Note 1190 — Chapter XX · THE WORSHIP OF THE OAK

G. Curtius, Griech. Etymologie, 5th Ed., pp. 238 sq.; J. Rhys, op. cit. pp. 221 sq.; P. Kretschmer, Einleitung in die Geschichte der griech. Sprache, p. 81. Compare A. Vanicek, Griechisch-lateinisch. etymologisches Wörterbuch, pp. 368-370. Oak in old Irish is daur, in modern Irish dair, darach, in Gaelic darach. See G. Curtius, l.c.; A. Macbain, Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (Inverness, 1896), s.v. “Darach.” On this view Pliny was substantially right (Nat. Hist. xvi. 249) in connecting Druid with the Greek drus, “oak,” though the name was not derived from the Greek. However, this derivation of Druid has been doubted or rejected by some scholars. See H. D’Arbois de Jubainville, Cours de la littérature celtique, i. (Paris, 1883), pp. 117 sqq.; O. Schrader, Reallexikon der indogermanischen Altertumskunde, pp. 638 sq.