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OF THE GAELIC LANGUAGE.
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crè, clay, Ir., O. Ir. cré, g. criad, W. pridd, Cor., Br. pry. Its relation to Lat. crêta, which Wharton explains as from crêtus, "sifted", from cerno, is doubtful. If cerno be for *crino, Gr. κρίνω, we should have the root kri, krei, separate, as in criathar, and it is not labialised in any language (not qrei). The Celtic phonetics are not easily explained, however. Stokes gives the stem as qreid-, but the modern G. has the peculiar è sound which we find in gnè, cè. This points to a stem qrē-jâ, root qrê, which is in agreement with Lat. crêta without doing the violence of supposing crino to give cerno, and this again crêtus. Cf. O. Ir. clé, left.
crè, creubh, body; see creubh.
crèabag, a ball for playing, fir cone:
creach, plunder, so Ir., E. Ir. crech, plundering, hosting; cf. Br. kregi, seize, bite, catch (as fire). From the root ker, cut, ultimately. See corc, knife, and creuchd.
creachag, a cockle, Ir. creach, scollop shell (O'R.); cf. W. cragen, a shell, Cor. crogen, Br. krog.
creachan, creachann, bare summit of a hill wanting foliage, a mountain: "bared", from creach?
creachan, pudding mad with a calf's entrails (M'L.):
creadhonadh, a twitching, piercing pain (Heb.); possibly for cneadh-ghonadh, "wound-piercing".
creag, a rock, so Ir.; a curtailed form of carraig. Also (Dialectically) craig. Hence Eng. crag.
creamh, garlic, Ir. creamh, earlier crem, W. craf; Gr. κρόμυον, onion; Ag. S. hramse, Eng. ramsons; Lit. kermúszė, wild garlic.
crean, crion, quake, tear up (Carm.):
creanair, sedition (Arm.; not H.S.D.), so Ir. (O'R.):
creanas, whetting or hacking of sticks (M'F.; H.S.D. considers it Dialectic), neat-handed (M'L.):
creapall, entanglin, hindering, so Ir.; it is an Ir. word evidently, from Lh.; founded on Eng. cripple.
creapall, a garter, crepailld (Skye); (Arm. creapull):
creathach, (faded) underwood, firewood, Ir. creathach, hurdle, brushwood, faggots (O'R.): *kṛto-; cf. crìon.
creathall, cradle, from Northern M. Eng. credil, Sc. creddle, Eng. cradle, Ag. S. cradol. Further derivation at present uncertain (Murray).
creathall, a lamprey:
creatrach, a wilderness, so Ir. (Lh., etc.); M'A. gives the word, but it is clearly Ir. Cf. creathach.
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