cuilén

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *kolignos (“whelp”), possibly borrowed from a non-Indo-European substrate language.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkulʲeːn/

Noun

cuilén m (nominative plural culíuin)

1. pup, puppy

   Synonym: cana

2. cub

   Synonym: cana

3. kitten

Inflection

Masculine o-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	cuilén	cuilénL	culíuinL
vocative	culíuin	cuilénL	cuilénuH
accusative	cuilénN	cuilénL	cuilénuH
genitive	culíuinL	cuilén	cuilénN
dative	cuilénL	cuilénaib	cuilénaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

• ^H = triggers aspiration
• ^L = triggers lenition
• ^N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

• Middle Irish: cuilén
  • Irish: coileán
  • Manx: quallian
  • Scottish Gaelic: cuilean

Mutation

Mutation of cuilén

radical	lenition	nasalization
cuilén	chuilén	cuilén pronounced with /ɡ(ʲ)-/

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

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “cuilén”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• MacBain, Alexander, Mackay, Eneas (1911) “cuilén”, in An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language‎^[1], Stirling, →ISBN
• Matasović, Ranko (2009) “koligno”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN, page 213