cuil

See also: cùil and cúil

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish cuil (“fly; flea, gnat”), from Proto-Celtic *kulis (compare Scottish Gaelic cuileag, Breton kelien, Welsh cylion), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱuH-ló- (compare Latin culex (“gnat”), Old Armenian սլաք (slakʻ, “roasting spit”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɪlʲ/

Noun

cuil f (genitive singular cuile, nominative plural cuileanna)

1. fly, bug

Declension

Declension of cuil

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative cuil cuileanna Vocative a chuil a chuileanna Genitive cuile cuileanna Dative cuil cuileanna

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an chuil na cuileanna Genitive na cuile na gcuileanna Dative leis an gcuil don chuil leis na cuileanna

Derived terms

• agairg na gcuileanna
• bréagchuil
• cuil fhearnóige
• cuileog
• cuilghaiste Véineas
• urchuil

 

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
cuil	chuil	gcuil
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “cuil”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 cuil”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “cuil”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “cuil”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2024

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *kulis, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱuH-ló-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [kulʲ]

Noun

cuil f (genitive unattested)

1. fly
2. (sometimes, perhaps) flea, gnat

Inflection

Feminine i-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	cuil	cuilL	cuiliH
Vocative	cuil	cuilL	cuiliH
Accusative	cuilN	cuilL	cuiliH
Genitive	coloH, colaH	coloH, colaH	cuileN
Dative	cuilL	cuilib	cuilib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: cuil, cuileóc
  • Irish: cuil, cuileog
  • Manx: quill, quaillag
  • Scottish Gaelic: cuileag

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
cuil	chuil	cuil pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 cuil”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language