[29][30] The overflowing well is a common motif in local Gaelic creation tales - as seen in the goddess Boann's similar creation of the River Boyne in Ireland.
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Scottish Gaelic, This website uses cookies to improve your user experience. In modern Scottish folklore studies, she is also known as Beira, Queen of Winter. [33]The local legend suggests that the Cailleach and her family were given shelter in the glen by the locals and while they stayed there the glen was always fertile and prosperous. [17], Là Fhèill Brìghde is also the day the Cailleach gathers her firewood for the rest of the winter. [17][18], On the west coast of Scotland, the Cailleach ushers in winter by washing her great plaid (Gaelic: féileadh mòr) in the Gulf of Corryvreckan (Gaelic: Coire Bhreacain - 'whirlpool/cauldron of the plaid'). Crowdsourced audio pronunciation dictionary for 89 languages, with meanings, synonyms, sentence usages, translations and much more. Irish
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Can you pronounce it better? Ben Cruachan is the tallest mountain in the region.
"The Lament of the Old Woman of Beare", ed. Related words include the Gaelic caileag and the Irish cailín ("young woman, girl, colleen"), the diminutive of caile "woman"[2] and the Lowland Scots carline/carlin ("old woman, witch"). [17] Some interpretations have the Cailleach and Brìghde as two faces of the same goddess,[17] while others describe the Cailleach as turning to stone on Bealltainn and reverting to humanoid form on Samhainn in time to rule over the winter months. Thank you for helping build the largest language community on the internet. The word literally means "old woman, hag", and is found with this meaning in modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic, and has been applied to numerous mythological figures in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. [17], In Scotland and Ireland, the first farmer to finish the grain harvest made a corn dolly, representing the Cailleach (also called "the Carlin or Carline"[19]), from the last sheaf of the crop.
[10], The 8th/9th-century Irish poem The Lament of the Old Woman says that the Cailleach's name is Digdi or Digde. [13] A more obscure word that is sometimes interpreted as "hag" is the Irish síle, which has led some to speculate on a connection between the Cailleach and the stonecarvings of Sheela na Gigs. [3], Cailleach ("old woman" or "hag" in modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic)[2][4] comes from the Old Gaelic Caillech ("veiled one"), an adjectival form of caille ("veil"), an early loan from Latin pallium,[5] "woollen cloak". [25], Aillenacally (Aill na Caillí, "Hag Cliff") is a cliff in County Galway. 'old women') are also known as The Storm Hags, and seen as personifications of the elemental powers of nature, especially in a destructive aspect. This page was last edited on 5 November 2020, at 07:26. [35], According to local legend the stones represent the Cailleach, her husband the Bodach, and their children[36][37] and the site may represent the only surviving shrine of its kind in Great Britain. All Rights Reserved, {{app['fromLang']['value']}} -> {{app['toLang']['value']}}, Pronunciation of Cailleach Bheur with 2 audio pronunciations, Audio Pronunciation removed from collection, International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and Phonetic spelling. [33] Roughly rectangular, the building originally measured 2m by 1.3m by 0.4m high with a stone roof. [17], Beinn na Caillich on the Isle of Skye is one of her haunts, as are other mountains prominent in the landscape, and from which fierce storms of sleet and rain descend, wreaking havoc and destruction upon the lands below. Pronunciation in: "[21][22], In Ireland she is also associated with craggy, prominent mountains and outcroppings, such as Hag's Head (Irish: Ceann Caillí, meaning "hag's head") the southernmost tip of the Cliffs of Moher in County Clare.