{"id":6562,"date":"2022-05-03T17:53:12","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T16:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/?p=6562"},"modified":"2026-09-18T15:17:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T14:17:41","slug":"heather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/2022\/05\/03\/heather\/","title":{"rendered":"Heather"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today we&rsquo;re looking at the words for <strong>heather<\/strong> and related things in Celtic languages.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/fslangridge\/51400941664\/in\/photolist-2mj8gb9-5vP6TL-8hP21-6zY9uZ-2K3mu-2eGcCu4-5ae8N3-4Gkdf1-2Vgei-6X2tZn-dhvWq1-5ZUZYF-5fLzBe-ad2m9b-g2uvaV-2hDcwAp-eoPBD4-2WUBW-8t4fhc-6A3cxJ-57mdB-hMjCJ-7kZvm-ad2keJ-3pxbE4-9Sad-bH3Pw-2ncqe2L-Rmu7co-2ngT68E-afC2M4-6A3gEm-hjaUD-w3yZD-5VvLrK-afXTxw-9xHX5i-nTV9r-2iqNYBY-6e4kfP-5C6VxV-6X2gCB-w5Air-24a9cua-5pe1h4-9xr4at-47iTi-bns85q-D35yj7-BU5ib\" title=\"Heather\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/51400941664_4be6148be9_z.jpg\" alt=\"Heather\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\"><\/a><script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Words marked with a * are reconstructions.<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Proto-Celtic<\/th>\n<td><strong>*wroikos<\/strong> = heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Gaulish<\/th>\n<td><strong>*wroika<\/strong> = heather<br>\n<strong>brucaria \/ uroica<\/strong> = field of heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Celtiberian<\/th>\n<td><strong>*broikios<\/strong> = heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Irish (Go&iacute;delc)<\/th>\n<td><strong>fro&iacute;ch, fr&oacute;ech<\/strong> = heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>fr&aacute;ech<\/strong> = heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Irish (Gaeilge)<\/th>\n<td><strong>fraoch<\/strong> [f&#736;&#638;&#736;e&#720;x \/ f&#736;&#638;&#736;i&#720;x \/ f&#736;&#638;&#736;i&#720;x] = heather, heath, moor<br>\n<strong>fraoch&aacute;n<\/strong> = bilberry, whortleberry, ring-ouzel<br>\n<strong>fraochlach<\/strong> = heath<br>\n<strong>fraochmh&aacute;<\/strong> = heath<br>\n<strong>fraochmhar<\/strong> = heathery<br>\n<strong>fraoch b&aacute;n<\/strong> = white heather<br>\n<strong>fraoch coitianta<\/strong> = Scotch heather, ling<br>\n<strong>p&iacute;obaire fraoch<\/strong> = grasshopper<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Scottish Gaelic (G&agrave;idhlig)<\/th>\n<td><strong>fraoch<\/strong> [fr&#623;&#720;x] = heather, ling<br>\n<strong>fraoch-geal<\/strong> = white common heather (<em>Calluna vulgaris alba<\/em><br>\n<strong>fraoch-bheinn<\/strong> = heather-covered mountain<br>\n<strong>fraochan<\/strong> = whortleberry, blaeberry, lingonberry, cranberry<br>\n<strong>fraochach<\/strong> = heathy, heathery<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Manx (Gaelg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>freoagh<\/strong> = heather, ling, heath<br>\n<strong>freoagh bane<\/strong> = brier, white heather<br>\n<strong>freoagh marrey<\/strong> = sea fern<br>\n<strong>freoagh mooar<\/strong> = Scotch heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Proto-Brythonic<\/th>\n<td><strong>*gwr&#649;g<\/strong> [&#712;&#609;wr&#649;&#720;&#609;] = heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Welsh (Kymraec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>gruc, gerug, gwrug<\/strong> = heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Welsh (Cymraeg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>grug<\/strong> [&#609;r&#616;&#720;&#609; \/ &#609;ri&#720;&#609;] = heather, ling heath<br>\n<strong>grug cyffredin<\/strong> = heather, ling, common heath, <em>Calluna vulgaris<\/em><br>\n<strong>grugiar<\/strong> = (red) grouse, willow grouse, heath-hen<br>\n<strong>gruglus<\/strong> = heath-berries<br>\n<strong>gruglwyn<\/strong> = bush of heather, sweet broom<br>\n<strong>grugnythu<\/strong> = to nest or nestle in the heather<br>\n<strong>grugog<\/strong> = heath-covered, heathery, abounding in heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Cornish (Kernwek)<\/th>\n<td><strong>grug<\/strong> [&#609;ry&#720;&#609; \/ &#609;ri&#720;&#609;] = heath, heather, ling<br>\n<strong>grugyar<\/strong> = partridge<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Breton<\/th>\n<td><strong>groegan<\/strong> = heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Breton (Brezhoneg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>brug<\/strong> [bry&#720;k] = heather<br>\n<strong>brugek<\/strong> [&#712;bry&#720;.&#609;&#603;k] = (a place) abundant in heather, covered with heather<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Etymology<\/strong> unknown, possibly from a non-Proto-Indo-European root [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic\/wroikos\">source<\/a>]. The Breton word <strong>brug<\/strong> was borrowed from Latin <em>br&#363;cus<\/em> (heather), which comes from Gaulish <em>brucaria<\/em> (field of heather), from Proto-Celtic <em>*wroikos<\/em> (heather) [<a href=\"https:\/\/fr.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/bruy%C3%A8re#fr\">source<\/a>]. It replaced the Middle Breton word <em>groegan<\/em>, which comes from the same roots [<a href=\"https:\/\/fr.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/brug#Breton\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Words from the same Proto-Celtic roots, via Gaulish <strong>*wroikos<\/strong> (heather), and Latin <em>*br&#363;cus<\/em> (heather) or Vulgar Latin <em>*broccius<\/em>, include <strong>brezo<\/strong> (heath) in Spanish, <strong>breixo<\/strong> (heather) in Galician, <strong>brugo<\/strong> (heather) and <strong>brughiera<\/strong> (heath, moor) in Italian, <strong>bruc<\/strong> (heather) and <strong>bruguera<\/strong> (heath) in Catalan, and <strong>bruy&egrave;re<\/strong> (heather, heath, brier) in French [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Latin\/brucus\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><strong>Eilean Fraoch<\/strong> (Heather Isle) is a nickname for the Isle of Lewis \/ Eilean Le&ograve;dhais in the Western Isles \/ Na h-Eileanan Siar. Here&rsquo;s a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/songs\/gaelic\/elieanfraoich.php\">song<\/a> about it:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Cv3zBVBpKOc\" title=\"YouTube video player\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen=\"\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Sources: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/\">Wiktionary<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.faclair.com\/\">Am Faclair Beag<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mannin.info\/Mannin\/fockleyr\/m2e.php\">Online Manx Dictionary<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teanglann.ie\/en\/fgb\/ceann\">Teanglann.ie<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/dil.ie\/\">eDIL &ndash; Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www3.smo.uhi.ac.uk\/sengoidelc\/duil-belrai\/english.html\">In D&uacute;il B&eacute;lrai English &ndash; Old Irish glossary<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/geiriadur.ac.uk\/gpc\/gpc.html\">Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cornishdictionary.org.uk\">Gerlyver Kernewek<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/books\/reader?id=CwUGAAAAQAAJ&amp;printsec=frontcover\">Gerlyvyr Cernewec<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.arkaevraz.net\/dicobzh\/index.php\">Dictionaire Favereau<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brezhoneg.bzh\/87-termofis.htm\">TermOfis<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/devri.bzh\/\">Le dictionnaire diachronique du breton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/geriafurch.bzh\/br\">Geriafurch<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wales.ac.uk\/Resources\/Documents\/Research\/CelticLanguages\/EnglishProtoCelticWordList.pdf\">English &ndash; ProtoCeltic WordList<\/a> (PDF), <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/embed\/EtymologicalDictionaryOfProtoCeltic\">Etymological Dictionary Of Proto Celtic<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.japanesepod101.com\/member\/go.php?r=759259&amp;i=b0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/images\/banners\/banner_japanesepod.jpg\" alt=\"The Fastest Way to Learn Japanese Guaranteed with JapanesePod101.com\" width=\"630\" height=\"83\"><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today we&#8217;re looking at the words for heather and related things in Celtic languages. Words marked with a * are reconstructions. Proto-Celtic *wroikos = heather Gaulish *wroika = heather brucaria \/ uroica = field of heather Celtiberian *broikios = heather Old Irish (Go\u00eddelc) fro\u00edch, fr\u00f3ech = heather Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg) fr\u00e1ech = heather Irish (Gaeilge) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,84,16,101,17,26,19,20,44,24,25,21,83,3,36,22,5,37,7,27,10,11,12,13,23,72,98,18,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives","category-birds","category-breton","category-catalan-catala","category-celtiberian","category-kernewek-cornish","category-english","category-etymology","category-french","category-galician","category-gaulish","category-gaeilge-irish","category-italian-italiano","category-language","category-latin","category-gaelg-manx","category-middle-breton","category-middle-irish","category-middle-welsh-kymraec","category-nouns","category-old-irish-goidelc","category-proto-brythonic","category-proto-celtic","category-proto-indo-european","category-gaidhlig-scottish-gaelic","category-trees","category-vulgar-latin-sermo-vulgaris","category-cymraeg-welsh","category-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6562"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9319,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6562\/revisions\/9319"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}