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342 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
can trace the Litin verb " OfTero," which exactly describes the
office of the priest (sagart), whose chief duty is to " offer " (I use
tlie woi'd in its technical and theological sense) the Holy Sacrifice
in the Eucharist. I fear that I may seem here to be touching on
controversies of doctrine ; but I wish merely to explain \sdiat
seemed to me to be the connection of ideas between the two words
in question.
This instance, at any rate, leads us on to another most interesting
branch of this subject ; which is to trace,* generally, the
derivation of words in both Gaelic and Welsh from the Latin,
or even, in some cases, from the Greek. Thus (to confine ourselves
to a few instances from the short list of words already given), nef
(Welsh) and neamh (Gaelic) are evidently each derived from cf^aXr;
(and its cognate Latin word Nebula); Drindod and Trionaid in
like manner come from Trinitas ; Pechodau and Peacadh from
Peccatum ; Bobl and Pobull from Populus. Esgob and Easbuig
from Episcopus are, perhaps, not quite evident at first sight; on the
other hand Diaconiaid and Deaconan are specially clear, as derivatives
of 5i.aKovo%. Gras (which is identically the same word in both
languages, though pronounced with more stress and length of
quantity in the Gaelic than in the Welsh) is simply the Latin gratia,
" writ short." Yspryd and spiorad come from spiritus; marwol and
mairbhteach (possibly) from mortalis ; credaf and creideam from
credo ; creawdwr and cruthadair from creator ; uffern and ifrinn
from infernus ; cymmun and comh-chomunn from communio.
It need hardly be remarked that in tracing the etymological
connection between Gaelic and Welsh, or between each of them and
Latin, the letters P, K,and T,aro interchangeable with their cognate
letters B, G, and D, or with their aspirates Ph ( = F), Ch, and Th:
thus Drindod—Trionaid; Bobul—Pobull; and in the case of Esgob
—Easbuig there is actually a transposition yet in each case the
;
etymology and the derivation are clear. In like manner we can
trace the connection between nef and neamh with nebula.
There are, here and there, traces of Celtic to be found even
in the heart of England. When I was south, in October last, I
hapi)ened to come across a parish Directory of Warwickshire ;
and in it I looked up a parish in which I was interested, called
" Tysoe." I remembered having heard long ago, that this most
un-English name was of British derivation ; but 1 certainly was
not prepared to find it given in a book of that kind, in pure
Gaelic, as " Tigh-soluis." In the same parish is the historical
"Edge Hill," the highest part of which is called "The Sun-rising;" so
the tradition of the " Rouse of Light" would seem to have been
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