{"id":9195,"date":"2026-05-01T15:29:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/?p=9195"},"modified":"2026-05-01T15:32:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T14:32:35","slug":"shearing-fleeces","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/2026\/05\/01\/shearing-fleeces\/","title":{"rendered":"Shearing Fleeces"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Words for <strong>fleece<\/strong>, <strong>shearing<\/strong> and related things in Celtic languages.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/8525214@N06\/21798108142\/in\/photolist-zde17J-6hmzke-5d43jz-5d8nWu-4QAKrN-4Qwvg4-p3LXJQ-2qVVquL-pkfZ8r-pjYkRF-p3LcS3-pjYpa4-p3L54M-pkezjo-p3LWWr-p3Lhnp-29Dpb2-tw2yy-pie4xA-p3Mdtt-2eGs6ZQ-PdRbug-4QAHMu-yWXbQv-2oACBfz-4QwxVB-2pLCXt5-9FkWYS-9XfhFB-4QwyVt-9Xi77C-4Qwyoc-2pZjp1W-4QwyEk-4Qwz2Z-4Qwxvv-2mi1gUx-2qTGMAB-f2gK7t-9XffV4-2qZy3Lj-4QAJn1-2mhNC7V-cKCVHd-84bdwX-2mi7JAn-29Duc8-4QAGFm-2qZwd5V-2pLwF4r\" title=\"When You Have a Black Sheep in the Family, It Can Sometimes Be a Blessing!\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/5724\/21798108142_866b78bf1c_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"296\" alt=\"When You Have a Black Sheep in the Family, It Can Sometimes Be a Blessing!\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Proto-Celtic<\/th>\n<td><strong>*knaw\u012b<\/strong> = fleece<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Irish (Go\u00eddelc)<\/th>\n<td><strong>cna\u00ed<\/strong> = fleece<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>cna\u00ed, cnai, cn\u00e1i<\/strong> = fleece<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Scottish Gaelic (G\u00e0idhlig)<\/th>\n<td><strong>cnuachd<\/strong> [kr\u0169\u0259\u0303\u00e7g\u02b2] = lump, head, brow, forehead, shock (of hair)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Welsh (Kymraec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>cnu, cnuf, knu<\/strong> = fleece, clipping, a shearing<br \/>\n<strong>cnaif, knaif<\/strong> = a shearing, clipping, carnage, fleece, shred<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Welsh (Cymraeg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>cnu(f)<\/strong> = fleece<br \/>\n<strong>cnufiaf, cnufio<\/strong> = to wrap up fleeces after shearing<br \/>\n<strong>cnu(f)og<\/strong> = woolly, bushy, fleecy, fleeced, fleece-like<br \/>\n<strong>cnuwch<\/strong> = bush of hair or fur, tuft, periwig; gammon of bacon, hock<br \/>\n<strong>cnaif<\/strong> = a shearing, clipping, carnage, fleece, shred<br \/>\n<strong>cneif(i)af, cneif(i)o<\/strong> = to shear, fleece, shave, clip, reap<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Cornish (Cernewec \/ Kernuak)<\/th>\n<td><strong>cneu, cn\u00eau<\/strong> = a fleece<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Cornish (Kernewek)<\/th>\n<td><strong>knew<\/strong> = fleece<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Breton (Brezonec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>creon<\/strong> = fleece<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Breton (Brezhoneg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>krew, kreo\u00f1<\/strong> = fleece<br \/>\n<strong>kreo\u00f1a\u00f1<\/strong> = to cover oneself with fleece<br \/>\n<strong>kreo\u00f1asenn<\/strong> = mop of hair<br \/>\n<strong>kreo\u00f1ek<\/strong> = (one) who has a fleece<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Etymology<\/strong>: possibly related to Proto-Celtic <em>*kn\u0101-yo-<\/em> (to bite, chew) [<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/EtymologicalDictionaryOfProtoCeltic\/page\/n215\/mode\/2up\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<table>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th>Proto-Celtic<\/th>\n<td><strong>*luxsmos<\/strong> = bare<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Irish (Go\u00eddelc)<\/th>\n<td><strong>lomm<\/strong> [\u02c8l\u032aom] = bare<br \/>\n<strong>lommraid<\/strong> = to shear off, strip off, cut off<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>lomm, lom<\/strong> = bare, naked, smooth, exact, threadbare<br \/>\n<strong>lommrad, lommairt, lomra, lomrad<\/strong> = act of stripping, making bare, act of shearing (sheep), fleece, act of plundering, (literary) extract<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Irish (Gaeilge)<\/th>\n<td><strong>lom<\/strong> [l\u032a\u02e0\u0259um\u02e0 \/ l\u032a\u02e0om\u02e0] = bare thing, bareness, openness, exposure, nakedness, poverty<br \/>\n<strong>lomadh<\/strong> = baring, shearing, stripping, denudation, improvishment, fleecing<br \/>\n<strong>lomair<\/strong> = to shear, fleece, denude, despoil<br \/>\n<strong>lomra<\/strong> = fleece, mop (of hair)<br \/>\n<strong>lomrach<\/strong> = fleecy, woolly<br \/>\n<strong>lomrach\u00e1n<\/strong> = shorn sheep, naked person, poor, ill-clad person<br \/>\n<strong>lomracht<\/strong> = fleeciness, woolliness<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Scottish Gaelic (G\u00e0idhlig)<\/th>\n<td><strong>lom<\/strong> [l\u032a\u02e0\u0254um~l\u032a\u02e0uim\u0259] = bare, naked, nude, bleak, plain, unadorned, defenceless, destitute, gaunt, meagre, threadbare, leafless<br \/>\n<strong>lomadair<\/strong> [l\u032a\u02e0om\u0259d\u026ar\u02b2] = (act of) shearer, shearing, shave<br \/>\n<strong>lomadh<\/strong> [l\u032a\u02e0om\u0259\u0263] = (act of) shaving, shearing, shave<br \/>\n<strong>lomair<\/strong> [l\u032a\u02e0om\u025br\u02b2] = fleece<br \/>\n<strong>lomaire<\/strong> [l\u032a\u02e0om\u026ar\u02b2\u0259] = shearer, mower<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Manx (Gaelg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>lhome<\/strong> = bare, nude, meagre, naked, bald, spare<br \/>\n<strong>loamragh<\/strong> = fleecy, fleeced, woolly<br \/>\n<strong>loamrey<\/strong> = fleece, wool, shear, shearing, fell<br \/>\n<strong>loamyr<\/strong> = shear<br \/>\n<strong>lommyrt<\/strong> = shearing, shear, clipping<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Proto-Brythonic<\/th>\n<td><strong>*llum<\/strong> = bare (?)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Welsh (Kymraec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>llum, llwm, llom<\/strong> = devoid, bare, barren, naked, threadbare, worn, ragged<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Welsh (Cymraeg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>llwm<\/strong> = devoid, bare, barren, naked, threadbare, worn, ragged<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Cornish (Kernewek)<\/th>\n<td><strong>lomm, lobm<\/strong> = bare, naked, unproductive<br \/>\n<strong>lommhe, lobmhe<\/strong> = to bare, to strip bare<br \/>\n<strong>lomder<\/strong> = bareness<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Old Breton (Brethonoc)<\/th>\n<td><strong>lom<\/strong> = drop<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Middle Breton (Brezonec)<\/th>\n<td><strong>loum, lom<\/strong> = drop<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<th>Breton (Brezhoneg)<\/th>\n<td><strong>lomm<\/strong> [l\u0254m\u02d0] = drop, sip (of drink), modest quantity, insignificant, nothing<br \/>\n<strong>lomm-ha-lomm<\/strong> = little by little, step by step<br \/>\n<strong>lommig<\/strong> [\u02c8l\u0254\u0303m\u02d0ik] = small drop, modest quantity, insignificant<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p><strong>Etymology<\/strong>: from Proto-Indo-European <em>*lewp-<\/em> (to strip, peel). Words from the same roots include <strong>lupt<\/strong> (to peel, eat) in Latvian, and maybe <strong>loupit<\/strong> (to plunder, to rob) in Czech, and <strong>\u043b\u0443\u043f\u0438\u0442\u044c<\/strong> (to peel, beat, thrash, fleece) in Russian [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic\/luxsmos\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>Sources: <em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/\">Wiktionary<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/embed\/EtymologicalDictionaryOfProtoCeltic\">Etymological Dictionary Of Proto Celtic<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www3.smo.uhi.ac.uk\/sengoidelc\/duil-belrai\/english.html\">In D\u00fail B\u00e9lrai English &#8211; Old Irish glossary<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/dil.ie\/\">eDIL &#8211; Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teanglann.ie\/en\/fgb\/ceann\">Teanglann.ie<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.faclair.com\/\">Am Faclair Beag<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikisource.org\/wiki\/An_Etymological_Dictionary_of_the_Gaelic_Language\">An etymological dictionary of the Gaelic language<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/dictionaryq.com\/gaelg\/\">Fockleyreen: Manx &#8211; English Dictionary<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.mannin.info\/Mannin\/fockleyr\/m2e.php\">Online Manx Dictionary<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/corpus.gaelg.im\/\">Gaelg Corpus<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/geiriadur.ac.uk\/gpc\/gpc.html\">Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/lexiconcornubrit00willuoft\/page\/n5\/mode\/2up\">Lexicon cornu-britannicum : a dictionary of the ancient Celtic language of Cornwall<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cornishdictionary.org.uk\/\">Gerlyver Kernewek<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/devri.bzh\/\">Devri : Le dictionaire diachronique du breton<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/geriafurch.bzh\/fr\">Geriafurch<\/a>, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.brezhoneg.bzh\/87-termofis.htm\">TermOfis<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Words for fleece, shearing and related things in Celtic languages. Proto-Celtic *knaw\u012b = fleece Old Irish (Go\u00eddelc) cna\u00ed = fleece Middle Irish (Gaoidhealg) cna\u00ed, cnai, cn\u00e1i = fleece Scottish Gaelic (G\u00e0idhlig) cnuachd [kr\u0169\u0259\u0303\u00e7g\u02b2] = lump, head, brow, forehead, shock (of hair) Middle Welsh (Kymraec) cnu, cnuf, knu = fleece, clipping, a shearing cnaif, knaif = [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,16,26,75,19,20,21,3,109,22,5,6,37,27,10,11,12,13,106,23,43,18,14],"tags":[403,405,52,80,51,145,400,48,47,53,49,404,55,401,402,50],"class_list":["post-9195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-adjectives","category-breton","category-kernewek-cornish","category-czech-cestina","category-english","category-etymology","category-gaeilge-irish","category-language","category-latvian-latviesu-valoda","category-gaelg-manx","category-middle-breton","category-middle-cornish","category-middle-irish","category-nouns","category-old-irish-goidelc","category-proto-brythonic","category-proto-celtic","category-proto-indo-european","category-russian-","category-gaidhlig-scottish-gaelic","category-verbs","category-cymraeg-welsh","category-words","tag-bare","tag-barren","tag-breton","tag-celtic","tag-cornish","tag-etymology","tag-fleece","tag-gaelic","tag-irish","tag-language","tag-manx","tag-naked","tag-scottish-gaelic","tag-shear","tag-shearing","tag-welsh"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9195"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9199,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9195\/revisions\/9199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/celtiadur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}