Editing Cailleach (section)

==Name==
[[File:Lightmatter cliffs of moher in County Clare Ireland.jpg|thumb|left|''Ceann na Caillí'' ('The Hag's Head'), the southernmost tip of the [[Cliffs of Moher]] in [[County Clare]]. One of many locations named for the Cailleach.<ref name="Monaghan">Monaghan, Patricia (2004) ''The Red-Haired Girl from the Bog: The Landscape of Celtic Myth and Spirit''. New World Library. {{ISBN|1-57731-458-1}} p.23: "We see her silhouette on ''Ceann na Cailleach'' [recte ''Ceann na Caillí''], 'Hag's Head', the most southerly of the [[Cliffs of Moher]]".</ref>]]

{{lang|ga|Cailleach}} ('old woman' or 'hag' in modern [[Irish language|Irish]] and [[Scottish Gaelic]])<ref name="dicdef" /><ref name="IrCailleach">{{cite book |last=Ó Dónaill |first=Niall |title=Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla |publisher=Mount Salus Press |isbn=1-85791-037-0 |page=172 |date=1992}}</ref> comes from the [[Old Irish]] {{lang|sga|Caillech}} ('veiled one'), an adjectival form of {{lang|sga|caille}} ('veil'), an early loan from [[Latin]] {{lang|la|pallium}},<ref>Displaying the expected /p/ > /c/ change of early Latin loans in Irish.</ref> 'woollen cloak'.<ref>Thurneysen, Rudolph; ''A Grammar of Old Irish'', Vol. 1; Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1946, p. 568.</ref><ref>Ó Cathasaigh, T. "The eponym of Cnogba", ''Éigse'' 23, 1989, pp. 27–38.</ref><ref>Ó hÓgáin, D. ''Myth, Legend & Romance: An Encyclopaedia of the Irish Folk Tradition'', Prentice Hall Press, 1991, p. 67.</ref><ref name="Macbain">Macbain, Alexander (1998) ''Etymological Dictionary Of Scottish-Gaelic''. New York: Hippocrene Books, {{ISBN|0-7818-0632-1}}, p. 63.</ref>

The Cailleach is often referred to as the {{lang|ga|Cailleach Bhéara}} in Irish and {{lang|gd|Cailleach Bheurra}} in Scottish Gaelic. Gearóid Ó Crualaoich believes this comes from a word meaning 'sharp, shrill, inimical' – {{lang|sga|bior}} or {{lang|sga|beur}} – and refers to the Cailleach's association with winter and wilderness, as well as her association with horned beasts or cattle.<ref name="Ó Crualaoich">{{cite book |first=Gearóid |last=Ó Crualaoich |date=2006 |title=The Book of the Cailleach: Stories of the Wise-Woman Healer |publisher=Cork University Press |isbn=1-85918-372-7}}</ref>

The 8th- to 9th-century Irish poem ''The Lament of the Old Woman'' says that the Cailleach's name is Digdi or Digde. In ''The Hunt of [[Slieve Gullion|Slieve Cuilinn]]'' she is called Milucra, sister of [[Áine]]. In the tale of the [[Glas Gaibhnenn]], she is called Biróg. Elsewhere, she is called Bui or Bua[ch].<ref>Ó Cathasaigh, Tomás. [http://www.carrowkeel.com/sites/boyne/knowth2a.html "Knowth - The Epynom of Cnogba"].</ref> In [[Manx language|Manx Gaelic]] she is known as the {{lang|gv|Caillagh}}.<ref name="Briggs1" /><ref>Monaghan, Patricia. ''The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore''. Infobase Publishing, 2004, p.69</ref>

The plural of ''cailleach'' is {{lang|ga|cailleacha}} ({{IPA|ga|kɪˈl̠ʲaxə, ˈkal̠ʲəxə|pron}}) in Irish, {{lang|gd|cailleachan}} ({{IPA|gd|ˈkʰaʎəxən|pron}}) in Scottish Gaelic, and {{lang|gv|caillaghyn}} in Manx.  The word is found as a component in terms like the Gaelic {{lang|gd|cailleach-dhubh}} ('nun') and {{lang|gd|cailleach-oidhche}} ('[[owl]]'),<ref name="dicdef" /> as well as the Irish {{lang|ga|cailleach feasa}} ('wise woman, fortune-teller') and {{lang|ga|cailleach phiseogach}} ('sorceress, charm-worker'). Related words include the Gaelic {{lang|gd|caileag}} and the Irish {{lang|ga|cailín}} ('young woman, girl, colleen'), the diminutive of {{lang|ga|caile}} 'woman',<ref name="dicdef" /> and the [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]] {{lang|sco|carline/[[Carlin stone|carlin]]}} ('old woman, witch').<ref name="RossD">{{cite book |last1=Ross |first1=Davie |last2=Smith |first2=Gavin D. |title=Scots–English English–Scots Dictionary |location=New York |publisher=Hippocrene Pres |isbn=0-7818-0779-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/scotsenglishengl0000unse/page/21 21] |date=1999 |url= https://archive.org/details/scotsenglishengl0000unse/page/21 }}</ref>  A more obscure word that is sometimes interpreted as 'hag' is the Irish {{lang|ga|síle}}, which has led some to speculate on a connection between the Cailleach and the stone carvings of [[Sheela na Gig]]s.<ref name="RossA">Ross, Anne (1973, reprint 2004) "The divine hag of the pagan Celts", in ''The Witch Figure: Folklore Essays by a Group of Scholars in England Honoring the 75th Birthday of Katharine M. Briggs''; ed. by Venetia Newall. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul. {{ISBN|0-415-33074-2}}.</ref>