Talk:gíall
Latest comment: 6 months ago by Moilleadóir in topic MacBain
MacBain
editIt’s disappointing to see Alexander MacBain’s Etymological Dictionary taken as authoritative. It should absolutely NOT be relied on as a single authority for anything. Seriously out-of-date and sometimes even questionable at the time.
For this particular word, it would’ve been good to have the reference point to the actual entry in the dictionary(!) and also not ignore that he is mainly talking about the Scottish Gaelic word ciobhall, which shows much more similarity to Anglo-Saxon ceafl. It’s possible these words are related, but even MacBain does not state it as fact:
giall, a jaw or cheek, jowl, Ir., M. Ir. giall, faucibus ; the G. form ciobhall seems borrowed from Ag. S. ceafl, Eng. jowl ; perhaps all are from the Eng.