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
| Step | Language | Word | Meaning |
|---|
| 1 | Irish | Cathal | — |
| 2 | Old Irish | Cathal | — |
| 3 | Proto-Celtic | Katuwalos | strong in battle |
| 4 | Proto-Celtic | katus | battle |
| 5 | Proto-Indo-European | kéh₃tus | fight |
| 6 | Proto-Indo-European | -tus | Derives action nouns from verb roots |