caile
Irish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Unconfirmed but may be from Old Irish caile (“girl, serving-girl, maid”). A 1768 Irish-English dictionary explains caile as Old Irish a country woman, a marriageable girl, a young woman. The same and later dictionaries mention this as analogous to the Greek pulchra/pulcher calḗ (Καλή), and the Hebrew word calla spōnsa nurus which appears to mean prospective daughter in law.
By 1780 the word caile is showing as meaning either Old Irish strumpet, harlot or Old Irish young girl, queen and then appears far more frequently alongside the neural connotions.
If the origin of the word is caile meaning girl, it survives within the word gearrchaile
Noun
[edit]caile m or f (genitive singular caile, nominative plural cailí)
Declension
[edit]- Masculine
- Feminine
Derived terms
[edit]- caile daibhche (“washerwoman”)
- cailín
Mutation
[edit]Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
caile | chaile | gcaile |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Further reading
[edit]- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “caile”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
- Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 caile”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
- “caile”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024
Old Irish
[edit]Etymology
[edit]Possibly related to Breton plac'h (“girl”) which cognates with Latin paelex (“concubine”), Ancient Greek παλλακή (pallakḗ, “young girl”).[1]
Noun
[edit]caile ? (genitive caile)
Inflection
[edit]Accusative form in caili attested in the Middle Irish Book of Leinster manuscript points to feminine iā-stem declension but it might be just a late spelling of in caile. Classical Gaelic grammatical tracts list it among masculine nouns[2] and genitive an chaile in bardic poetry points to masculine gender. In Modern Irish it appears both as a masculine and a feminine noun.
The declension table below assumes the accusative in caili from The Book of Leinster is correct for Old Irish.
Feminine iā-stem | |||
---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Nominative | caileL | cailiL | caili |
Vocative | caileL | cailiL | caili |
Accusative | cailiN | cailiL | caili |
Genitive | caile | caileL | caileN |
Dative | cailiL | cailib | cailib |
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
|
Descendants
[edit]Mutation
[edit]Old Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Nasalization |
caile | chaile | caile pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/ |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
References
[edit]- ^ MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “caile”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language[1], Stirling, →ISBN, page caile
- ^ Osborn Bergin (1916) “Irish Grammatical Tracts II (Declension, a)”, in Ériu, volume 8, Supplement, Royal Irish Academy, , →JSTOR, §2, page 39: “A mbráithri .fer. and so sís. (…) caile (acht an bainindscne indte), (…)”
Further reading
[edit]- Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 caile”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
Scottish Gaelic
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Old Irish caile (“serving-girl, maid”); compare Breton plac’h (“girl”); Ancient Greek παλλακή (pallakḗ, “concubine”), Latin pellex.
Noun
[edit]caile f (genitive singular caile, plural cailean)
- vulgar girl, quean, hussy
- strumpet
- (Argyll, Perthshire) any young girl
- maidservant who does more or less other work than housework
- Synonym: caile-shearbhanta
Derived terms
[edit]- caile-bhalach (“romp, tomboy”)
- caile-circein (“shuttlecock”)
- caileag (“young girl”)
- (poetic) cailin (“maiden, young woman”)
Related terms
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit](This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Noun
[edit]caile f
Mutation
[edit]Scottish Gaelic mutation | |
---|---|
Radical | Lenition |
caile | chaile |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
References
[edit]- Edward Dwelly (1911) “caile”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary][2], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
- Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 caile”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
- Irish terms inherited from Old Irish
- Irish terms derived from Old Irish
- Irish lemmas
- Irish nouns
- Irish masculine nouns
- Irish feminine nouns
- Irish nouns with multiple genders
- Irish fourth-declension nouns
- ga:Female people
- Old Irish lemmas
- Old Irish nouns
- Old Irish iā-stem nouns
- sga:Occupations
- sga:Female people
- Scottish Gaelic terms inherited from Old Irish
- Scottish Gaelic terms derived from Old Irish
- Scottish Gaelic lemmas
- Scottish Gaelic nouns
- Scottish Gaelic feminine nouns
- Argyll Scottish Gaelic
- Perthshire Scottish Gaelic
- gd:Occupations
- gd:Female people