caileag
Scottish Gaelic edit
Etymology edit
From caile (“vulgar girl, quean, hussy, strumpet, maid servant”) + -ag (“diminutive”). From Old Irish caile (“maid”); compare Breton plac’h (“girl”); Ancient Greek παλλακή (pallakḗ, “concubine”), Latin pellex.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
caileag f (genitive singular caileige, plural caileagan)
- girl, lass, damsel
- 1879, Traditional, “A Mhairi Bhinn, Mheall-Shuileach”, in The Gaelic Songster (An t-Oranaiche), Glasgow: A. Stewart, page 48:
- Cha b'e meud do stòrais
A chuir mi fhéin an tòir ort,
Ach caileag laghach, bhòidheach,
Bhi còmhla rium ag éirigh.- It was not the amount of your wealth
That sent myself in pursuit of you,
But a girl, pleasant, beautiful,
To be rising together with me.
- It was not the amount of your wealth
- European pollock (Pollachius pollachius)
Mutation edit
| Scottish Gaelic mutation | |
|---|---|
| Radical | Lenition |
| caileag | chaileag |
| Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. | |
Further reading edit
- MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “caileag”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language[1], Stirling, →ISBN
- “caileag” in Am Faclair Beag - Scottish Gaelic Dictionary.
- “caileag” in Am Faclair Beag - Scottish Gaelic Dictionary.