kell

See also: Kell

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɛl/
• Rhymes: -ɛl

• Audio (RP)

  (file)

Etymology 1

Compare caul.

Noun

kell (plural kells)

1. (obsolete) The caul.
2. (obsolete, figuratively) That which covers or envelops, like a caul; a net; a fold; a film.
   • c. 1608–1610, Francis Beaumont; John Fletcher, “Philaster: Or, Love Lies a Bleeding”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1679, OCLC 3083972, Act V, scene iv:

     I'll have him cut to the kell.

3. (obsolete) The cocoon or chrysalis of an insect.
   • 1616, Ben Jonson, The Devil Is an Ass

     Bury himself in every silkworm's kell

Etymology 2

Noun

kell (plural kells)

1. A kiln.

Etymology 3

A modification of kale.

Noun

kell (uncountable)

1. A sort of pottage; kale.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ainsworth to this entry?)

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for kell in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)

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Breton

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛlː/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic [Term?], borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin cōleus (“testicle”) (compare Cornish kell, Welsh caill), ultimately from Ancient Greek κολεός (koleós).

Noun

kell f (plural kelloù, dual divgell)

1. testicle

Etymology 2

From Latin cella (compare Old Irish cell).

Noun

kell f (plural kelloù or killi)

1. cell (of prisoner, monk):

Mutation

  Mutation of kell  

Breton consonant mutation
	unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard
singular	kell	gell	c'hell	unchanged
plural	kelloù	gelloù	c'helloù	unchanged

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Cornish

Pronunciation

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [kɛlː]
• (Revived Late Cornish) IPA^(key): [kɛlʰ]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Brythonic [Term?], borrowed through Vulgar Latin from Latin cōleus (“testicle”) (compare Breton kell, Welsh caill), ultimately from Ancient Greek κολεός (koleós).

Noun

kell f (dual diwgell, plural kellow or kellyow)

1. testicle

Etymology 2

From Latin cella (compare Old Irish cell).

Noun

kell f (plural kellow or kellyow)

1. cell

Mutation

  Mutation of kell  

Cornish consonant mutation
unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed	mixed after 'th
kell	gell	hell	unchanged	unchanged	unchanged

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Estonian

Etymology

From Swedish skälla.

Noun

kell (genitive kella, partitive kella)

1. clock
2. bell
3. (in the plural, colloquial) balls, testicles

Declension

Declension of kell (type külm)

	singular	plural
nominative	kell	kellad
genitive	kella	kellade
partitive	kella	kelli / kellasid
illative	kella / kellasse	kelladesse / kellisse
inessive	kellas	kellades / kellis
elative	kellast	kelladest / kellist
allative	kellale	kelladele / kellile
adessive	kellal	kelladel / kellil
ablative	kellalt	kelladelt / kellilt
translative	kellaks	kelladeks / kelliks
terminative	kellani	kelladeni
essive	kellana	kelladena
abessive	kellata	kelladeta
comitative	kellaga	kelladega

Derived terms

• käekell

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Hungarian

Alternative forms

• köll (dialectal)

Etymology

From Proto-Finno-Ugric *kelke- (“to be necessary, need to, must, be obligatory”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈkɛlː]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛlː

Verb

kell

1. (auxiliary with a verb in the infinitive) must, need to, have to

   Synonyms: muszáj, kénytelen

   Ezt látnod kell. ― You have to / need to / must see it.

2. to be needed

   Synonym: szüksége van

   Kell nekem az a ház. ― I need that house.

Usage notes

Sometimes the subject of the verb is not one that does any action but the stimulus prompting sensory or emotional feeling (not deliberately), as in the case of people or things that interest someone, matter to someone, please someone or appeal to someone (or another entity), sometimes differently from the perspective in English. In these cases, the experiencer (the entity that receives sensory or emotional input) can take the accusative (e.g. interest) or the dative (e.g. appeal). The experiencer is expressed with the dative in the case of hiányzik (“to be missing or missed by someone”), ízlik (“to taste good, to be pleasing [as of food]”), kell (“to be needed, necessary, or required”), tetszik (“to be appealing”), and van/megvan (“to be had, to be owned by someone”).

If the experiencer is expressed with the accusative, the object may be the third person (him, her, it, or them), which is considered definite in Hungarian, or it may be a first- or second-person object (me, us, and you), considered as indefinite. For example, with the verb érdekel, it takes the definite form érdekli őt “he/she is interested” (literally, “it interests him/her”), and the indefinite form érdekel engem/téged/minket for “I am, you are, we are interested” (literally, “it interests me, you, us”) in present-tense singular. The form érdekellek means “you are interested in me” (literally, “I interest you”). – Verbs with a similar syntactic behavior include zavar (“to be bothered by”) and izgat (“to be upset or intrigued by”).

Conjugation

conjugation of kell

			1st person sg	2nd person sg informal	3rd person sg, 2nd p. sg formal	1st person pl	2nd person pl informal	3rd person pl, 2nd p. pl formal
Indica­tive mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	kellek	kellesz	kell	kellünk	kelletek	kellenek
		Def.	intransitive verb, definite forms are not used
		2nd-p. o.	―
	Past	Indef.	kellettem	kellettél	kellett	kellettünk	kellettetek	kellettek
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
Condi­tional mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	kellenék	kellenél	kellene	kellenénk	kellenétek	kellenének
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
Sub­junc­tive mood	Pre­sent	Indef.	kelljek	kellj or kelljél	kelljen	kelljünk	kelljetek	kelljenek
		Def.	―
		2nd-p. o.	―
Infinitive	kelleni		kellenem	kellened	kellenie	kellenünk	kellenetek	kelleniük
Other nonfinite verb forms			Verbal noun	Present participle	Past participle	Future part.	Adverbial part.	Potential
			kellés	kellő	kellett	―	kellve	kellhet

Derived terms

• kellék
• kellemes
• kellemetlen
• kellet
• kelletlen

 

Expressions

• jó bornak nem kell cégér
• jöjjön, aminek jönnie kell

 

Further reading

• kell in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmező szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: →ISBN

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Maltese

Etymology

Univerbation of kien (“was”) +‎ l- (“to”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɛll/

Verb

kell- (imperfect ikoll)

1. to belong to; expresses English have

   Kelli ktieb.

   I had a book.

   (literally, “It was to me a book.”)

   Ir-raġel kellu ktieb.

   The man had a book.

   (literally, “The man it was to him a book.”)

2. (with following verb) to be obligatory for; to be necessary for; expresses English have to, must

   Kelli nikteb ktieb.

   I had to write a book.

   (literally, “It was to me (that) I write a book.”)

Usage notes

• The perfect of this verb expresses the past, while the imperfect expresses future and subjunctive senses. The present is expressed by forms of għand. This is equivalent to the situation in the underlying kien (“to be”), where the present is expressed (if expressed at all) by the personal pronouns.
• The verbal inflection is that of a defective verb that inflects only for tense (imperfect ikoll), but not for person or number. They who “have” something, or “have to do” something, are given with the appropriate personal suffixes (as above: kelli = it was to me = I had; kellu = it was to him = he had; etc.).
• Syntactically, it is not sound to define either of the two elements (possessor or thing possessed) as the object of the phrase. Rather the construction is that which in Arabic and Greek grammar is called a nominativus pendens: The possessor is prepositioned and referred back to with a personal suffix, while the thing possessed is the grammatical subject. This construction is generally popular in Maltese; for example: Ir-raġel qatluh. (“They killed the man.”, literally “The man, they killed him.”).

Inflection

inflected forms of kell
Base form					kell
Personal-pronoun- including forms		singular		plural
		m	f
1st person		kelli		kellna
2nd person		kellek		kellkom
3rd person		kellu	kellha	kellhom

See also

• għand (possessive)