Etymology

qualtagh

qual·tagh
Q10U1A1L1T1A1G2H4

Today it means: The first person one encounters, either after leaving one's home or (sometimes) outside one's home, especially on New Year's Day; a first-foot. Full definition →

Manx qualtagh ← Old Irish comdál ← Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm
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The story

  1. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*deh₂-“to divide; to share”
  2. Proto-Indo-European · derived from*ḱóm“beside, by; near; with”
  3. Old Irish · derived fromcomdál
  4. Manx · borrowed fromqualtagh
  5. English todayqualtagh

PIE word *ḱóm Borrowed from Manx qualtagh, quaaltagh (“first person one meets after leaving the house; first person one meets on New Year’s Day”, literally “one who meets or is met”), from quaail (“act of meeting; a meeting”) (ultimately from Old Irish comdál, from com- (prefix meaning ‘with’) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (“beside, by; near; with”)) + dál (“part, share; land in which a tribe lives”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *deh₂- (“to divide; to share”))) + -agh (suffix forming adjectives and nouns expressing belonging, a connection to, having, or an involvement with). The interfix -t- may be modelled after an unattested form of Old Irish comaltae (“foster-brother; companion”).

Words from the same roots

Proto-Indo-European*ḱóm all →

amonggainconsistentcomplygaloreconciergeHansardconglomerateyearningcahootshansecurtilagea-conventiclegezelligi-

Proto-Indo-European*deh₂- all →

democraticbetide

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.