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Carmina Gadelica, Volume 2, by Alexander Carmicheal, [1900], at sacred-texts.com
Lach, duck. The duck meant is the long-tailed duck, which is known by a variety of descriptive names:--'beul-binn,' sweet mouth; 'caothail,' wailer; 'ian-binn,' bird of melody; 'lacha-liath,' blanched grey duck; 'lacha-stiurach,' rudder-duck; 'ian buchuinn'--preferably 'buck-f huinn'--song-bird of the sea, from bird, 'buch,' 'boch,' swollen (referring to the sea), and 'f huinn,' gen. of 'fonn,' melody, refrain. From cognate causes May is called 'Mi Buchuinn,' month of swelling, month of bursting forth, 'Buchuinn Moire,' swelling of Mary, and 'Buchuinn buidhe Moire nam buadh,' the yellow swelling month of the Mary of grace; 'Buchuinn Bealltain,' swelling of Beltane; 'Buchuinn buidhe Bealltain,' yellow swelling of Beltane; cf., however, 'boch,' hey-day, 'bochail,' proud, nimble.
'Lacha-stiurach,' rudder-duck, is applied to the bird because its long tail resembles a long oar steering a boat. Yet the bird manages its tail amid the wild waves of the sea with the same easy grace that the pheasant manages its tail among the rough branches of the trees, and the lady her train amid the mazes of the dance. The long-tailed duck is singularly graceful and melodious. In colour it is the water-wagtail, in form the pheasant, and in song the nightingale, of the sea.
On arriving, from its summer sheiling in the north, at its winter homestead in the south, the long-tailed duck utters a few short syllables, sharp and impatient at the beginning, prolonged and modulated towards the end. The bird frequents the islands of Tiree and Coll, but is rarely seen elsewhere in the seas or sounds of the Inner Hebrides. It keeps to the open sounds of the Outer Hebrides, while its congener, the pin-tailed duck, keeps still further out and exclusively to the open Atlantic, being rarely seen within the Outer Sounds. The two places most familiar to me as the habitat of the long-tailed duck are the Sound of Barra and the Sound of Harris, forty-four miles apart. In crossing these stormy straits of the Atlantic, I often observed the evident enjoyment of these beautiful birds in the tumult of waters. The more the stately mountainous waves, snow-white, foaming, roaring, broke over them, the more evident their delight
in the battle of the billows, like a band of maidens amidst a battle of flowers.
In Tiree the people set small lines along the strand when the tide is out, to catch flounders and other flat fish. When the tide is in the long-tailed ducks dive for fry and sand-eels, and are caught on the hooks and drowned. During a visit to my friend and fellow-collector of folk-lore, the late Rev. Mr Campbell of Tiree, I saw at Hianaish, on the 23rd September 1887, seven of these graceful birds which had been drowned on one set of lines in one day.
In the island of Bearnarey (Bernera), in the Sound of Harris, there is a sept of people called Clann ’Ic Anndaidh--Clan Macandy. The sept consists now of only a few families--most of them having left, being dissatisfied with the hard rocky and sterile sandy nature of the place. Local legend says that one half of the Macandys were keen lovers of the land, with its plants and animals, and declared by the golden sun that rules the day; while the other half were keen lovers of the sea, with its plants and living creatures, and declared by the silvery moon and twinkling stars that rule the night. The sea-loving section laughed at the land-loving section, and in her resentment at their scoffing the witch of the land-lovers struck the sea-lovers with her 'slacan druidheachd,' druidic wand, and placed them 'fo gheasaibh,' under enchantment, and ever since then one sept of the Macandys are swimming on the sea, diving in the deep, and flying in the air, like gleams of light, while their kinsmen and clansmen are grubbing in the ground like earth-worms, their fellow-mortals.
The people of Bearnarey allege that the long-tailed ducks are the enchanted section of the Macandy tribe, and that the birds hail their kinsmen in the loud long laughter of their hearts with greetings which have been converted into human language. The following is attributed by his people to Sir Norman Macleod of Bearnarey, knighted on the field of Worcester:--
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Clann ic Anndaidh! |
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Clan Mac Andy! |
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Clann ic Anndaidh! Clann ic Anndaidh! Gabh! gabh! gabh! Na h-Eoin Bhuchfhuinn, De chuir thu’n traigh an diugh? Gaol is gradh is cairdeas dut, |
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Clan Mac Andy! Clan Mac Andy! Take! take! take! Ye Birds of 'Buchuinn,' What sent ye to the strand to-day? Love and affection and friendship for thee, |
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Gaoth air fiar, fiath air muir, Na h-Eoin Bhuchfhuinn, |
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Wind on lea, calm on sea The Birds of 'Buchuinn,' |
Lacha Mhoire, Mary's duck. The mallard goes by various names, as 'lacha-ghlas,' grey duck; 'lacha-riabhach,' brindled duck; 'lacha-ruadh,' russet duck; 'lath a chinn-uaine,' duck of the green head.
The common grey duck is among the first and the last birds to breed. It has young as early as the first week of April and as late as the last week of September. The subterfuges, tactics, and stratagems of the grey duck to save its young are amusing and instructive. No human mother in presence of a Solomon could show more tender solicitude. The people speak lovingly of Mary's duck, and would not willingly hurt it in the breeding season.
When the mallard rises on the wing, it goes round and round, enlarging the circle as it ascends, and then stretches away as straight as an arrow with matchless speed. The people maintained that Mary's duck is the swiftest bird in the 'ealtain,' 'ealt nan ian,' bird-world, world of the birds.
Lacha shith, teal, elf-duck; from 'lath,' duck, and 'sith,' elf; also 'crion-lath,' tit-duck; 'crann-lach,' dwarf-duck; and 'lath eigir,' puny duck (see Eigir).
The teal is the smallest British duck. It is numerous in the Isles in winter, but rare in summer. The arrival of the teal is supposed to indicate the coming of a storm, and when the bird is seen approaching the shore the people hasten to secure their crops and houses.
The teal might be called the page of the swan, and more justly the pest of the swan. When swans are feeding, teals attend them, gliding about in and out, out and in, among them, picking up the animalcula brought up by the swans. Occasionally
an audacious teal may be seen seizing a morsel from the mouth of a swan and swimming away a few feet. The noble bird rarely heeds this audacity; but when it does give a 'wheeze,' the intruder scurries away--this time several yards. It coolly returns immediately, however, probably feeling that the swan is too dignified to cherish resentment.
Lannair, lainnir, lanner, falcon, peregrine falcon; founded on 'lann,' a blade, a spear, a lance.
Men singed their beards, and failing beards, their hair, to sain them from birds of prey. Possibly this was in imitation of the three young men who went through the fiery furnace. When a boy is well behaved he is told:--'Cha tog an t-seobhag thu'--The hawk will not lift thee. The following fragment mentions other birds:
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'Cha tog an lainnire ruadh thu, |
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The ruddy lanner will not lift thee, |
The following scene was described to me by Donald Macmurdoch, crofter, Bailemeadhonach, Islay, a most observant naturalist:--
'I was going along the road at Easter Eilister, and observed a flock of blue pigeons alight on a field of newly sown turnips. They had hardly alighted when they hurriedly rose. But instead of making for the sea-cliffs below, they ascended in a confused mass, shooting up in leaps and bounds, after the manner of the lark.
'I knew by the trepidation of the pigeons that an enemy was near, and looking round I saw the lanner coming from Tairteval and making straight for the pigeons. I stood in breathless suspense to await the result. With a loud scream the peregrine shot over the hapless birds, and in the twinkling of an eye one of them came tumbling down like a stone close to where I stood, followed by the hawk. With a swoop and a scream the hawk rose again without alighting, and I took up the dead pigeon. The birds above in the air were higher than before, but without deviating much to any side.
'Again the hawk came down on the pigeons, and again one of them came down dead, followed closely by the hawk, screaming
the while, and swooping off as before on nearing me. I took up the second pigeon, and the disappointed hawk swept by me with an unearthly scream.'
'The pigeons moved higher, but not laterally, and struggled in a confused, helpless mass, as if paralysed.
'The peregrine made another swoop and went straight at the pigeons, and again one came tumbling down. Just as I was going to move toward the dead bird a rasping scream right overhead startled me back as if shot, and the hawk brushed past my face like a flash of lightning, and dashed itself dead on the road, splashing my feet with blood and displacing embedded pebbles in the hard road with its sharp beak.
'The dead pigeons had no marks upon them except a slight pin-like puncture on the same spot behind the head where the fanner had struck the spinal cord. Had the powerful hawk struck me on the neck, as it so very nearly did, I believe it would have killed me as it did the pigeons.
'I brought home the hawk and the three pigeons, and kept the former for some time.'
A warrior of the Macdonalds, known as 'Domhull Mae lain ’ic Sheumais'--Donald, son of John, son of James--had a sword called 'an Lannaire Riabhach,' the brindled peregrine, sometimes 'an Ranaire Riabhach,' the brindled roarer.
'Laogh na ba air braigh na beinge' (vol. i. p. 268). When a calf dies, the mother will not give her milk, Highland cows being greatly attached to their calves. When this occurs the skin of the dead calf is placed on a shaped frame, generally of wicker-work, made and kept for the purpose. The improvised calf is placed beneath the cow and rocked to and fro in imitation of the fretting motion of the live calf, the milkmaid being busy the while relieving the pleased cow of her milk, and singing a 'taladh bleoghain,' milking lullaby. The cow every now and then sniffs at the 'calf' to satisfy herself that it is her own, for woe betide the milkmaid who placed the skin of another calf before a Highland cow!
The imitation calf is differently named in different districts, as 'laoicion,' 'loircean,' 'lulagan,' 'tulagan,' 'tulachan.'
The term 'tulachan' was applied to certain men appointed bishops in the Scottish Church after the Reformation. These men were bishops in name only, not in power, and their revenues
were drawn by their patrons. Hence 'tulchan bishops,' a term of much contempt.
Leann, ordinarily beer, here a pool, from the same root as 'linne,' a linn, a pool; a river name.
Li, lia, liu, lu, water, liquid, lye, lustre. There are several forms of this root and of its derivatives--'lir,' 'linne,' 'lu,' 'lua,' 'lighe.' The word enters into many place-names--as, 'Lite,' Leith; 'Uisge Lite,' Water of Leith; the rivers Lee in England and in Ireland; 'Traigh Li,' in Benderloch, Scotland; and 'Traigh Li,' Tralee, Ireland. The root in these has reference not to the sea, but to the fresh waters behind. In connection with hills, there are 'Beinn Li,' Ben Lee, in Skye; 'Li fo Dheas' and 'Li fo Thuath,' Lee to the south and Lee to the north, in North Uist; and 'Beinn Li,' in Barra. On the top of Lee in Barra is a pool containing small shell-fish like embryo cockles. Ben Lee, in Skye, is full of fountains; while on the summit of South Lee, in North Uist, there is a deep tarn, evidently the mouth of an extinct volcano. An old rhyme in Uist says:--
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'Loch Feobhail sin, ’s Loch Feobhail, |
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Loch Foyle there, and Loch Foyle, |
[paragraph continues] 'Li' is now confined to fresh water, but formerly it included salt water, as when in the old tales the sea is personified under the name of 'Lir,' 'Lear.'
Liath chearc, greyhen. It is ominous to hear the greyhen after dusk. Apart from the evil it bodes, the sound is extremely eerie. The greyhen goes to a distance to make her nest, in order to conceal her eggs from the blackcock. The blackcock, like the peacock, is a source of danger to the eggs, but is careful of the young birds hatched by its mate.
Linn, an age, a generation, a century, a family, a brood-hen, a brood of twelve. Twelve is a complete brood; any number above this is 'line mhor,' big brood; any number below it is 'him bheag,' small brood.
Liobh, love, attachment.
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'Gu robh Iain Mac Gilliosa |
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John the son of Gillies |
[paragraph continues] This beautiful song and air were composed by Marion Gillies, a St Kilda maiden. The people of the Isles say that she was the most beautiful woman they ever saw.
Lion, lint. There are several kinds of lint, and it is uncertain which is meant. Probably, however, the linum, flax of commerce, was the lint used by the old people for occult purposes.
A hoop from three to four inches diameter was made of milkwort, butter-wort, dandelion, and marigold. This was bound with a triple cord of lint in name of Father, and of Son, and of Spirit, and placed under the milk-vessels, to prevent witches spiriting away the substance of the milk.
When cream is rich, most of it goes into butter in the process of churning, and there is but little buttermilk left. When, however, cream is poor in quality, there is but little butter, while much buttermilk remains. When this occurred, probably not infrequently as the result of poor feeding, the 'toradh,' substance, was said to be taken out of the milk by occult agency. It was to safeguard against this that the hoop bound with lint was made and placed under the milk-vessel.
Lint was deemed specially appropriate to bind the 'cuach,' coil, made of the different plants. The people say that the hands and feet of Christ were bound with lint when He was taken down from the Cross, and before He was carried to the grave. In consequence of this the people speak of the lint with much reverence, and call it 'lion beannaichte,' blessed lint; 'lion naomh,' sacred lint; 'lion Chriosda chaoimh,' the lint of Christ the kindly. They say that the person who would steal lint or lint-seed would be guilty of as heinous an offence as he who would sin against the Holy Ghost:--
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'Meirle lin agus meirle frois, |
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Theft of lint and theft of seed, |
Some say that the thefts so condemned are the theft of salt and the theft of fish from a net:--
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'Meirle salainn agus meirle lin, |
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Theft of salt and theft of net, |
'Lion na mna sith,' lint of the fairy woman, fairy flax. This flax is still used for medicinal purposes, and with good effect.
Litheadh, ligheadh, flow, overflow, flood, flooded; from 'li,' water:--
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'Tha mo chasan a call an coiseachd, |
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My limbs have lost their walking, |
Liuil, liuthail, bathe, bathing, washing, lustrating, purification; from 'li,' 'liu,' water.
'Liu nan lasa,' water of the flame, lustral fire. Probably some rite is indicated (vol. i. p. 6).
Loireag, a water-nymph, a water-sprite, a water-fairy. The 'loireag' presided over the warping, weaving, waulking, and washing of the web, and if the women omitted any of the traditional usages and ceremonies of these occasions she resented their neglect in various ways. If a song were sung twice at the waulking, the 'loireag' would come and render the web as thin as before, and all the work of the women of no avail. They had to begin anew and waulk the web over again, taking special care not to repeat the offence. If a woman with 'guth cruaidh, reasgach, sgreagach,' hard metallic voice, sang out of tune and overwhelmed the others, the 'loireag' was especially wrathful at her.
A libation of milk had to be given to the 'loireag.' If this were omitted she sucked the goats, sheep, and cows of the townland, placing a spell upon them so that they could not move.
I had the following from Mary Macinnes, Haccleit, Benbecula: 'Benmore was always eerie because of the 'loireag' dwelling there. The 'loireag' is a small mite of womanhood that does not belong to this world, but to the world thither. She was wont to drive the people out of their heart-shrine with fear with my first recollection. But since the people were driven from Benmore, there is no person there whom she can frighten or dismay unless the big sheep. The 'loireag' is a plaintive little thing, stubborn
and cunning. She is fond of milk and of milk produce, and she would suck the goat, the sheep, and the cow when she could get the opportunity, and she would place a spell upon the creatures that they could not move from her. There was once a little cross Carle in Benmore, and the 'loireag' was sucking his cow. His daughter made an attempt to drive her away, but failed. She went in and told her father that neither the 'loireag' nor the cow heeded her. The little Carle leapt out at the door in sparks of red fire, swearing at the impudent 'loireag,' and at the cow. He threw a boulder at the 'loireag,' wishing to kill her, but struck the cow instead and nearly killed her! He then seized the point of the cow's horn in the name of Columba the kindly, and immediately the cow leaped away from the 'loireag,' and she leaped away from the cow. (Columba was the best leech of man and beast in Alban in his day.) The 'loireag' betook herself up the corrie of Coradale, her tune in her mouth and her tongue in her cheek, mocking the little cross-grained Carle and singing as she went:--
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'Laoigh bhreaca bhoirionn, Bhodaich bhig a bhun a Choire, Laoigh bhreaca bhoirionn. Bhodaich bhig a chota ghioire, Laoigh bhreaca bhoirionn. Bhodaich bhig a bhun a Bhealaich, Laoigh bhreaca bhoirionn.' |
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Calves flecked female, Little carle of Corrie foot, Calves flecked female. Little carle of short coat, Calves flecked female. Little carle of the foot of the Pass, Calves flecked female. |
'Loireag' occurs in the following lampoon. The places mentioned are four farms in North Uist adjoining one another.
[paragraph continues] All the four farms and several others are now in one farm under the inexpressive name of Newton.
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'Fithich dhubh a Chaolais, |
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The black ravens of the Sound, |
Lon, rope. The word is applied in St Kilda to the rope of raw hide with which the people descend the precipices after birds.
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'A lon laidir na feuma.' |
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Thou strong rope of purpose. |
'Lonachan,' rope in uprights of loom.
Lon-craois, May-fly, water-spider, water-beetle, water-demon, water-glutton, from 'lon,' water, and 'craos,' lust, demon, gluttony, voracity. It is said that a may-fly taken into the stomach causes intense thirst and burning sensation. Hence of a man given to drink it is said:--
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'Shluig e lon chraois.' |
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He swallowed a may-fly. |
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'Tart na lon-chraois ort a dhuine dhona.' |
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The thirst of the water-demon on thee, evil man. |
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'Co gionaich ri lon-chraois.' |
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As gluttonous as a water demon. |
A woman in Strathglass is said to have swallowed a may-fly, causing her insatiable thirst. She ate a salt herring and leant over a pool of water near a water-fall, which induced the fly to come up!
Lorc, loirc, leg, shank, foot, foot-mark.
'Loircean,' footling, active male child; 'loirceag,' footling, active female child; akin to 'lorg,' shank, shank-bone, foot, foot-print.
Lorg, a straight staff with the bark on and no iron on it, the staff of a flail, the haft of a spear. When the bark peels off, the 'lorg' is thrown aside. The 'bata' is a crook with the bark off, and an iron ring on it to keep away evil spirits.
Luch-f heoir, grass mouse, common shrew, also called 'fiolan,' little beast, 'fiolan feoir,' 'fiolag f heoir,' little beast of the grass, 'dallag f heoir,' little blind one of the grass. When a shrew is caught it is carefully rolled up in woollen cloth and preserved, in order to counteract the paralysis in sheep, cattle, and horses, said
to be caused by the fairy mouse. The shrew, preferably a live one, is carried sunwise across the loin of the animal affected, in name of Father, Son, and Spirit. But, like its congener, the water-vole, the common shrew was dreaded if seen near dwellings, as its appearance presaged death in the house or ruin in the fold. An aged woman and the writer observed a shrew mouse making its way in the direction of some houses up the glen. Pressing her hand on mine, the woman whispered in anxious tones, 'Iosa Mac Moire bhi leinn, a ghraidh, tha i seo air toir cuideigin'--Jesus the Son of Mary be about us, thou love, this one is seeking somebody. The death of her husband some days thereafter confirmed her belief.
Lucha shith, fairy mouse, lesser shrew. It is also called 'beothachan feoir,' little life of the grass; 'fionnag feoir,' little beast of the grass; and 'feoirneachan,' little one of the grass.
The lesser shrew is much disliked, from a belief that it causes paralysis of the spine in sheep, cows, and horses, by running across the animal when lying down. This is called 'marcachd shith'--fairy riding. To counteract its effects, a live common shrew if available, otherwise a dead one, is carried across the loin and spine of the animal affected, in name of Father, of Son, and of Spirit.
In some districts 'a mharcachd shith,' 'na marcaich shith,' is applied to the perspiration, due to weakness, which comes out on cattle.
The lesser shrew is the smallest British mammal and one of the prettiest. It is not rare, but it is seldom seen, because of its habit of travelling under the grass--its slender pliant body, its long tapering head, and its sharp pointed nose, being marvellously adapted to this mode of progression. The observer may not see the animal, but if he notices a rapid progressive but hardly perceptible movement in the grass, he may conclude that a fairy mouse is underneath.