Gaul

English

Etymology

Borrowed from , from Middle French Gaule (“Gaul”), from Old French Gaule, Waulle (“Gaul”), a word used as a translation of Latin Gallia (“Gaul”), possibly from Frankish *Walhaland (“Gaul, Land of the Romans, foreigners”) (but see etymology for Gallus), from *Walha (“foreigners, Romans, Celts”), from Proto-Germanic *walhaz (“an outlander, foreigner, Celt”), probably of Celtic origin, from the same source as Latin Volcae (“name of a Celtic tribe in South Germany, which later emmigrated to Gaul”). Akin to Old High German Walh, Walah (“a Celt, Roman, Gaul”), Old English Wealh, Walh (“a non-Germanic foreigner, Celt/Briton/Welshman”), Old Norse Valir (“Gauls, Frenchmen”). More at Wales/Welsh, Cornwall, Walloon, and Vlach/Wallachia.

Despite their similar appearance, Latin Gallia is probably not the origin of French Gaule; the similarity is purely coincidental. According to regular sound changes in the development of (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old French, Latin g before a becomes j (compare gamba, whence jambe), and the i of terminal -ia transpositions to the preceding syllable (compare gloire from gloria). Thus, the regular outcome of Latin Gallia is Jaille, a component still seen in several (deprecated template usage) [etyl] French placenames (e.g. La Jaille-Yvon, Saint-Mars-la-Jaille, etc).

Pronunciation

• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) IPA^(key): /ɡɔːl/
• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) Homophone: gall

Proper noun

Gaul

1. A Roman-era region roughly corresponding to modern France and Belgium

Translations

region

• Afrikaans: Gallië
• Arabic: بْلَاد اَلْغَال f pl (blād al-ḡāl)
• Catalan: Gàl·lia f
• Czech: Galie (cs) f
• Danish: Gallien
• Dutch: Gallië (nl)
• Finnish: Gallia
• French: Gaule (fr)
• German: Gallien (de) n
• Irish: An Ghaill f, Gall m
• Italian: Gallia (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: ガリア (garia)
• Latin: Gallia (la)
• Norwegian: Gallia
• Old French: Gaulle
• Polish: Galia (pl) f
• Portuguese: Gália (pt) f
• Romanian: Galia f
• Russian: Га́ллия (ru) f (Gállija)
• Spanish: Galia (es)
• Swedish: Gallien (sv) n
• Welsh: Gâl f

Noun

Gaul (plural Gauls)

1. A person from Gaul.

Related terms

• Gaulish

Translations

person

• Afrikaans: Gallileër
• Arabic: غَالِيّ m (ḡāliyy)
• Catalan: gal (ca) m
• Czech: Gal m
• Danish: galler c
• Dutch: Galliër (nl)
• Faroese: galli m
• Finnish: gallialainen
• French: Gaulois (fr) m
• German: Gallier (de) m, Gallierin f
• Irish: Gallach m

  Old Irish: Gall m

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: Gallus (la)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: galler (no)

  Nynorsk: gallar

• Polish: Gal (pl) m, Galijka f
• Portuguese: gaulês (pt) m
• Romanian: gal (ro) m
• Russian: галл (ru) m (gall)
• Spanish: galo (es) m
• Swedish: galler (sv) c

Anagrams

• Agul, Gula, gula, ugal

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German

Etymology

From Middle High German gūl. Cognate with Dutch guil (“old horse”)

Pronunciation

• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter) IPA^(key): /ɡaʊl/
• (deprecated use of |lang= parameter)

  Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Gaul m (genitive Gaules or Gauls, plural Gäule)

1. (regional) horse
2. (more widespread) hack, nag (bad, old or incapable horse)

Further reading

• “Gaul” in Duden online

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Pennsylvania German

Etymology

Compare German Gaul.

Noun

Gaul m (plural Geil)

1. horse

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Plautdietsch

Noun

Gaul f (plural Gaule)

1. gall