Hew Morrison Collection > Adhamh agus Eubh, no Craobh Sheanachais nan Gàël

CELTIC LANGUAGE. 155
child sneezed seven times," where the term for
sneeze is -i-n? zurr. It certainly wants the " ^o"
to make it a good echo.
Isc, Esk, or Uisff, water. We leave it to the
reader to determine whether the ideal meaning oi'
this term be in the gushing noise of water, or
whether we are to take it in a Cabahstical sense
as a compound of Esh and Cù, the man-dog of
the Nile, which bringeth water, and, transitively,
the Nile itself ? At all events there can be no
controversy about this being a Celtic term. For
example : —
*' Uisg, or Uisge, water, aqua, sensu generali.
Uisge- Coisrigidh, holj'-water.
Uisgich, to irrigate." — Dict.
The term is related to the great fructifying
principle Isis, the mother, the nourisher of our
fathers in Egypt, as well as the Isis of Oxford in
England, the Ise of Lower Saxony, the Esks of
Scotland, the Usk of Wales, the Wiske of York-
shire, the Aisch of Bavaria, the Esker of Turkey,
the Oise of Holland and France, respectively ; the
Awzen of Russia, and the Ousa (iju-esh, the
barker ?) of Sìberìa. ; all rivers, flowing monuments
of the antiquity of our language, and of the wide
extent of its ancient dominions !*
Lìb or Làb, the heart ; either an imitation or
* See " Chambers' Edinburgh Journal,'' No. 391.