Dòmhnall (Scottish Gaelic)

Where does "Dòmhnall" come from?

The Scottish Gaelic male given name 'Dòmhnall', equivalent to English 'Donald', descends through Middle Irish from the Old Irish name 'Domnall'[1]. This name traces back to the Proto-Celtic form '*Dubnowalos'[1], which combined '*dubnos', meaning 'world'[3], with '*walos', meaning 'prince' or 'chief'[3]. The root '*dubnos' derives from the Proto-Indo-European '*dʰubʰnós', meaning 'deep' or 'hollow'[5], while '*walos' traces back to the Proto-Indo-European root '*h₂welh₁-', meaning 'to rule'[6].

Open questions

The connection of the Proto-Indo-European root to 'to choose, wish' or to 'to become big or strong' is considered possible rather than certain. [4]

Full etymology tree

Dòmhnall (Scottish Gaelic), 'a male given name, equivalent to English Donald'
- inherited [Term?] (Middle Irish)
  - inherited Domnall (Old Irish), 'a male given name from Proto-Celtic, equivalent to English Donald'
    - inherited *Dubnowalos (Proto-Celtic), 'a male given name'
      - compound *dubnos (Proto-Celtic), 'deep'
        inherited *dʰubʰnós (Proto-Indo-European), 'deep'
        derived *dʰewb- (Proto-Indo-European)
        suffix *-nós (Proto-Indo-European), 'Creates verbal adjectives from roots.'
      - compound *walos (Proto-Celtic), 'prince, chief'
        inherited *h₂welh₁- (Proto-Indo-European), 'to rule'

Ancestors

*h₂welh₁- (Proto-Indo-European)
Domnall (Old Irish)
*Dubnowalos (Proto-Celtic)

Cognates and doublets

Dónall (Irish)

Descendants and derived words

Donald (English)
Donald (English)
Dunaldur (Faroese)
Doileag (Scottish Gaelic)
Doilidh (Scottish Gaelic)
Dolaidh (Scottish Gaelic)
Dòmhnallan (Scottish Gaelic)
Donaidh (Scottish Gaelic)
MacDhòmhnaill (Scottish Gaelic)

Sources

Updated August 2026

More words starting with D

Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris