gallowglass
English
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editFrom Irish gallóglach (“foreign soldier”), from Gall (“foreigner, non-Gaelic person”) + óglách (“soldier”).
Noun
editgallowglass (plural gallowglasses or gallowglass)
- (historical) A mercenary warrior élite among Gaelic-Norse clans residing in the Western Isles of Scotland and Scottish Highlands from the mid 13th century to the end of the 16th century.
- c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:
- The multiplying villanies of nature / Do swarm upon him--from the western isles/ Of kerns and gallowglasses is supplied.
Translations
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