caile

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Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish caile (“serving-girl, maid”).

Noun

caile m or f (genitive singular caile, nominative plural cailí)

  1. girl, wench

Declension

Masculine
Declension of caile (fourth declension)
bare forms
case singular plural
nominative caile cailí
vocative a chaile a chailí
genitive caile cailí
dative caile cailí
forms with the definite article
case singular plural
nominative an caile na cailí
genitive an chaile na gcailí
dative leis an gcaile
don chaile 		leis na cailí
Feminine
Declension of caile (fourth declension)
bare forms
case singular plural
nominative caile cailí
vocative a chaile a chailí
genitive caile cailí
dative caile cailí
forms with the definite article
case singular plural
nominative an chaile na cailí
genitive na caile na gcailí
dative leis an gcaile
don chaile 		leis na cailí

Derived terms

Mutation

Mutated forms of caile
radical lenition eclipsis
caile chaile gcaile

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

Old Irish

Etymology

Possibly related to Breton plac'h (“girl”) which cognates with Latin paelex (“concubine”), Ancient Greek παλλακή (pallakḗ, “young girl”).[1]

Noun

caile ? (genitive caile)

  1. serving-girl, maid (sometimes pejorative)
    • c. 1050 Táin Bó Cúailnge, from the Book of Leinster, published in Táin Bó Cualnge from the Book of Leinster (1970, Dublin), edited and with translations by Cecile O'Rahilly, TBC-LL 1690
      ‘Cid ra mer in cali ⁊ in banaccaid?’ bar Fergus.
      ‘What has crazed the girl and peasant-woman?’ said Fergus.

Inflection

Accusative form in caili attested in the Middle Irish Book of Leinster manuscript points to feminine iā-stem declension but it might be just a late spelling of in caile. Classical Gaelic grammatical tracts list it among masculine nouns[2] and genitive an chaile in bardic poetry points to masculine gender. In Modern Irish it appears both as a masculine and a feminine noun.

The declension table below assumes the accusative in caili from The Book of Leinster is correct for Old Irish.

Feminine iā-stem
Singular Dual Plural
Nominative caileL cailiL caili
Vocative caileL cailiL caili
Accusative cailiN cailiL caili
Genitive caile caileL caileN
Dative cailiL cailib cailib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

  • Middle Irish: caile

Mutation

Mutation of caile
radical lenition nasalization
caile chaile caile
pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

  1. ^ MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “caile”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎, Stirling, →ISBN, page caile
  2. ^ Osborn Bergin (1916) “Irish Grammatical Tracts II (Declension, a)”, in Ériu, volume 8, Supplement, Royal Irish Academy, →DOI, →JSTOR, §2, page 39: “A mbráithri .fer. and so sís. (…) caile (acht an bainindscne indte), (…)”

Further reading

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology 1

From Old Irish caile (“serving-girl, maid”); compare Breton plac’h (“girl”); Ancient Greek παλλακή (pallakḗ, “concubine”), Latin pellex.

Noun

caile f (genitive singular caile, plural cailean)

  1. vulgar girl, quean, hussy
  2. strumpet
  3. (Argyll, Perthshire) any young girl
  4. maidservant who does more or less other work than housework
    Synonym: caile-shearbhanta
Derived terms

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Noun

caile f

  1. capacity

Mutation

Mutation of caile
radical lenition
caile chaile

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Scottish Gaelic.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

References

  • Edward Dwelly (1911) “caile”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎, 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
  • Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 caile”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
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