cailleach
See also: Cailleach
English edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From Scots, from Scottish Gaelic.
Noun edit
cailleach (plural cailleachs)
Irish edit
Etymology edit
From Old Irish caillech (“nun, housekeeper, elderly woman, crone, hag”), from caille (“veil”) (+ -ech), from Latin pallium.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cailleach f (genitive singular caillí, nominative plural cailleacha)
- (historical) nun
- Synonyms: cailleach dhubh, cailleach Mhuire
- old woman, hag; midwife
- witch
- 2015 [2014], Will Collins, translated by Proinsias Mac a' Bhaird, edited by Maura McHugh, Amhrán na Mara (fiction; paperback), Kilkenny, County Kilkenny, Howth, Dublin: Cartoon Saloon; Coiscéim, translation of Song of the Sea (in English), →ISBN, page 7:
- Macha, Cailleach na nUlchabhán
- [original: Macha the Owl Witch]
- (informal, usually derogatory) old dear
- (informal, also offensive, derogatory) old girl
- witch
- precocious girl
- (informal, offensive, derogatory) bag, bat, bitch, cat, cow, dog, jade, shrew
- (of man)
- (contemptuously) spineless fellow, coward
- Synonym: cailleach fir
- (facetiously, in direct address) lad!
- (contemptuously) spineless fellow, coward
- spent, shrivelled, thing
- stump; obstructing object
- truss, bundle (of straw, wrack)
- stone weight (on rope, net)
- recess for bed; alcove; (familiar) snuggery
- Synonym: cailleach shúgáin
- rainmaker
- scold
- (architecture) outshot; return
- hagfish, borer
Declension edit
Declension of cailleach
Bare forms
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Forms with the definite article
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Derived terms edit
- beacán na caillí m (“lady in the veil (type of mushroom)”)
- cailleach an ghiodail f (“pert hussy”)
- cailleach an uafáis f (“alarmist; scaremonger”)
- cailleach bhasctha f (“protruding object in ground”)
- cailleach bheag f (“bee orchid”)
- cailleach bhreac f (“larger spotted dog-fish”)
- cailleach bhréagach f (“spotted orchid”)
- cailleach chneasta f (“white witch”)
- cailleach chrainn f (“wood-louse”)
- cailleach dharach f (“oak stump”)
- cailleach dhearg f (“common poppy; corn poppy”)
- cailleach dhubh f (“nun; cormorant”)
- cailleach feasa f (“sorceress, witch; wise woman, fortune-teller”)
- cailleach fhada f (“long-headed poppy”)
- cailleach fhuar f (“early purple orchid”)
- cailleach gheamaireachta f (“pantomime dame”)
- cailleach ghiúise f (“pine stump”)
- cailleach ghoile f (“tapeworm”)
- cailleach Mhuire f (“nun”)
- cailleach na clúide f (“old woman in the chimney-corner”)
- cailleach na gcearc f (“hag, witch”)
- cailleach na luatha buí f (“sit-by-the-fire; cinderella”)
- cailleach na luatha f (“cricket; sit-by-the-fire; cinderella”)
- cailleach na mbréag f (“lying hussy”)
- cailleach oíche f (“owl; death watch beetle”)
- cailleach phiseogach f (“sorceress, charm-worker”)
- cailleach phráta f (“shrivelled potato; old seed-potato”)
- cailleach rua f (“loach”)
- cailleachas m (“haggishness”)
- cailleachúil (“haggish; womanish”, adj)
- codladh na Caillí Béarra m (“protracted sleep”)
- comhrá cailleach m (“old wives’ tales”)
- feoil na caillí f (“polyporus”)
- fia-chailleach f (“hag, witch; unruly woman”)
- galar scuab na caillí m (“witch's broom”)
- gas caillí Artach m (“northern rock-cress”)
- gas caillí duimhche m (“fringed rock-cress”)
- gas caillí giobach m (“hairy rock-cress”)
- hata caillí m (“witch's hat”)
- leigheas caillí, leigheas na caillí m (“old woman's remedy”)
- méara na caillí f (“mermaid's glove”)
- peata caillí m (“pampered child, no-good person”, literally “an old woman’s pet”)
- ruacán caillí m (“crone”)
- samhairle caillí m (“disagreeable hag”)
- scuab caillí f (“witch's broomstick”)
- seanchailleach f (“witch, hag”)
- smior chailleach f (“spinal marrow”)
- snaidhm chaillí f (“granny knot”)
- sparán na caillí mairbhe m (“egg-case of skate; mermaid's purse”)
Mutation edit
Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
cailleach | chailleach | gcailleach |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Further reading edit
- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “cailleach”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
- G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “caillech”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
- Entries containing “cailleach” in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm, 1959, by Tomás de Bhaldraithe.
- Entries containing “cailleach” in New English-Irish Dictionary by Foras na Gaeilge.
- Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, page 83
- “cailleach”, in The National Terminology Database for Irish, Fiontar & Scoil na Gaeilge, DCU and Foras na Gaeilge, 2006–2024
Scots edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cailleach, from Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cailleach (plural cailleachs)
Descendants edit
References edit
- MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “cailleach”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language[1], Stirling, →ISBN
Scottish Gaelic edit
Etymology edit
From Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
cailleach f (genitive singular cailliche, plural cailleachan)
Derived terms edit
- cailleach bheag an earbaill f (“long-tailed tit”)
- cailleach-baic f (“in cutting peats, the outside peat in a bank”)
- cailleach-bhàn f (“snowy owl”)
- cailleach-chasach f (“cheslip; millipede”)
- cailleach-cheann-dubh f (“cole titmouse, cole; black cap”)
- cailleach-chòsach f (“cheslip”)
- cailleach-dhubh f (“nun; European shag, common shag”)
- cailleach-fhasgnaidh f (“corn fanner”)
- cailleach-fhraoich f (“a large sheaf of heather tied tightly together with ropes of the same material, used as a door to a sheep cot or similar building”)
- cailleach-oidhche gheal, cailleach-bhàn f (“white owl”)
- cailleach-oidhche-mhòr f (“eagle owl”)
- cailleach-oidhche f (“common owl; tawny owl; spiritless fellow; butterfly”)
- cailleach-spuinge f (“touchwood, soft tinder”)
- cailleach-uisge f (“water-woman, water-carlin; diseased potato containing only water”)
- Cailleach f (“the week in spring after “Gearran”, i.e. from 12th to 18th April”)
- cìochan nan cailleach marbha m (“foxglove”)
See also edit
Mutation edit
Scottish Gaelic mutation | |
---|---|
Radical | Lenition |
cailleach | chailleach |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
References edit
- MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “cailleach”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language[2], Stirling, →ISBN