Searchable Lemmata: dalc (OE), delc (Ir), dalk (ME), delg (Corn), dalk (MdE), dealg (SG).
Alternate Forms: dalke, dealg, delcc, delig, dligid.
Note(n.)
Jewellery;
the term is generally used to refer to small pointed objects, including thorns, nails, or pins (later knitting needles). Its use as a piece of functional jewellery is considered below (sense 1a). A second sense, a necklace, is possibly an error (sense 1b).(ante 1000 - post 1450)
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
1a(n.)
Jewellery;
brooch or pin, often worn in a mantle.
The term might refer specifically to the pin as part of the brooch. In the Irish evidence, the term is often found with brat (q.v.).(circa 1000 ?)
3. He andette ða Iosue ætforan him eallum, & cwæð: Soðlice ic syngode; Ic geseah betwux ðam herereafum wyrmreadne basingc & twahund entsa hwites seolfres & sumne gyldene dalc on fiftigum entsum, & ic atbræd ðæt & behydde on eorðan ætforan minum getelde.
[DOE Josh (008400 (7.20))]
6. Delcc fionnairgit ann arna eagar d'ór intlaisi marbadh lochrann lansolusta nach bfedais daoine déchsain ara gleordacht 7 ara gloinidhi.
Heroic, Ulster.
[LexP TBC-St (ORahilly) (2395-2396)]
7. Ocus ro batar édaighi ligda lenn-maisecha umpu & bratt uaine imón mac ro bo shine dib .i. im Ruidi, & bratt corrtharach d'olaind examail Tíri Tairngiri im Fiacha, & faideran fir-gorm im Eochaid co cimais airgid aen-gil ina timchell, & delg óir isin brut ósa bruindi.
Heroic.
[eDIL Acall. (364-368)]
8. Ocus ní cian ro badur ann co facadur in scolóc da n-indsaigid,& [sithal]brat álaind uaine uime, & delg airgit ann, & leine do t-shidha buidhe ria cnes, & inar maeth-sroill tairsi anechtair, & timpan toghaide ara muin.
[eDIL Acall. (3346-3349)]
11. briar .i. delg nuinge (.i.) óir ut est im Brethaibh nemidh. briar delg nuinge
Gloss.
[eDIL Corm. Y (143)]
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
1b(n.)
Jewellery;
ornamentation for the neck.
The first attestation comes from the Cornish Vocabulary, a translation of the Ælfric Glossary cited above. However, the translator has appeared to have made a mistake and confused a nearby gloss (monile: mynne oððe swurbeah) with that cited above. See Graves, R. (1962)a p. 150. The relationship between the two attestations presented here is unclear, however.(ante 1200 - post 1450)
Sex: N/A Use: n/a Ceremonial: No
Body Parts: Neck.
3(n.) ;
a knitting needle; a late use of the term. The use of SG dealg as a knitting needle is a dialect variant of the Arran and Kintyre regions of Scotland (areas that retained a close affiliation with the Ulster Irish dialect in Northern Ireland. In other SG dialects, the term bior is found (MacAulay, 1992), cf. bior. It is not certain how early this sense developed.(circa 1825 ?)
Sex: Male, Female Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
4(n.) ;
possibly a brooch. This is the only Cornish appearance of the word. It is glssed as monile, Latin for necklace, but the glossator has made an error. In the Old English glossary by Ælfric, on which the Cornish glossator based his work, Ælfric glosses the Latin monile (Old English myne: necklace) followed by spinther (Old English dalc: a brooch). It is likely that the glossator has chosen delc from the wrong gloss. The Irish cognate, on which Old English dalc and presumably Cornish delc are based, refers to an object such as a pin used to piece cloth in order to fasten it together, cf. Ir delg. For further discussion regarding the relationship between the Cornish and Ælfric's glossaries, see Graves, R. (1962).(circa 1200)
Ceremonial: No
Body Parts:
Speculative, OE; Max Förster suggests that the term is originally Gaelic and borrowed into English (1921, p.165-166), there are cognates in Celtic and Germanic.
WF:
Etym Cog: dálkr (Norse).
