Blair Collection > History of the Celtic language

CELTIC LANGUAGE. 75
tions from it, either figuratively, metaphorically,
or analogously, are, buar^ cattle, kine ; hua-chax,
cow-dung; iwa-thal, a cow-stall; Jwa-hara, brutish,
cow-like ; io-thigh, or 6«-thigh, a cow-house, a
shealing, watchhouse — whence bothy; bua-clvWe, a
cow-herd ; bud][e, a convention of cows in order to
their being milked, a fold, a park; buciile, the
halo about the moon, because round like a fold,
and enclosing or including objects, like cows in a
fold ; bua\'-Ath, shackles on the hind legs of a
cow when being milked ; bua'ic, a preparation of
cow-dung and urine used for bleaching linen ;
J5ohemia, the cow country. " The name Bohemia,'
says our EncyclopcBdia^ " is derived from the Ger-
man Boheman, which signifies the residence of the
Boii, who were a branch of the Celts, who, under
the command of Sigonessus, passed over from Gaul
into Germany, about 600 years before the Chris-
tian era." Here we are told, in the usual way,
that Bohemia is derived from Boheman, and that
Boheman signifies the residence of the Boii ; and,
as Dr Johnson would say, " there's an end on't."
What does Boii signify ? The reader anticipates
us when we answ^er that it has its root — its primary
idea, in the note of the cow already submitted ; as
has Boetia, Bavaria, Bashan, Batanea, Bosphorus,
and many more ; all having reference to cows or
pasturage. " Boetia," says Dr Lempriere, " is a
country of Greece, bounded on the north by