caile

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
  • caile daibhche (“washerwoman”)
  • cailín

Mutation
Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
caile chaile gcaile
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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

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
Old Irish mutation
RadicalLenitionNasalization
caile chaile caile
pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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 (Declension, a)”, in Ériu, volume 8, Supplement, Royal Irish Academy, DOI:10.2307/30007330, JSTOR 30007330, §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”).

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
  • caile-bhalach (“romp, tomboy”)
  • caile-circein (“shuttlecock”)

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
Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical Lenition
cailechaile
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References
  • Edward Dwelly (1911), “caile”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
  • G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 caile”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
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