Words for old woman, crone, hag in Celtic languages.
Old Irish (Goídelc) | caillech = nun, housekeeper, elderly woman, crone, hag |
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Irish (Gaeilge) | cailleach = nun, old woman; hag; precocious girl; spineless fellow, coward; spent, shrivelled, thing; stump; truss, bundle (of straw) |
Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) | cailleach [kaʎəx] = old lady, old woman; old biddy, hag; her indoors, the wife, the old lady; landlady |
Manx (Gaelg) | caillagh = witch, crone, old woman, single woman; glaucous gull |
Etymology: from the Old Irish caille (veil), from the Latin pallium (cloak, coverlet) [source].
Sources: Wiktionary, Am Faclair Beag, teanglann.ie, On-Line Manx Dictionary
Proto-Celtic | *wrakkā = woman |
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Old Irish (Goídelc) | frac = woman |
Welsh (Cymraeg) | gwrach = ugly old woman, crone, hag, witch, sorceress |
Old Cornish | gruah = old woman |
Cornish (Kernewek) | gwragh [gwra:x / gwræ:h] = hag, witch, wrasse (fish), woodlouse |
Breton (Brezhoneg) | gwrac’h = old woman, witch, fairy, mermaid |
Words marked with a * are reconstructions.
Sources: Wiktionary, Proto-Celtic English Word List, Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru, Gerlyver Kernewek, Dictionnaire Favereau