Gael

See also: gael, gáel, gäl, and Gaël

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Irish Gael, alt. Gaol, from earlier Gaoidheal, cognate with Scottish Gaelic Gàidheal and Manx , from Middle Irish Gaídel, from Old Irish Goídel (“Irishman”), a loanword from Old Welsh Guoidel (“wild man, warrior”) (also recorded as a personal name in the Book of Llandaff), from Proto-Brythonic *guɨðel (“savage, woodsman”), from Proto-Celtic *wēdelos (“savage, woodsman”), related to *wēdus (“wild”), from Proto-Indo-European *weydʰ- (“wood, wilderness”) (cf. Old English wāþ (“hunt”)). Doublet of Goidel, unrelated to Gaul or Gallia.

Medieval Irish traditions, including the Lebor Gabála Érenn, trace the origin of the Goídels to an eponymous ancestor, Goídel Glas, but this is no longer held to be the ultimate etymology of the word.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡeɪl/
• Rhymes: -eɪl
• Homophones: gale, Gail, Gayle

Noun

Gael (plural Gaels)

1. A member of an ethnic group in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man, whose language is one that is Gaelic.

   1911, G.K. Chesterton, The Ballad of the White Horse, Book II: The Gathering Of The Chiefs:

   For the great Gaels of Ireland
   Are the men that God made mad,
   For all their wars are merry,
   And all their songs are sad.

Translations

ethnic group

• Afrikaans: gaele
• Breton: Gouezel (br) m
• Catalan: gaèlic m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 蓋爾人 / 盖尔人, 盖尔人 (gàiěrrén)

• Cornish: Godhal m, Godhales f
• German: Gäle m, Gälin f
• Hungarian: gael
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Irish: Gael m, Gaedheal m (Ulster, otherwise superseded)

  Old Irish: Goídel m

• Japanese: ゲール人 (Gēru-jin)
• Manx: Gael m
• Scottish Gaelic: Gàidheal m
• Welsh: Gael m or f

Anagrams

• Gale, Lega, egal, gale, geal, lage, leag

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Irish

Alternative forms

• Gaedheal (Ulster, otherwise superseded)

Etymology

From Old Irish Goídel, from Old Welsh Guoidel (“wild man, warrior”) (compare Welsh Gwyddel (“Irishman”)), from Proto-Brythonic *guɨðel, from Proto-Celtic *wēdus (“wild”), from Proto-Indo-European *weydʰ- (“wood, wilderness”) (compare Old English wāþ (“hunt”)).

Replaced native terms féni (“class of landed Irish freemen”) and fénechas (“matters pertaining to the féni”), though these words survive as féine and féineachas, respectively, and derive ultimately from the same root.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡeːlˠ/

Noun

Gael m (genitive singular Gaeil, nominative plural Gaeil)

1. Gael, Gaelic person
2. (~ de chuid na hAlban) (Scottish) Highlander

   Synonyms: duine as an nGàidhealtachd, Híleantóir

Declension

Declension of Gael (first declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative Gael Gaeil vocative a Ghaeil a Ghaela genitive Gaeil Gael dative Gael Gaeil forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an Gael na Gaeil genitive an Ghaeil na nGael dative leis an nGael don Ghael leis na Gaeil

Derived terms

• Cumann Lúthchleas Gael m (“the Gaelic Athletic Association”)
• Gaeilge f, Gaelainn (“the Irish language”)
• Gael-Mheiriceánach (“Irish-American”, adjective)
• Gael-Mheiriceánach m (“Irish-American”)
• Gaelach (“Irish; attached to the Irish language, to Irish culture”)
• Gaelachas m (“Irish characteristic(s), Irishness; attachment to Irish culture”)
• Gaelaigh (“Gaelicize”, verb)
• Gaelcholáiste m (“Irish-medium secondary school”)
• Gaeltacht f (“Irishry; Irish(-speaking) people; Irish-speaking area; Gaelic-speaking area of Scotland”)
• Gaelú m (“Gaelicization”)
• Gall-Ghael m (“person of mixed Irish and foreign descent; Anglo-Irishman”)

 

Mutation

Mutated forms of Gael

radical	lenition	eclipsis
Gael	Ghael	nGael

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

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “Gael”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “Goídel”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “Gael”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “Gael”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024