Mr. Edmunds gives usa reason why the (ìael went further souththan Kent at this period, that the Welshstate they Avcre driven by them to thesea.This is no reason at all, because theis confined to districts penetrated by theRoman arms." There could not havebeen a statement written more contraryto truth and fact than this. Had Mr.Edmunds followed the work he named ashis guide he would therein have foundthat " Aber " prevails in very manyplaces of Scotland where the Romans /(fivrpenetrated : there are three Abers inArgyleshire, where the Romans neverwere, one of them being in the island ofIsla ; within the county of Inverness,and towards it western side, there arefour Al)ers, where the Romans neverpenetrated ; in the county of Ross, wherethe Romans never were, Aber is also tobe noted ; and, lastly, in the furthestnorth part of the county of Sutherland,which was never entered by the Romans,we also find Aber. These facts very fullyrefute Mr. Edmunds' statement. In the*same paragraph he tries to make it supposedthat the Welsh named the "Abers"in Scotland, Ijut he is completely refutedby the fact that (Jae/ic and nvt Welshwords are always joined to the Scotch'' Aljer, and which the work he mentions'fully proves, and his stating that hetook it for his ijii'ule is a mere sham andpretext.It has Ijcen shown that Mr. Edmundsmade a statement of certain words beingGaelic, and he gave meanings also to someothers. In both cases when they cameto be examined many are completelywrong—the number that are so amountingto one-half at least of the words hegave. He states that he got them out ofan Irish magazine (The DitliUn Unu'ernifi/),but he ought to know that even if theywere therein, that could not make themeaning he gives them correct, or thewords to belong to the Gaelic, even if hecopied them rightly, Avhich may bedoubted, for the following amongst otherreasons :—The Gaelic word ' ' leabhar "means "a book." In the Irish language"leabhar" also means "a book," and itis incredible that any eminent Irishscholar would call it anything else ; butwhat does Mr. Edmunds call it ? Hesays it means a "a Hood," in which he isrefuted by both languages. Among otherwords stated by Mr. Edmunds to beGaelic he gives one, "balloeh." By amisj^rint in the June number of the Gael