Blair Collection > Celtic gleanings, or, Notices of the history and literature of the Scottish Gael

38 LECTURE II.
they beheld the Tay, " Ecce Tibemm." Both
in the Pennine Alps and the Appenines we have
the Celtic " Beinn" or '' Ben/' a " hill." The
name Italy itself is said by a Roman author
(Aulus Gellius) to be derived from the abun-
dance of its cattle ; a statement which a know^-
ledge of the Latin cannot explain, though it
can be easily explained by reference to the Cel-
tic ; for there the word for cattle in common
use to this day is " Feudail/' pronounced " eu-
dail " in its aspirated form. As we travel west-
ward the foot-prints of the Celt are more abun-
dant and more recent. We have them in the
" Rhone/' or " Ruadh amhainn/' pronounced
'' Ruain/' the " red river/' a name strictly ap-
plicable to this river in a great portion of its
course ; we have the Rhine, or *' Reidh amha-
inn," pronounced "Reain," the "smooth stream,"
a name no less applicable than the former ; we
have the " Garonne " or " Garbh amhainn," pro-
nounced " Garrain," the " rough stream /' and
we have the "Seine" or "Seimh amhainn," pro-
nounced " Seain," the " gentle stream." Then
we have such names as " Rouen," our Scotch
' ' Ruthven /' from the Gaelic ' ' Ruthainn /' "Ca-
lais," the Gaelic " Caolas/' frequently applied in
the Hebrides to townships lying upon a sound or
strait ; '' Dunkirk" or " Duncirce /' and numer-