The Scottish Celtic review

—;Tests of Etijmological Affinity. 7obviously only another form of coinneal (a candle), in Old Gaeliccaindel, a loan-word from Lat. candela (a taper or light).Lbchran (a light, a lamp) is derived in the Highland Society'sDictionary from lb (day) and crann (a pole or shaft, lit. a tree).In Old Gaelic, Ibckran was Ibcharn, clearly a loan-word from Lat.lucerna (a lamp).R^idhlig (a burying-place) is derived in the same dictionaiyfrom r^idh (a plain) and leac (a stone, a flat stone). The old formof this word, reilic, shows that it is borrowed from Lat. reliquiae(remains, relics).In Armstrong's Dictionary, Discart, the name of several ecclesiasticalplaces in Scotland, as Dysart in Fifeshire and Clachandiselrtin Glenorchy, is explained as a corruption of Ti 's dirde(the Highest One). It is obviously a loan-word from Lat.desert urn.In the same dictionary, tighearna (lord) is identified with Gr.Tvpawoi (lord, master). The old form of this woi'd, tigerne, showsthat g, which, in consequence of the aspiration, is nearly silent inthe modern word, is an organic letter, and that tighearna is to bereferred to the same root as Gaelic tigh and teach, Lat. tego, Gr. reyoyand cTTeyo?, Skr. sthag, sthag-d-mi (I cover). Ice. thak (roof), Ger.duch, Eng. thatch. For the suffix erne = * ernia cf Zeuss'Gramm. Celt., p. 778.That no reliance can be placed upon similarity in sound andmeaning, as a test of affinity, may be further shown from the fact,that words, which have little or no resemblance to each other ineither of these respects, may, nevertheless, be etymologicallyrelated. This may be shown by a few examples :The Gaelic word Nollaig (Christmas) and the English kindhave no resemblance to each other either in meaning or in formand yet they have sprung from the same root. Nollaig, in OldGaelic notlaic, and in Welsh nadolig, is a loan-word from the Lat.natalicia, a derivative from natus for gnatus, (root gen).Thisroot, again, is connected with the Indo-European root gan, towhich may be traced Goth, keinan (sprout) and kuni (race), O.H.G.chind (proles), A.S. cynd (kind), and Eng. kind.The Gaelic word beb (living) and the English word quick(speedj') have not one letter in common, and they differ inmeaning; but still they have sprung from a common root. Beowas in Old Gaelic Biu, clearly connected with Gr. B/o? for8iFoi, Lat. vivus for * gvivus, Skr. giv,gtvas (living), Indo-Europ.