Where does “Cathal” come from?

Cathal comes from Old Irish Cathal, from Proto-Celtic Katuwalos, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European h₂welh₁-, meaning to be strong, combined with the Proto-Indo-European agent suffix -tus.

Ancestry of “Cathal”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1IrishCathal—
2Old IrishCathal—
3Proto-CelticKatuwalosstrong in battle
4Proto-Celtickatusbattle
5Proto-Indo-Europeankéh₃tusfight
6Proto-Indo-European-tusDerives action nouns from verb roots
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -tus →Every word from Proto-Indo-European kéh₃tus →Every word from Proto-Celtic katus →