Gaul

See also: gaul

English

Etymology 1

Borrowed from French Gaule (“Gaul”), from Middle French Gaule (“Gaul”), from Old French Gaule, Waulle (“Gaul”, a term used to translate unrelated Latin Gallia (“Gaul”)), from Frankish *Walha(land) (“Gaul, Land of the Romans, foreigners”), from Proto-West Germanic *walh (“foreigner, Roman, Celt”), from Proto-Germanic *walhaz (“an outlander, foreigner, Celt”), probably of Celtic origin, from the same source as Latin Volcae (name of a Celtic tribe in South Germany, which later emigrated to Gaul).

Akin to Old High German Walh, Walah (“a Celt, Roman, Gaul”), Old English Wealh, Walh (“a non-Germanic foreigner, Celt/Briton/Welshman”), Old Norse Valir (“Gauls, Frenchmen”). More at Wales/Welsh, Cornwall, Walloon, and Vlach/Wallachia.

Despite their similar appearance, Latin Gallia is not the origin of French Gaule. During the evolution from Latin to French, stressed initial /ˈɡa-/ yielded /dʒa/ > /ʒa/ (cf. Latin gamba > French jambe), while unstressed final /-lia/ yielded /ʎə/ > /j/ (cf. Latin filia > French fille). Thus, the regular outcome of Latin Gallia is /ʒaj/ ⟨Jaille⟩, which is attested in several French toponyms: La Jaille-Yvon, Saint-Mars-la-Jaille, etc.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɡɔːl/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• (cot–caught merger) IPA^(key): /ɡɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl
• Homophone: gall

Proper noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Gaul

Wikipedia

Gaul

2. (chiefly historical) A historical region of Western Europe referring to areas occupied by Celts during Roman times, roughly corresponding to modern France, Luxembourg, Belgium, most of Switzerland, and parts of Northern Italy (Lombardy), the Netherlands, and Germany west of the Rhine.

   Hypernyms: (historical) Celtic Gaul, Belgic Gaul, Aquitaine, Cisalpine Gaul, Transalpine Gaul, Gallia Narbonensis

Translations

region

Afrikaans: Gallië Arabic: بِلَاد الْغَال f pl (bilād al-ḡāl) Azerbaijani: Qalliya Breton: Galia (br) f Bulgarian: Га́лия f (Gálija) Catalan: Gàl·lia f Chinese: Mandarin: 高卢 (zh) (Gāolú) Czech: Galie (cs) f Danish: Gallien n Dutch: Gallië (nl) n Esperanto: Gaŭlio, Gaŭlujo Finnish: Gallia (fi) French: Gaule (fr) f Georgian: გალია (ka) (galia) German: Gallien (de) n Greek: Γαλατία (el) f (Galatía) Ancient: Γαλατία f (Galatía) Hebrew: גַּלִּיָּה (he) f (Gallía) Irish: An Ghaill f, Gall m Italian: Gallia (it) f Japanese: ガリア (ja) (garia) Latin: Gallia (la) f Latvian: Gallija f Norwegian: Bokmål: Gallia n Nynorsk: Gallia n Old Church Slavonic: Галліꙗ f (Gallija) Old French: Gaulle f Persian: گالیا (gâliyâ), گال (fa) (gâl) Polish: Galia (pl) f Portuguese: Gália (pt) f Romanian: Galia f Russian: Га́ллия (ru) f (Gállija) Spanish: Galia (es) f Swedish: Gallien (sv) n Turkish: Galya (tr) Ukrainian: Га́лія f (Hálija) Uzbek: Galliya Welsh: Gâl f

Etymology 2

From Middle English Gall, from Latin Gallus. The change in spelling is due to the influence of the place-name Gaul, which is thought to be etymologically unrelated (see above).

Noun

English Wikipedia has an article on:

Gauls

Wikipedia

Gaul (plural Gauls)

1. A native or inhabitant of the historical region of Gaul, or poetically the modern nation of France.
   • 1945, E[lizabeth] G[idley] Withycombe, “Introduction”, in The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Clarendon Press, →OCLC, page xv:

     […] Gauls used the suffix -acus, Etruscans -nas or -na, Umbrians -enus, -ienus.

Related terms

• Gaulish
• Gallic

Translations

person

Afrikaans: Gallileër Arabic: غَالِيّ m (ḡāliyy), غَالِيَّة f (ḡāliyya) Azerbaijani: qall Breton: Galian (br) m Catalan: gal (ca) m, gal·la (ca) f Chinese: Mandarin: 高卢人 (gāolúrén) Czech: Gal (cs) m Danish: galler c Dutch: Galliër (nl) m, Gallische (nl) f Esperanto: gaŭlo, gaŭlino (female) Faroese: galli m Finnish: gallialainen (fi) French: Gaulois (fr) m, Gauloise (fr) f Georgian: გალელი (galeli) German: Gallier (de) m, Gallierin (de) f Greek: Γαλάτης (el) m (Galátis), Γαλάτισσα (el) f (Galátissa) Ancient: Γαλάτης m (Galátēs) Hungarian: gall (hu) Irish: Gallach m Old Irish: Gall m Latin: Gallus (la) m, Galla f Latvian: galls m, galliete f, galli m pl Norwegian: Bokmål: galler (no) m Nynorsk: gallar m Polish: Gal (pl) m, Galijka f Portuguese: gaulês (pt) m, gaulesa f Romanian: gal (ro) m Russian: галл (ru) m (gall) Spanish: galo (es) m, gala (es) f Swedish: galler (sv) c Turkish: Galyalı Ukrainian: гал m (hal) Uzbek: gall Welsh: Galiad

Anagrams

• Agul, Gula, gula, ugal