Gaul

See also: gaul

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French Gaule (“Gaul”), from Middle French Gaule (“Gaul”), from Old French Gaule, Waulle (“Gaul”, a term used to translate unrelated Latin Gallia (“Gaul”)), from Frankish *Walha(land) (“Gaul, Land of the Romans, foreigners”), from Proto-West Germanic *walh (“foreigner, Roman, Celt”), from Proto-Germanic *walhaz (“an outlander, foreigner, Celt”), probably of Celtic origin, from the same source as Latin Volcae (name of a Celtic tribe in South Germany, which later emigrated to Gaul).

Akin to Old High German Walh, Walah (“a Celt, Roman, Gaul”), Old English Wealh, Walh (“a non-Germanic foreigner, Celt/Briton/Welshman”), Old Norse Valir (“Gauls, Frenchmen”). More at Wales/Welsh, Cornwall, Walloon, and Vlach/Wallachia.

Despite their similar appearance, Latin Gallia is not the origin of French Gaule. During the evolution from Latin to French, stressed initial /ˈɡa-/ yielded /dʒa/ > /ʒa/ (cf. Latin gamba > French jambe), while unstressed final /-lia/ yielded /ʎə/ > /j/ (cf. Latin filia > French fille). Thus, the regular outcome of Latin Gallia is /ʒaj/ ⟨Jaille⟩, which is attested in several French toponyms: La Jaille-Yvon, Saint-Mars-la-Jaille, etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔːl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɡɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl
• Homophone: gall

Proper noun

Gaul

2. (chiefly historical) A historical region of Western Europe referring to areas occupied by Celts during Roman times, roughly corresponding to modern France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland, and parts of Northern Italy (Lombardy), the Netherlands, and Germany west of the Rhine.

   Hypernyms: (historical) Celtic Gaul, Belgic Gaul, Aquitaine, Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul, Gallia Narbonensis

Translations

region

• Afrikaans: Gallië
• Arabic: بِلَاد الْغَال f pl (bilād al-ḡāl)
• Azerbaijani: Qalliya
• Breton: Galia (br) f
• Catalan: Gàl·lia f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 高卢 (zh) (Gāolú)

• Czech: Galie (cs) f
• Danish: Gallien n
• Dutch: Gallië (nl) n
• Esperanto: Gaŭlio, Gaŭlujo
• Finnish: Gallia (fi)
• French: Gaule (fr) f
• Georgian: გალია (ka) (galia)
• German: Gallien (de) n
• Greek: Γαλατία (el) f (Galatía)

  Ancient: Γαλατία f (Galatía)

• Hebrew: גַּלִּיָּה (he) f (Gallía)
• Irish: An Ghaill f, Gall m
• Italian: Gallia (it) f
• Japanese: ガリア (ja) (garia)
• Latin: Gallia (la) f
• Latvian: Gallija f
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: Gallia n

  Nynorsk: Gallia n

• Old French: Gaulle f
• Persian: گالیا (gâliyâ), گال (fa) (gâl)
• Polish: Galia (pl) f
• Portuguese: Gália (pt) f
• Romanian: Galia f
• Russian: Га́ллия (ru) f (Gállija)
• Spanish: Galia (es) f
• Swedish: Gallien (sv) n
• Turkish: Galya (tr)
• Ukrainian: Га́лія f (Hálija)
• Uzbek: Galliya
• Welsh: Gâl f

Etymology 2

From Middle English Gall, from Latin Gallus. The change in spelling is due to the influence of the place-name Gaul, which is thought to be etymologically unrelated (see above).

Noun

Gaul (plural Gauls)

1. A native or inhabitant of the historical region of Gaul, or poetically the modern nation of France..

Related terms

• Gaulish
• Gallic

Translations

person

• Afrikaans: Gallileër
• Arabic: غَالِيّ m (ḡāliyy), غَالِيَّة f (ḡāliyya)
• Azerbaijani: qall
• Breton: Galian (br) m
• Catalan: gal (ca) m, gal·la (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 高卢人 (gāolúrén)

• Czech: Gal (cs) m
• Danish: galler c
• Dutch: Galliër (nl) m, Gallische (nl) f
• Esperanto: gaŭlo, gaŭlino (female)
• Faroese: galli m
• Finnish: gallialainen (fi)
• French: Gaulois (fr) m, Gauloise (fr) f
• Georgian: გალელი (galeli)
• German: Gallier (de) m, Gallierin (de) f
• Greek: Γαλάτης (el) m (Galátis), Γαλάτισσα (el) f (Galátissa)

  Ancient: Γαλάτης m (Galátēs)

• Hungarian: gall (hu)
• Irish: Gallach m

  Old Irish: Gall m

• Latin: Gallus (la) m, Galla f
• Latvian: galls m, galliete f, galli m pl
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: galler (no) m

  Nynorsk: gallar m

• Polish: Gal (pl) m, Galijka f
• Portuguese: gaulês (pt) m, gaulesa f
• Romanian: gal (ro) m
• Russian: галл (ru) m (gall)
• Spanish: galo (es) m, gala (es) f
• Swedish: galler (sv) c
• Turkish: Galyalı
• Ukrainian: гал m (hal)
• Uzbek: gall
• Welsh: Galiad

Anagrams

• Agul, Gula, gula, ugal

German

Etymology

From Middle High German gūl, of obscure ultimate origin, but possibly ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *geutan (“to pour, cast”), referring to a powerful male horse, a "seed-pouring animal." Cognate with Dutch guil (“old horse”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡaʊl/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Gaul m (strong, genitive Gaules or Gauls, plural Gäule)

1. (regional) horse
2. (more widespread) hack, nag (bad, old or incapable horse)

   Synonym: Klepper

Declension

Declension of Gaul [masculine, strong]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	ein	der	Gaul	die	Gäule
genitive	eines	des	Gaules, Gauls	der	Gäule
dative	einem	dem	Gaul, Gaule1	den	Gäulen
accusative	einen	den	Gaul	die	Gäule

¹Now rare, see notes.

Derived terms

• einem geschenkten Gaul schaut man nicht ins Maul

Further reading

• “Gaul” in Duden online
• “Gaul” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache

Hunsrik

En Gaul

Alternative forms

• kaul (Wiesemann spelling system)

Etymology

From Middle High German gūl, of obscure ultimate origin, but possibly ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *geutan (“to pour, cast”), referring to a powerful male horse, a "seed-pouring animal." Cognate with German Gaul.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaʊ̯l/

Noun

Gaul m (plural Geil, diminutive Geilche)

1. horse

   Die Geil sin schnell.

   The horses are fast.

Further reading

• Online Hunsrik Dictionary

Pennsylvania German

Etymology

From Middle High German gūl, of obscure ultimate origin, but possibly ultimately from Proto-West Germanic *geutan (“to pour, cast”), referring to a powerful male horse, a "seed-pouring animal." Cognate with German Gaul, Middle Low German gûl, and Dutch guil (“old horse”).

Noun

Gaul m (plural Geil)

1. horse

Plautdietsch

Etymology

From Middle Low German galle, from Old Saxon galla, from Proto-West Germanic *gallā, from Proto-Germanic *gallǭ.

Noun

Gaul f (plural Gaule)

1. gall, bile