ficheall

Irish

Ficheall

Alternative forms

• fidhcheall (superseded)

Etymology

From Middle Irish fidchell, from Proto-Celtic *widukʷēslā (literally “wood intelligence”). Compare Welsh gwyddbwyll.

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ˈfʲɪhəl̪ˠ/
• (Connacht) IPA^(key): /ˈfʲɪhəl̪ˠ/, /fʲiːl̪ˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈfʲɪçəl̪ˠ/

Noun

ficheall f (genitive singular fichille)

1. chess (two-player board game)
2. chessboard

Declension

Declension of ficheall

Second declension

Bare forms (no plural form of this noun) Case Singular Nominative ficheall Vocative a fhicheall Genitive fichille Dative ficheall fichill (archaic, dialectal)

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Nominative an fhicheall Genitive na fichille Dative leis an bhficheall leis an bhfichill (archaic, dialectal) don fhicheall don fhichill (archaic, dialectal)

Synonyms

• (chessboard): clár fichille

Derived terms

• fear fichille (“chess piece, chessman”)
• fiann fichille (“set of chessmen”)
• ficheallaí (“chess player”)
• fichillín (“pawn”)
• foireann fichille (“set of chessmen”)
• imreoir fichille (“chess player”)

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
ficheall	fhicheall	bhficheall
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “ficheall”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “fidchell”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language