laoidh

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology

From Middle Irish láed, laíd, from Old Irish loíd (“poem, song”), from Proto-Indo-European *loyd-eh₂, from the root *leyd- (“to let; to let go, release”). The semantic evolution would be “to release” → “to set in motion” → “to incite” → “to praise, sing praises of”.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l̪ˠui/
• (Wester Ross) IPA^(key): /l̪ˠɯi/
• Homophone: laoigh

Noun

laoidh m (plural laoidhean)

1. a hymn
2. a sacred poem