A 19th century word for a man who specialised in the treatment of sick goats was aegologist. I came across it the other night in a glossary of old farming terms, and I was reminded that it is related to the word aegis, sponsorship or protection, often used in the phrase under the aegis of.

The primary meaning of aegis was a shield. In Greek mythology the Aegis was the goatskin shield given or lent by Zeus to Athena to protect her from the ravaging Titans, and, due no doubt to the celestial power of the greatest of the gods, it worked very well. Some say the origin of the Greek word is to be found in aig-, stem of aix, goat. I don't think the aegologists ply their craft any more, but what a fine-sounding word it was, much more magisterial than goat-doctor, not to mention vet.

Mary Kenny from Malahide has been reading Peter Carey's fine novel True History of the Kelly Gang which won the Booker Prize recently. She asks for information about some words used by Ned Kelly. The first is bruitin. I quote: "Aunt Kate . . . made what my father called bruitin and the Quinns champ it is potatoes mashed up with a great lump of butter." The Irish is br·it∅n, related to br·, to press, mash.

The second is corrovat: "We mixed our blood together and proclaimed an oath he said I do swear to be true to my captain or corrovat until death." Here we have Irish carabhat cravat, collar. The Caravats were an early 19th century South Tipperary and Waterford agrarian secret society, named for their leader Caravat Hanley, a flamboyant hooligan who died on the gallows trading insults with his enemies and ostentatiously throwing his cravat to the mob. Clark and Donnelly record his doings in Irish Peasants, Violence and Political Unrest, Wisconsin, 1983.

Ms Kenny's next word is skerrick: ". . . there was no red about his mother's garments in the whole house not the smallest skerrick." The English Dialect Dictionary recorded it in Scotland and in England, whence it travelled to Australia. It means a tiny fragment. Its origin is unknown.

Finally brerd, the topmost surface or margin; brim. This is a very old word, unchanged in both spelling and meaning since it was first written in Old English prior to 1000. You might also compare Old High German brort, margin, lip. The Scots and Ulster breard, the first shoots of corn showing above ground, is from the same source.