cailleach
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cailleach
See also: Cailleach
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Scots, from Scottish Gaelic.
Noun
cailleach (plural cailleachs)
Irish
Etymology
From Old Irish caillech (“nun, housekeeper, elderly woman, crone, hag”), from caille (“veil”) (+ -ech), from Latin pallium.
Pronunciation
Noun
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
- (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
Declension of cailleach
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Bare forms
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Forms with the definite article
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Derived terms
- 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
| 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
- Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “cailleach”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
- Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “caillech”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
- de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “cailleach”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
- “cailleach”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024
- 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
Etymology
Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cailleach, from Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach.
Pronunciation
Noun
cailleach (plural cailleachs)
Descendants
References
- MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “cailleach”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Stirling, →ISBN
Scottish Gaelic
Etymology
From Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach.
Pronunciation
Noun
cailleach f (genitive singular cailliche, plural cailleachan)
Derived terms
- 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
Mutation
| 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
- MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “cailleach”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, Stirling, →ISBN