buachaill

See also: búachaill

Irish

FWOTD – 14 October 2023

Etymology

From Old Irish búachaill (“cowherd”), from Proto-Celtic *boukolyos, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷowkólos, from *gʷṓws (“cow”) + *kʷel- (“to revolve, turn around”). Cognates include Breton bugel (“child”), Welsh bugail (“shepherd”), and Ancient Greek βουκόλος (boukólos, “cowherd”).

Pronunciation

• (Munster) IPA^(key): /ˈbˠuəxəlʲ/
• (Connacht) IPA^(key): /ˈbˠuəxəl̠ʲ/, (Aran) /ˈbˠɔxəlʲ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /ˈbˠɔxəl̠ʲ/; /ˈbˠiːxəl̠ʲ/, (older) /ˈbˠɯːxəl̠ʲ/, /ˈbˠiəxəl̠ʲ/

Noun

buachaill m (genitive singular buachalla, nominative plural buachaillí)

1. boy; young, unmarried man
2. boyfriend
3. herdsman
4. servant, male employee
5. lad, boyo
6. useful thing (referring to a masculine noun)

   Is é an rinse an buachaill chun na hoibre.

   The wrench is the right tool for the job.

Declension

Declension of buachaill (third declension)

bare forms singular plural nominative buachaill buachaillí vocative a bhuachaill a bhuachaillí genitive buachalla buachaillí dative buachaill buachaillí forms with the definite article singular plural nominative an buachaill na buachaillí genitive an bhuachalla na mbuachaillí dative leis an mbuachaill don bhuachaill leis na buachaillí

Quotations

• c. 1916, Pádraig Pearse, translated by Desmond Maguire, Short Stories of Padraig Pearse, published 1989:

  ‘Cén sórt éadach a bhí an buachaill tuaith a bhí ag caitheamh?’ arsa an dlíodóir.

  ‘What sort of clothes was the country boy wearing?’ said the lawyer.

• 2013 August, Alex Hijmans, “Fiche Bliain ag Spalpadh Gaeilge [Twenty Years Rattling Off In Irish]”, in Beo!‎^[1]:

  Ba bheag suime a bhí agamsa, buachaill ocht mbliana déag d’aois as an Ollainn, sa chaint seo.

  I, an eighteen-year-old boy from Holland, had little interest in this speech.

Synonyms

• (boy): garsún (“prepubescent boy”), stócach (“teenage boy”)
• (boyfriend): stócach, buachaill óg

Derived terms

• buachaill aimsire m (“servant-boy”)
• buachaill báire m (“playboy, trickster”)
• buachaill bán m (“favourite son”, literally “fair-haired boy”)
• buachaill bó m (“cowherd, cowboy”)
• buachaill caorach m (“shepherd boy”)
• buachaill críonna m (“the Devil”, literally “the old fellow”)
• buachaill feirme m (“farm-hand”)
• (in cards) buachaill mór m (“the joker”)
• buachaill óg m (“bridegroom”, literally “young man”)
• buachaill scoile m (“schoolboy”)
• buachaill seirbhíse m (“servant-boy”)
• buachaill siopa m (“male shop assistant”)
• buachaill stábla m (“stable-boy”)
• buachaill tábhairne m (“bartender”)
• buachaill tí m (“house-leek”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of buachaill

radical	lenition	eclipsis
buachaill	bhuachaill	mbuachaill

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

References

References

Further reading

• Dinneen, Patrick S. (1927), “buaċaill”, in Foclóir Gaeḋilge agus Béarla [Irish and English Dictionary], 2nd edition, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, page 132; reprinted with additions 1996, →ISBN
• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977), “buachaill”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla [Irish–English Dictionary], Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959), “buachaill”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “buachaill”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013–2026

Scottish Gaelic

Alternative forms

• buachaille

Etymology

From Old Irish búachaill (“cowherd”), from Proto-Celtic *boukolyos, from Proto-Indo-European *gʷowkólos, from *gʷōus (“cow”) + *kʷel- (“to revolve, move around, sojourn”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpuəçɪʎ/

Noun

buachaill m (genitive singular buachaille, plural buachaillean)

1. cowherd
2. herdsman, shepherd
3. watch or protector of cattle of any kind
4. youth

Derived terms

• buachaill an sgadain m (“large ray or skate, northern chimaera”)
• buachaill-bréige m (“rudely built monument on the crest of a hill”)
• buachaill-chaorach m (“shepherd”)
• buachaill-seòmair m (“valet-de-chambre”)
• òran-buachaill m (“eclogue”)

Mutation

Mutation of buachaill

radical	lenition
buachaill	bhuachaill

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

Further reading

• Edward Dwelly (1911), “buachaill”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “búachaill”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language