cailleach

See also: Cailleach

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Scots, from Scottish Gaelic cailleach.

Noun

cailleach (plural cailleachs)

  1. (Scotland) An old woman.

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish caillech (“nun, elderly woman”), from caille (“veil”) (+ -ech), from Latin pallium.[1] Cognate with Manx caillagh.

Pronunciation

Noun

cailleach f (genitive singular caillí, nominative plural cailleacha)

  1. (historical) nun
    Synonyms: cailleach dhubh, cailleach Mhuire
  2. old woman, hag
  3. 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
      [original: Macha the Owl Witch]
  4. (informal, usually derogatory) old dear, old girl
  5. (informal, offensive, derogatory) old bag, bitch, cow, dog, shrew
  6. truss (of straw)
  7. stone weight, stone boat anchor
  8. alcove; (familiar) snuggery
    Synonym: cailleach shúgáin

Declension

Declension of cailleach (second declension)
bare forms
singular plural
nominative cailleach cailleacha
vocative a chailleach a chailleacha
genitive caillí cailleach
dative cailleach
cailligh (archaic, dialectal) 		cailleacha
forms with the definite article
singular plural
nominative an chailleach na cailleacha
genitive na caillí na gcailleach
dative leis an gcailleach
leis an gcailligh (archaic, dialectal)
don chailleach
don chailligh (archaic, dialectal) 		leis na cailleacha

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 (“corn poppy”)
  • cailleach dhubh f (“nun; cormorant”)
  • cailleach feasa f (“sorceress, witch”)
  • 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 gcearc f (“hag, witch”)
  • cailleach na luatha f (“cricket”)
  • cailleach na luatha buí f (“cinderella”)
  • cailleach na mbréag f (“lying hussy”)
  • cailleach oíche f (“owl; death watch beetle”)
  • cailleach phiseogach f (“sorceress”)
  • cailleach rua f (“loach”)
  • cailleachas m (“haggishness”)
  • cailleachúil (“haggish”, adjective)
  • codladh na Caillí Béarra m (“protracted sleep”)
  • comhrá cailleach m (“old wives’ tales”)
  • feoil na caillí f (“polyporus”)
  • fia-chailleach f (“hag, witch”)
  • 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 m (“old woman's remedy”)
  • méara na caillí f (“mermaid's glove”)
  • peata caillí m (“pampered child”, 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”)

Descendants

  • → Yola: colyock

Mutation

Mutated forms of cailleach
radical lenition eclipsis
cailleach chailleach gcailleach

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

References

  1. ^ Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “caillech”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
  2. ^ Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry [Phonetics of an Irish Dialect of Kerry] (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, § 261, page 133
  3. ^ Finck, F. N. (1899) Die araner mundart [The Aran Dialect] (in German), Zweiter Band: Wörterbuch [Second volume: Dictionary], Marburg: Elwert’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, page 151
  4. ^ Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 223, page 83

Further reading

Scots

Etymology

Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic cailleach, from Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [ˈkeljʌx], [ˈkalʌx], [ˈkaljʌx]

Noun

cailleach (plural cailleachs)

  1. old woman, crone
    Synonym: auld wife

Descendants

References

  • MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “cailleach”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎[1], Stirling, →ISBN

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Old Irish caillech, from caille (“veil”) + -ach. Cognate with Manx caillagh.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈkʰaʎəx/

Noun

cailleach f (genitive singular cailliche, plural cailleachan)

  1. old woman, old wife
    1. (can be derogatory) old dear, biddy
    2. hag, crone
  2. woman, wife
  3. cowl (on a chimney)

Derived terms

  • Cailleach f (“the week in spring after “Gearran”, i.e. from 12th to 18th April”)
  • 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 (“slater, woodlouse; millipede”)
  • cailleach-cheann-dubh f (“cole titmouse, cole; black cap”)
  • cailleach-chòsag f (“slater, woodlouse”)
  • 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 f (“common owl; tawny owl; spiritless fellow; butterfly”)
  • cailleach-oidhche gheal, cailleach-bhàn f (“white owl”)
  • cailleach-oidhche-mhòr f (“eagle owl”)
  • cailleach-spuinge f (“touchwood, soft tinder”)
  • cailleach-uisge f (“water-woman, water-carlin; diseased potato containing only water”)
  • cìochan nan cailleach marbha m (“foxglove”)

Descendants

See also

Mutation

Mutation of cailleach
radical lenition
cailleach chailleach

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

References

  • MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “cailleach”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎[2], Stirling, →ISBN
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