Níall

Old Irish

Etymology

Of disputed origin, but possibly derived from Proto-Indo-European *h₃neyd-los, from *h₃neyd- (“to revile”) +‎ *-lós (agentive noun suffix).

Proper noun

Níall m (genitive Néill)

1. a male given name

Inflection

Masculine o-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	Níall	—	—
Vocative	Néill	—	—
Accusative	NíallN	—	—
Genitive	NéillL	—	—
Dative	NíallL	—	—
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Derived terms

• Níallán

Descendants

• Middle Irish: Níall
  • Irish: Niall
    • → English: Neil, Niall, Neal
  • Scottish Gaelic: Niall
• Old Norse: Njáll
  • Icelandic: Njáll

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
Níall also Nníall after a proclitic ending in a vowel	Níall pronounced with /n(ʲ)-/	unchanged
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), “Níall”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language