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344 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
show in my quotations from the Welsh and Gaelic Prayer- Books,
there is a strong etymological connection between them—clearly
manifesting their common soui-ce.
.Some few Celtic worils seem also to have survived in a connection
where we should least of all expect to find them ; and that
is amongst (what are commonly termed) " slang" words in onlinary
conversation. Let me give one or two examples. We may imagine
a school-boy having something explained to him by one of his fellows,
which he cannot see the meaning of ; and he will likely
enough answer— " I don't twig that at all"—but, vulgar and unclassical
as the word "twig" may seem at first sight, it does not
need much ingenuity to trace the Gaelic word " tuig," or to sub-
stitute for the above sentence " clia'n eil mi a' tuigsinn," as its
Gaelic equivalent. Again, another very common expression, which
is certainly more or less "slang," is to " rmisack" a drawer, or a
cupboard, for the purpose of finding something that had been lost
here, again, may we not at once discern, under its English spelling,
the Gaelic word "rannsach"1 Similarly the word "grab," which
is commonly regarded as English slang, is in reality a Gaelic verb ;
in this case there may be a slight difference of meaning—apparently,
at any rate; the slang word means "to seize," the Gaelic
word " to obstruct," or hinder:— yet, when a thing is seized or
grabbed, it is to the hindrance or obstruction of the wishes of the
person from whom it is taken. I cannot think that these are fanci-
ful resemblances ; in two cases the similarity of form is very close,
in the third case it is identical. iJut it is, to say the least, what
one would hai'dly expect to find in our slang vocabulary, words
evidently belonging to that grand old Gaelic language which we
venerate so much. Several other words occur to my mind, as being
derived either directly, or indirectly, from the Gaelic ; but I think
my meaning is sufficiently illustrated by the words already quoted,
as well as by the names of places previously submitted for your
consideration.
I cannot pretend to have done more than " skim the sur-
face," as it were, of this deeply interesting subject ; others, far
more competent than myself in philological research, will, I hope,
give us ere long the benefit of their observations on these matters
and if my own few remarks shall lead to further pa])ers, more
interesting and more exhaustive, my object in bringing them
before you will have been attained. I tliink that there is a
special interest (not to sny /ascinatio7i), in discovering, or trying to
discover, all the links of connection, in language or ideas, that
unite us in some measure with the ancient Celtic race in any of
; ;