fèill

See also: feill and féill

Scottish Gaelic

Alternative forms

• féill

Etymology

From Old Irish féil (“feast-day, festival”) (compare Irish féile, Manx feaill), from Latin vigilia (“wakefulness, watch”), from vigil (“awake”), from Proto-Indo-European *weǵ- (“to be strong”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /feːʎ/

Noun

fèill f (genitive singular fèille, plural fèillean or fèilltean)

1. (dated) feast, festival

   a' cumail là féille ― observing or holding a festival or holiday

   féill an roid, féill-roid ― the autumnal equinox, rood-day

   Cùm an fhéill air an latha. ― Keep the festival on the right day.

   1. vigil of a festival
   2. banquet where the chief presided
   3. guest at such a banquet
2. fair
3. market, sale
4. holiday

   làithean féill ― holidays, days of folly

5. (business, economics) market, demand

   Chan eil fèill mhòr air. ― There isn't a great demand/market for it.

Synonyms

• (market): margaid, margadh
• (demand): iarrtas

Derived terms

• Fèill an Taisbeanaidh (“Epiphany”)
• Fèill Brìghde (“Candlemas”)
• Fèill Màrtainn (“Martinmas”)
• Fèill Mìcheil (“Michaelmas”)
• Fèill nan Naoimh Uile (“All Saints' Day”)
• Fèill Pàdraig (“St. Patrick's Day”)
• latha-fèille (“holiday”)

 

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
fèill	fhèill
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “fèill”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (John Grant, Edinburgh, 1925, Compiled by Malcolm MacLennan)
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “féil”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language