Ossian Collection > Thoughts on the origin and descent of the Gael

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Camden, Armorica. — " The cities of Gaul
" which border upon the sea, CiEsar tells us, were
" called by the Gauls Armorica, with whom our
" modern Britons agree, in applying the same
" word exactly in the same way ; for armor with
" them signifies by the sea, or upon the sea. And
" in the very same notion Strabo calls them
" xTTUKiccn^xi" Armorich, in the Gaelic language,
may be applied to maritime cities, but more pro-
perly denotes maritime people. Muir is most
commonly used to denote sea: This word is a
compound of mu, about, and tir, (terra of the
Latins) land ; muthir (jh quiescent in the com-
pound) is pronounced muir, in the genitive case
mar; whence marich, a maritime people.
Camden, Bardus. — " Festus Pompeius tells
" us, that bardus, in the language of the Gauls,
" signifies a singer ; and that word is absolutely
" British."
Bard, in the language of the Gael, denotes pro-
perly not a singer but a poet ; bardac, poetry;
which was no doubt rehearsed in metrical com-
position, expressed with vocal melody, and often
accompanied with musical instruments; the most
estimable of which among our Gaelic ancestors
were the cruit and clarsach : the first was a sort of
fiddle, which the Welsh call cj-dth ; the Irish and
Scottish Gael call a harp, clarsach; the Welsh use
the word telyn for a harp. That artists were en-
couraged by the possession of certain portions of