Blair Collection > Gaelic names of beasts (mammalia), birds, fishes, insects, reptiles, etc

GOAT 165
Cha 'n fhas fiar no fodar ann
Ach sochagan (sudheagan or sudhagan) is dearcagan allt ;
Gobhar air aodainn,
A 's laosbhoc air a cheann.
The deers' pass of Bochan Oovai
The most cursed of all difficult places.
There neither grass nor straw -will grow
But wild strawberries and blaeberries ;
A goat in its face,
And a wether-goat at its top.
Bochan Ubhaidh is a place near Kingussie. Near Inniskillen
in Ireland thei'e is a place called Sciath or Sgiath-gabhra, the
goats' promontory, sgiath here is a piece of land jutting into the
sea. In Cork, Ireland, there is a place called Keamagower, being
said to be a corruption of ceim or ceum na gaibhre, the pass of
the goat. In the Irish island of Aran, the tie rope between two
goats is called braighdean ; this is said to have given a name to a
place there. As an example of the difficulty and danger in
giving the origin or meaning of many proper iiames, the following-
may be cited: '*' Sleueningorn," which on analysing turns out to
be the corrupted Gaelic of Sliabh-nan-gobhar, the mountain of
the goats. Goat-hill or Goat-fell. Goat-fell again may be Gaoth-
mheall, a proper description of the mountain of that name in the
Scottish island of Arran. Ardgour (Aird ghobhar). Goats
Heights, is so named from their numbers there at one time.
" Aonghus nan Aoirean," said thereof, " Aird ghobhar, 's am bi
ganntar, dh'ichteadh na gobhair mu'm feannt' iad." In the
Irish idiom gobharin, pronounced gorin, is sometimes given as the
plural of goat, hence the » at the end of the above word. Dalna-
meen in Athole is just dail na minn, the kid's field. The chamois,
having a Gaelic name, is given under this heading, that name in
the Gaelic Bible being given as Somer (Heb.) Zemer. It is
described in the dictionaries as a kind of goat, though in a gloss
to the Scriptures it is said also to be the wild sheep of Arabia
Petraea, having strong horns curved backwards goat-like (see
Deut. xiv. 5). The fabulous monster called "Uraisg or uruisg "
was supposed to be half-goat, half-man, a satyr in short. Bocan,
a little buck, signifies "bogie," and boicionn is a goat's skin. An
expression or saying implying profound contempt runs —
Tha e gu siogaideach, rugaideach, marbh ;
Cha bhoc 's cha tarbh ach laos-boc.
He is lean, long-necked, and lifeless.
He is neither buck nor bull, but a wether-goat.
In Campbell's Tales, Vol. III., pp. 91-2, we find the fable of