mílchú

Old Irish

Etymology

From míl (“animal”) +‎ cú (“dog, hound”). The term was originally *míluch (as evidenced by the related hypocoristic personal name Míliuc) but the nominative singular was reformed by analogy with the simplex cú.

Noun

mílchú m (nominative plural mílchoin)

  1. hunting dog, possibly a greyhound
    • c. 810, Florence Glosses on Philargyrus, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, p. 48, 21b
      .i. horcae, mílchú ɫ conbocail
      i.e. lapdog, hunting dog, or watchdog

Inflection

Masculine n-stem
singular dual plural
nominative mílchú mílchoinL mílchoin
vocative mílchú mílchoinL mílchonaH
accusative mílchoinN mílchoinL mílchonaH
genitive mílchon mílchonL mílchonN
dative mílchoinL, mílchúL mílchonaib mílchonaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
  • H = triggers aspiration
  • L = triggers lenition
  • N = triggers nasalization

Descendants

  • Middle Irish: mílcú
    • Irish: míolchú
    • Scottish Gaelic: mialchu

Further reading

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