Blair Collection > Collection of Gaelic proverbs and familiar phrases

152
Cnò a uachdar a' mhogail.
A nut from the upper side of the cluster.
Supposed to be the best. See * Bidh an ubhal a's fhearr '.
Cnatan Dhò'ill Mhic-Mhartainn.
Donald Martins cold.
A Lochaber saying. Donald was said to take a cold once a
quarter, which lasted three months. The Mac Martins in that
country are Camerons.
Cnoic 'us uisg' 'us Ailpeinich, acli c'uin a thainig
Artaraich ?
Hills and water and MacAlpines, but when did the
MacArthurs come Ì
A I. ' Cnoic 'us uillt,' Hills and streams. 'Cnoic 'us uilc,' Hills
and ills.
' Meaning,' says Macintosh, ' that the MacGregors are as old
as the hills.' As already noted, under ' Cha robh balach,' they
trace their descent from Alpin, King of Scots in the first half of
the 9th century, and Macintosh quotes an old verse in reference
to their descent : —
Sliochd nan righribh dùthchasach,
'Bha shios 'an Uùn-s-dà-innis,
Aig an robh crùn na h-Alb' o thus,
'S aig am beil dùthchas fhathasd ris.
Children of the native kings.
Who reigned down at Dunstaffnage,
Who first the crown of Alba owned,
And still have native claim to it.
The MacArthurs, as the above saying implies, claim a still older
lineage, from a King Art, or Arthur, of prehistoric times. In
Cormac's Glossary, the word 'Art' has three meanings given, —
'■uasal, unde dicitur^ine airt, no art fine' — nolle, whence o noble
tribe.
Cnuasach uircein, buain 'us itheadh.
The pig's contemplation, pluck and eat.
Cnuasachd na gràineig.
The hedgehog's hoard.
This, says Armstrong, is ' expressive of the folly of wordly-
minded people, who part with all at the grave, as the hedgehog is
compelled to drop its burden of crab-apples at the narrow entrance
of its hole.' Lightfoot says (Flora Scotica, 2nd Ed., 1792, p. 13)
the hedgehog is "not found beyond the Tay, perhaps not beyond
the Forth ". It is found at this day as far north as Lochaber.