cuilén

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *kolignos (“whelp”), possibly borrowed from a non-Indo-European substrate language.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkulʲeːn/

Noun

cuilén m (nominative plural culíuin)

1. pup, puppy

   Synonym: cana

2. cub

   Synonym: cana

3. kitten

Inflection

Masculine o-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	cuilén	cuilénL	culíuinL
Vocative	culíuin	cuilénL	cuilénuH
Accusative	cuilénN	cuilénL	cuilénuH
Genitive	culíuinL	cuilén	cuilénN
Dative	cuilénL	cuilénaib	cuilénaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: cuilén
  • Irish: coileán
  • Manx: quallian
  • Scottish Gaelic: cuilean

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
cuilén	chuilén	cuilén pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “cuilén”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “cuilén”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎^[1], Stirling, →ISBN
• Matasović, Ranko (2009) “koligno”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 213