Common Figwort
I got an email from a man who
belongs to Inverness. The man’s
mother was brought up in Inverness
also. She was raised in an area
called Merkinch. Gaelic was alive in
Merkinch longer than in any other
area of Inverness. My friend’s
mother didn’t speak Gaelic. But she
had Gaelic words in her English.
One day, my friend was visiting
his mother. He had a lump on his
neck. It was a thing called a “cyst”
in English. His mother looked at the
lump. She said in English that it was
a farach. A farach.
My friend was remembering
that word recently. He was thinking
that it was a Gaelic word. He looked
in the Gaelic dictionaries. Farach
wasn’t there. But, in Dwelly’s
dictionary, there are farach-donn
and farach-dubh. Both of those mean
Lus nan Cnapan. Lus nan Cnapan is
the Gaelic for the Common Figwort
or Scrophularia nodosa. The lumps
are on the roots of the plant. That’s
where nodosa comes from also –
there are nodules on it.
Have you ever heard of the
“Doctrine of Signatures”? That was
a thing in olden times. When a part
of a plant was like a human organ,
people were thinking that the plant
was curing [would cure] a disease
affecting [on] the organ. In the book
The Gaelic Names of Plants by John
Cameron (1883) here’s what he
wrote about Lus nan Cnapan:
“..from the resemblance of its roots
to tumours ... it was esteemed a
remedy for all scrofulous diseases.”
Lus nan Cnapan, Scrophularia nòdosa, was a treatment for a disease
called scrofula in English. In
scrofula (or “the king’s disease” in
Gaelic) lumps appear on the neck of
the person who is sick.
Well, here’s my thought. Farach
means a lump. Thus, farach-dubh
and farach-donn were some people’s
names for Lus nan Cnapan. Lus nan
Cnapan was a cure for scrofula – a
disease in which lumps appear on
the neck. If you yourself have a
thought on that, won’t you let me
know?
Lus nan Cnapan
Fhuair mi post-d bho dhuine à Inbhir
Nis. Thogadh màthair an duine ann
an Inbhir Nis cuideachd. Thogadh i
ann an sgìre ris an canar Marc-Innis.
Bha a’ Ghàidhlig beò ann am MarcInnis nas fhaide na sgìre sam bith eile
ann an Inbhir Nis. Cha robh Gàidhlig
aig màthair mo charaid. Ach bha
faclan Gàidhlig anns a’ Bheurla aice.
Latha a bha seo, bha mo
charaid a’ tadhal air a mhàthair. Bha
cnap air amhaich. B’ e rud ris an
canar cyst ann am Beurla. Choimhead a mhàthair air a’ chnap. Thuirt i,
ann am Beurla, gur e farach a bha
ann. Farach.
Bha mo charaid a’ cuimhneachadh an fhacail sin o chionn
ghoirid. Bha e a’ smaoineachadh gur
e facal Gàidhlig a bha ann.
Choimhead e anns na faclairean
Gàidhlig. Cha robh farach ann. Ach,
ann am faclair Dwelly, tha farach-donn agus farach-dubh ann. Tha an
dà rud sin a’ ciallachadh Lus nan
Cnapan. ’S e Lus nan Cnapan a’
Ghàidhlig air Common Figwort no
Scrophularia nodosa. Tha na cnapan
air freumhaichean an luis. ’S ann às a
sin a tha nodosa a’ tighinn cuideachd
– tha nodules air.
An cuala sibh riamh mun
Doctrine of Signatures? B’ e sin rud
anns an t-seann aimsir. Nuair a bha
pàirt de lus coltach ri ball-bodhaig
duine, bha daoine a’ smaoineachadh
gun robh an lus a’ dèanamh leigheas
air tinneas air a’ bhall-bhodhaig.
Anns an t-seann leabhar The Gaelic
Names of Plants le Iain Camshron
(ochd ceud deug, ochdad ’s a trì) seo
na sgrìobh e mu Lus nan Cnapan:
“..from the resemblance of its roots
to tumours ... it was esteemed a
remedy for all scrofulous diseases.”
Bha Lus nan Cnapan, Scrophularia
nodosa, na leigheas airson tinneas air
a bheil scrofula ann am Beurla. Ann
an scrofula (no tinneas an rìgh ann an
Gàidhlig) bidh cnapan air amhaich an
duine a tha tinn.
Uill, seo mo smuain. Tha
farach a’ ciallachadh cnap. Mar sin,
bha farach-dubh is farach-donn aig
cuid air Lus nan Cnapan. Bha Lus
nan Cnapan na leigheas airson
tinneas an rìgh – tinneas anns an robh
cnapan a’ nochdadh air an amhaich.
Ma tha smuain agaibh fhèin air sin,
nach cuir sibh fios thugam?
