Gael

See also: gael, gáel, gäl, and Gaël

English

Etymology

Borrowing from Scottish Gaelic Gàidheal, from earlier Gaoidheal, from Middle Irish Gaídel, from Old Irish Goídel (“Irishman”), a loanword from Old Welsh Guoidel (“wild man, warrior”) (also recorded as a personal name in the Book of Llandaff), from Proto-Brythonic *guɨðel (“savage, woodsman”), from Proto-Celtic *wēdelos (“savage, woodsman”), from Proto-Indo-European *weydʰ- (“wood, wilderness”) (cf. Old English wāþ (“hunt”))..

Medieval Irish traditions, including the Lebor Gabála Érenn, trace the origin of the Goídels to an eponymous ancestor, Goídel Glas, but this is no longer held to be the ultimate etymology of the word.

Noun

Gael (plural Gaels)

1. A member of an ethnic group in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, whose language is one that is Gaelic.

   1911 The Great Gaels of Ireland

   are the men that God made mad,

   For all their wars are merry

   and all their songs are sad.

   The Ballad of the White Horse, G.K. Chesterton

Translations

an ethnic group in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man

• Breton: Gouezel m
• Catalan: gaèlics m pl
• Hungarian: gael
• Irish: Gael m

• Manx: Gael m
• Scottish Gaelic: Gàidheal m
• Welsh: Gael m, f

Anagrams

• Gale, Lega, egal, gale, geal, lage, leag

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Irish

Alternative forms

• Gaedheal (Ulster, otherwise superseded)

Etymology

From Old Irish Goídel, from Old Welsh Guoidel (“wild man, warrior”) (compare Welsh Gwyddel (“Irishman”)), from Proto-Brythonic *guɨðel, from Proto-Celtic *wēdus (“wild”), from Proto-Indo-European *weydʰ- (“wood, wilderness”) (compare Old English wāþ (“hunt”)). Replaced native terms féni (“class of landed Irish freemen”) and fénechas (“matters pertaining to the féni”), though these words survive as féine and féineachas, respectively, and derive ultimately from the same root.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡeːlˠ/

Noun

Gael m (genitive singular Gaeil, nominative plural Gaeil)

1. Gael, Irish person
2. (Scottish) Highlander

Declension

Declension of Gael

First declension

Bare forms: Case Singular Plural Nominative Gael Gaeil Vocative a Ghaeil a Ghaela Genitive Gaeil Gael Dative Gael Gaeil

Forms with the definite article: Case Singular Plural Nominative an Gael na Gaeil Genitive an Ghaeil na nGael Dative leis an nGael don Ghael leis na Gaeil

Synonyms

• (Highlander): Híleantóir

Derived terms

• Gaeilge f, Gaelainn (“the Irish language”)
• Gaelach (“Irish; attached to the Irish language, to Irish culture”)
• Gaelaigh (“Gaelicize”, verb)
• Gaeltacht f (“Irishry; Irish(-speaking) people; Irish-speaking area; Gaelic-speaking area of Scotland”)
• Gaelú m (“Gaelicization”)

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
Gael	Ghael	nGael
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• "Gael" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• “Goídel” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
• Entries containing “Gael” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.