I'm curious about the word "buabhall" in Gaelic. I have seen it translated as "buffalo" in English and also as "unicorn." It seems strange to me that the same word would be used for both creatures. Can anyone shed any light on this? Also, I'd like to know how the word is pronounced. Thank you.
An Beirneach ()
Posted on Tuesday, September 26, 2000 - 12:25 pm:
the pronunciation is like /boo-wal/.
Seosamh
Posted on Wednesday, September 27, 2000 - 10:53 am:
Buabhall means a wild ox, buffalo; a horn; a bugle(-horn); a drinking horn. I've never seen it used myself for unicorn and I don't see that definition in the Irish dictionaries. The usual word for unicorn in Irish is aonadharcach (een-AYE-uhr-kukh), lit. a one-horned thing.