caisleán

Irish

Etymology

From Middle Irish caislén, from Old Irish caisel (from Anglo-Norman castel, from Latin castellum).^[1] By surface analysis, caiseal +‎ -án.

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /kəˈʃlʲɑːn̪ˠ/^[2]
• (Connacht) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʃl̠ʲɑːnˠ/, /ˈkaʃl̠ʲɑːn̪ˠ/; /ˈkʊʃl̠ʲɑːnˠ/, /ˈkʊʃl̠ʲɑːn̪ˠ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈkaʃl̠ʲanˠ/, /ˈkaʃl̠ʲan̪ˠ/^[3]

Noun

caisleán m (genitive singular caisleáin, nominative plural caisleáin)

1. castle (fortified building)
2. mansion
3. (meteorology, of cloud) cumulus

Declension

Declension of caisleán (first declension)

bare forms case singular plural nominative caisleán caisleáin vocative a chaisleáin a chaisleána genitive caisleáin caisleán dative caisleán caisleáin forms with the definite article case singular plural nominative an caisleán na caisleáin genitive an chaisleáin na gcaisleán dative leis an gcaisleán don chaisleán leis na caisleáin

Derived terms

• caisleáin óir (“sunset clouds; castles in the air”)
• caisleán cártaí (“house of cards”)
• caisleánach (“containing castles”, adjective)

Mutation

Mutated forms of caisleán

radical	lenition	eclipsis
caisleán	chaisleán	gcaisleán

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

References

1. Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “caislén”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
2. Sjoestedt, M. L. (1931) Phonétique d’un parler irlandais de Kerry (in French), Paris: Librairie Ernest Leroux, § 153, page 78
3. Quiggin, E. C. (1906) A Dialect of Donegal, Cambridge University Press, § 226, page 83

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “caisleán”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN