Page:Alexander Macbain - An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language.djvu/83

 Rh  Lat. imber; Gr. ὄμβος, rain; Skr. ambu, water. Zimmer considers the Ir. borrowed from Ag. S. ámber, amphora, Ger. eimer; but the Gaelic meaning is distinctly against his theory. A borrowing from Lat. amphora is liable to the same objection.

amhas, amhusg, wild man, beast man; Ir. amhas, a wild man, madman; E. Ir. amos, amsach, a mercenary soldier, servant. Conchobar's amsaig, or mercenaries, in the E. Ir. saga of Deirdre, appear misunderstood as our amhusgan, monsters; there is probably a reminiscence of the Norse "bear-sarks". Borrowed from Gaul. Lat. ambactus (=servus, Festus), through *ambaxus; Cæsar says of the Gaulish princes: "Circum se ambactos clientesque habent". The roots are ambi- (see mu) and ag, go, lead (see aghaidh). Hence many words, as Eng.