Blair Collection > Carmina gadelica > Volume 2

230 NOTES
Bliochd, milk, whey, whey when in the curd ; skimmed milk, sour milk, milk that
has lost any of its original character. In Assynt ' bliochd ' or ' bleachd ' is the
general term for dairy produce. E. Ir. ' mlicht,' cognate with English ' milk.'
Bochd, poor, indigent, weak, sick. In the islands of Barra, ' bochd,' poor, is declined
in the same manntì- as ' boc,' a buck. ' Is misde na buic a bhi lionar' — Worse
are the poor for being numerous. ' Na beirt a dol a suas, na buic a dol a sios '
—The rich going up, the poor going down.
Buchuin, swelling, bursting, protruding ; from ' bochd,' swell. The month of May is
called ' mi bochuin,' ' mios buchuin,' the month of swelling. May is also known as
'mi Moire,' 'mios Moire/ the month of Mary, and 'buchuin Moire,' the swelling
of Mary.
Bochidn, the sea, the ocean.
Bochnin, the ripple at the bow of a moving boat.
Boisileag, palmful, a small palmful of water ; from ' bois,' ' has,' the palm of the hand;
hence 'basaidh,' a basin, ' baslach,' the full of the two palms placed side by side.
Brae, curve, the curve of the wave immediately before breaking.
Brdc, a bellow, the roar of the stag.
Brae, branch, applied to the horns of the deer.
Brae, reindeer, red-deer, fallow-deer, deer in general. (Vol. i. p. 52 ff.)
The reciter, Catherine Mackintosh, said that ' brae ' was ' creatair mor bracach
's na duthchan thall ' — a big branchy-horned creature in the countries beyond
(the sea). The reindeer was in Scotland till the beginning of the thirteenth
century, probably later, and reindeer moss grows on the Scottish mountains.
The reindeer is implied in the following fairy lullaby, known as ' Bainne nam
fiadh • :—
' Air bainne nam fiadh a thogadh mi. On milk of deer I was reared.
Air bainne nam fiadh a shealbhaich, On milk of deer was nurtured,
Air bainne nam fiadh fo dhruim nan sian. On milk of deer beneath the sphere.
Air bharr nan sliabh 's nan garbhlach.' On crest of hill and mountain.
The late J. G. Campbell, minister of Tiree, held that a race similar to the
Lapps lived in Scotland about the glacial period.
In 1 S69 the writer opened an underground house at Valacuidh, North Uist.
In 1871 the late Iain F. Campbell of Islay accompanied him to see it. Mr.
Campbell was familiar with Lapps and Lapp dwellings, and he said that this
underground structure was entirely similar to those of the Lapps. Fragments
of horns, bones, shells, and other debris found in the house were submitted to Sir
Richard Owen, who discovered bits of reindeer horns and bones among them.
' Brae ' is mentioned in the following fragment, evidently the composition of one
, of the Macdonalds of the Isles, several of whom were poets : —