cead mile failten.int.

Etymology: Originally < Irish céad míle fáilte a hundred thousand welcomes < céad hundred (see hund n.) + míle thousand (Early Irish míle < classical Latin mília , mílle : see milli- comb. form) + fáilte welcome (Early Irish fáilte joy, welcome, of uncertain origin: perhaps either related to Welsh gwawl light ( < an Indo-European base with the sense ‘to see’), or < the Indo-European base of walm n.). In some later uses < the corresponding phrase in Scottish Gaelic, ceud mìle fàilte.The origins of the Irish phrase are difficult to trace, because of the relative scarcity of written material in the 18th and 19th cent.; the phrase appears in traditional poetry. In Scotland, ceud fàilte ‘a hundred welcomes’ is recorded in R. Armstrong Gaelic Dict. (1825) 110/2. Forms with ceud reflect an older and Scottish Gaelic spelling; forms with ciad reflect northern and Scottish Gaelic pronunciation. Forms in -th- reflect the dental quality of the -t- , parallel to the pronunciation of th in Irish English. Forms in -au- reflect the pronunciation of Irish á . The longer phrase in quot. 1755 at sense A. translates as ‘a hundred thousand welcomes to you’.