Codfish, trosc (throsk), which also means a fast, and probably it got this name from being used in times of fasting, for it is in prime order in the months of February and March. Armstrong, in his Gaelic Dictionary, at the word trosg, a fast, a religious fast, fasting, states:-"St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Colossians, ii. 23, writes λopηoкɛía, a voluntary fast, a superstitious fast. A Gael of Scotland would call it toil-throsg. The correspondence is too striking to require comment." O'Reilly gives also bodach, a codfish, which means a rustic, a clownish fellow, meaning that it is a common, coarse fish.

Colt, bromach (brom-ach), which signifies rude, rustic, i. e., an
unbroken animal.

Coney or Rabbit, coinin (kon-een), derived from cú, a hound, gen.
con and coin, and in, the diminutive; and therefore signifies the
little animal in the shape and of the speed of a hound.
Coot, gata dubh is given by Keogh, but the word gata must be a
localism, as it is not to be found in any of the Dictionaries. The
word giota means a piece of anything, but as applied to persons
or animals, signifies short, round and plump, and in this case
would mean the short black water-fowl. O'Reilly gives the
name cearc uisce, or uisge, (kark is-kay) i. e., cearc, a hen, and
uisce of the water-a water-hen. It may be remarked that the
word uisce, and isce, water, enters into the names of many rivers
and watery places in England, Ireland and Scotland, and also
in the Crimea, as shown by Pallas in his History of that country;
and whence it may be traced by schuy in the Turkish language;
Belgian, esck; Armoric, isge; Cornish, isge; old Welsh or
British, isca; and from the word uisce is derived the name of
that fluid called whiskey, which is now as universally understood
in America as it is in Europe.

Cormorant, fiach dubh fairge is the name given by Keogh, i. e., fiach,
any animal of the chase, or that preys on others, and is understood
as the name of a raven; dubh, black, and fairge, of the sea=the
black raven of the sea. In O'Reilly's Dictionary the following
names are given:-fiach fairge, raven of the sea; fiach mara,
the latter word being the gen. of muir, the sea; gairg and
gairgean, which means a diver, or diving bird; scarbh, which
signifies shallow water, because he generally dives in shallow
water near the shore; he is well known by the name dubh-eun-
fairge, black bird of the sea, and seagaidh is its name in an old
Glossary, which probably it got on account of its seagan, or large

craw or crop.

Corn-crake or Rail, traonach, traghnach, tradhnach, and traon, of which the others are various forms, and appear to be derived from tréan, powerful or strong, and he is also named tréan-retréan, powerful with powerful, meaning that his two joint crakes are equally powerful. In the Book of Oghams, the name given

2 The Welsh name for water-hen is cotiar.-ED. CAMB. JOUR.

A

P

him is droen (i. e., draon), from which is formed draighnach which means a rattling (or craking) noise.

Cow, bó (bow), the sound of which is expressive of the lowing of the animal. The word is a heteroclite, and is thus declined :—nom. bo, gen. bo, dat. boin; nom. plur. ba, gen. bo, dat. boibh, or buaibh ibh=ibus. Buar means kine. Bo is compared with bos, Latin, Cous, Greek (Boáw, to low); Welsh, buwch; Armoric, bu; Cornish, bu and buih, and Manx, bua.

There are several places in Ireland named from the cow, as inis-bo-finne, or Inishbofin, an island off the coast of Mayo, and another in Lough Ree in the Shannon. It means the island of the white cow, which, it is said, had something to do with Druidism.

The following are a few of the names pertaining to the cow kind, which have been collected from various authorities.

Bo-bhaine, a cow of milk, or a milch cow; baine is derived from bán, pale or white, i. e., the colour of the milk.

Bo-blicht, a milch cow; blicht, milk, derived from blich or bligh, to milk.

Aoideach, a milch cow, and signifies hospitality, generosity. Loilgheach, Luilgheach, or Lulgach, is glossed by laeg bec, i. e., a little calf, and is derived from lu, little, and laegh a calf, i. e., a cow having a little calf, and therefore a milch cow. In the Book of Oghams the name is written Lilgach. Boinlacht is the milk of a cow, which Cormac derives from bo, a cow, and lacht, milk, i. e., the quantity of milk obtained at one time from In the Cow Ogham the four names given for the animal are Lilgach, a milch cow; Gamhnach, a stripper; Samaisc, a heifer, or young cow; and Dairt, a young heifer.

a cow.

O'Reilly gives the name Laogh-ligheach, a cow that has newly calved, i. e., laogh, a calf, and ligh, to lick, because she licks her calf.

Bo dearbh, a milch cow, from bo and dearbh, a churn, i. e., a churn cow for the dairy.

O'Dugan in his Glossary of obsolete words (thirteenth century) states that the two ancient names for a cow are fearb and laithri, and Cormac in his explanation of the word Ferb has the following:"Ferb .1. trede for dingair .1. ferb bo cétamus, ut est isint Senchas mar, teora ferba fira .1. tri ba finda." Ferb has three meanings, viz., ferb means a cow in the first place, as it is (written) in the Senchas mór, i. e., three white cows. Perhaps this name is derived from fer, grass (or grazing), and bo, cow, meaning a cow equal to a colpa in grazing, i. e., a full grown COW. The plural form ferba, in the quotation, favours this derivation. Laithri may be derived from lacht, milk. Bolan, derived from bo, a cow, and lan full, i.

Cow.

e., a

full grown Sed, a young cow, which also means property, wealth, a CAMB. JOUR., 1864.

2 K

jewel, &c., i. e., being value for money or any other precious commodities. Sedghabhla is glossed by luilgheach, a milch cow.

Bolog, a heifer, derived from bo, a cow, and og, young; the name is now understood to mean a bullock.

Agh or adh, a beast of the cow kind, and means luck or prosperity.

Seasgaidhe, a cow having no milk, i. e., having run dry; she is now called bo seasg, and the word seasg means dry or barren. Earc, any beast of the cow kind. "Earca iucna, .1. cenel bo .1. ba finda, o dearga." (O'Reilly quoting the Breton Laws.) Earca iucna, i. e., a kind of cows, i. e., white cows, red ears. The word earca is explained by ba, the plural of bo, a cow and finda, the plur. of find or fionn, white; iucna by o, an ear or ears, and dearga, the plur. of dearg, red. I heard the word earcán frequently used and applied to a brindled two year old calf.

Sciathach, a cow that has white streaks on her sides, and is derived from sciath, a hurdle, or a shield of wicker work of different colours, and the similarity means parti-coloured.

Soilbech bethach, given in O'Davoran's Glossary, which he glosses by bo, a cow; and he glosses (or derives) soilbech by sobleoghoin, which is compounded of so, easy, and bleoghain, milking, i. e., a cow (bethach, a beast) easily milked.

Colpa and colpach mean any full grown animal of the horse or cow kind. Six sheep are also called a colpa, as their grazing or feeding is estimated to be equal to that of the full grown cow or horse. The word is still in common use, and I heard it Anglicised kolp by those who spoke English.

Bo-gabhala is explained by mart no bo mhéith, i. e., a beef or fat cow. The word méith signifies fat and juicy. The name mart (morth), a beef, is still in general use, and from it the town of Westport, in the county Mayo, derives its Irish name of Cathair-na-mart, the town of the beeves. Cathair (=кaléopa) originally signified a stone fortress, but is now understood to mean a city; in Welsh, caer and cadair, and in Armoric, cador. Crabfish, partán and portán (porth-awn), from port, a port, or the shore, and an, the terminative particle. It is also called crúbán, (kroob-aun) from crúb, a claw, i. e., having many claws. Another name is tarpan or torpan, which means a round lump or clod, to which its form is assimilated. Portan-chapuill is the name of the spider crab. They are called portan from being always found along the shore.

(To be continued.)

AMERGIN.

251

CO-OPERATION IN THE SLATE QUARRIES OF
NORTH WALES.

By Professor J. E. CAIRNES.

(Reprinted from MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE, by the kind permission of the Proprietor.)

THE public must now be tolerably familiar with the story of the Rochdale Equitable Pioneers, and of the numerous societies, founded upon the same principles, which, in various parts of the country, have already accomplished such great things for the working people, and given earnest for the future of still greater achievements in their behalf. It has heard something also of other and more genuine examples of "co-operation,"where associates not only trade but "work" together, where the labourers are also the capitalists, and wages and profits return to the same hands-experiments which, small as have been the actual fruits they have hitherto yielded, form yet, in the opinion of those who have most deeply pondered the problem of industrial reform, the most solid grounds of hope for the future permanent elevation of the labouring class.' But there is, besides these, a third species of "co-operation," prevailing throughout some large industries in Great Britain, which has not, so far as I am aware, received any consideration in the numerous and instructive discussions which have within the last few years taken place upon this subject, but which is nevertheless well worthy of attention. I refer to the method of employing labour which prevails extensively in mining and other analogous occupations, and is known as the "bargain" or or "contract" system. Having lately had an opportunity of witnessing this system in the slate quarries of North Wales, I will describe briefly the method and its results. It will, I think,

1 See an article of great interest in the Westminster Review for April, 1864, entitled, "Strikes and Industrial Co-operation," in which the whole subject is handled with remarkable ability and knowledge.

be seen that it is a genuine instance of "co-operation one, moreover, which exhibits the beneficial tendencies of that plan, in some respects in even a more striking light than other and better known examples.

The mountains of North Wales, as is well known, constitute the principal source of the wealth of that region. They are extremely metalliferous, containing lead and copper ore, besides sulphur; but their most important constituent is the slate formation. Veins of this rock, varying in thickness from four and five, to four and five hundred yards, and traceable, in some instances, for a length of many miles, traverse the country, but more especially the mountain ranges of Caernarvon and Merioneth. The importance of the industry to which they give occasion may be judged of from the fact, that three slate quarries-those of Penrhyn, Llanberis, and Festiniog -give employment to not fewer than 7,000 men, representing a population of perhaps 20,000 persons. are, indeed, by much the principal of the slate quarries in that region, but they form but a small fraction of the whole number. It is impossible to wander in any direction over the mountains of those two counties without finding abundant evidence how widely the popular enterprise is engaged in this branch of production. No mountain side is so inaccessible that the slate prospector has not reached it, and the most secluded glens and passes are heard to echo the thunder of the quarrier's blast.

These

The great majority of the slate quarries are worked by companies either private co-partneries or joint stock companies; but a few, and notably the two largest-the quarries of Penrhyn and Llanberis-are in the hands of individuals, the proprietors of the mountains, where the slate-formation occurs. In the former case the capitalist or capitalists working the quarry pay a royalty, which is generally one-twelfth of the produce. It must be observed that the slate does not, as is frequently supposed, and as might be inferred from a cursory glance at a slate quarry, constitute the mass of the mountain in which the quarry is cut. It runs in distinct