pell

See also: Pell, Pëll, pell', and pełł

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɛl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛl

Etymology 1

From Latin pellis (“animal skin, pelt”), from Proto-Italic *pelnis, from Proto-Indo-European *pel-ni-. Distantly related to fell and film.

Noun

pell (plural pells)

1. A fur or hide.
2. A lined cloak or its lining.
3. A roll of parchment; a record kept on parchment.
   • 1835, Frederick Devon (editor and translator), Issue Roll of Thomas de Brantingham, Bishop of Exeter, Lord High Treasurer of England, Containing Payments Made out of His Majesty′s Revenue in the 44th Year of King Edward III.: A.D. 1370, page xi,

     The clerk of the pell (whose office is in the Lord Treasurer′s gift) keepeth the Pells in parchment, called Pelles Receptæ, wherein every teller′s bill, with his name on it, is to be entred; and under every such bill when it is entred, recordatur to be written in open court, for a controlment to charge the teller with so much money as in the said bill is set downe.

     He also anciently kept another pell, called Pellis Exitus, wherein every dayes issuing of any the moneys paid into the receipt, was to be entered, and by whom and by what warrant, privy seale, or bill, it was paid.

4. (Sussex) A body of water somewhere between a pond and a lake in size.
5. An upright post, often padded and covered in hide, used to practice strikes with bladed weapons such as swords or glaives.

Derived terms

• clerk of the pells

Related terms

• fell
• pelisse
• pellage
• pellagra
• pellicle
• pelt
• peltry

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

pell (third-person singular simple present pells, present participle pelling, simple past and past participle pelled)

1. (transitive, obsolete) To pelt; to knock about.
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book I.]”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC:

     Beat and pell them downe with perches and poles.

See also

• pell-mell

Breton

Etymology

Cognate with Welsh pell (“far”).

Adverb

pell

1. far

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Old Catalan pell~peyl, from Latin pellem, from Proto-Italic *pelnis, from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“to cover, wrap; skin, hide; cloth”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central, Balearic, Valencia) [ˈpeʎ]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eʎ

Noun

pell f (plural pells)

1. (anatomy) skin
2. pelt

Derived terms

• espellar
• espellifar
• pell de gallina
• pelleter
• pellingot
• pellissa
• pellofa
• pellot

References

• “pell”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• “pell”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “pell” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “pell” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Cornish

Etymology

From Middle Cornish pell, from Proto-Brythonic *pell, from Proto-Celtic *kʷelsos, from Proto-Indo-European *kʷelsós, from *kʷel- (“to turn; to revolve around, sojourn”). Cognate with Breton and Welsh pell.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɛlː/

Adjective

pell (comparative pella, superlative an pella)

1. far, distant
2. long

   Synonym: hir

3. remote

Derived terms

• kerr pell lewys (“remote controlled car”)
• nans yw pell (“long ago”)
• pell alemma (“a long way from here”)
• pella (“moreover”)
• pellder (“distance, long time, remoteness”)
• pellgewsell, pellgowser (“phone, telephone”)
• pellgomunyans (“telecommunication”)
• pellhe (“banish, eject, expel”, verb)
• pellheans (“expulsion, estrangement”)
• pellheor (“ejector”)
• pellhwyja (“projectile vomit”, verb)
• pellskrifa (“fax, telegraph”, verb)
• pellskrifen (“fax, telegram”)
• pellvotonek (“remote control”)
• pellweler (“telescope”)
• pellwithans, pellyeghes (“telecare”)
• pellwolok (“television, TV”)
• termyn pell alemma (“long ago”)
• yn pell (“distantly”)

Mutation

Mutation of pell

unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed	mixed after 'th
pell	bell	fell	unchanged	unchanged	unchanged

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

German

Pronunciation

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

Verb

pell

1. singular imperative of pellen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of pellen

Old Irish

Alternative forms

• (horse): fell

Etymology

From Latin pellis, from Proto-Indo-European *pel- (“skin”).

Noun

pell m (genitive pill, nominative plural pill)

2. pelt, skin, hide
3. rug, blanket
5. (by extension, pars pro toto) horse

Declension

Masculine o-stem

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	pell	pellL	pillL
vocative	pill	pellL	pelluH
accusative	pellN	pellL	pelluH
genitive	pillL	pell	pellN
dative	pellL	pellaib	pellaib

Initial mutations of a following adjective:

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

Descendants

(pelt):

• Irish: peall
• Scottish Gaelic: peall

(horse):

• Irish: peall
• Scottish Gaelic: peall

Mutation

Mutation of pell

radical	lenition	nasalization
pell	phell or unchanged	pell pronounced with /bʲ-/

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), “1 pell”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “2 pell”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language