Gaul meaning

gôl
An ancient region of western Europe south and west of the Rhine River, west of the Alps, and north of the Pyrenees, corresponding roughly to modern-day France and Belgium. The Romans extended the designation to include northern Italy, particularly after Julius Caesar's conquest of the area in the Gallic Wars (58–51 bc ).
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A member of the Celtic-speaking people of ancient Gaul.
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A Celt of ancient Gaul.
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A Frenchman.
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A French person.
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Ancient region in W Europe, consisting of what is now mainly France & Belgium.
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Ancient region in N Italy, occupied by the Gauls (4th cent. b.c.)
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Ancient division of the Roman Empire, including Cisalpine Gaul & Transalpine Gaul (1st-5th cent. a.d.)
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A Roman-era region roughly corresponding to modern France and Belgium.
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A person from Gaul.
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Origin of gaul

From French Gaule (“Gaul”), from Middle French Gaule (“Gaul”), from Old French Gaule, Waulle (“Gaul”), a word used as a translation of Latin Gallia (“Gaul”), from Frankish *Walholant (“Gaul, Land of the Romans, foreigners”), from Frankish *Walha (“foreigners, Romans, Celts”), from Proto-Germanic *walhaz (“an outlander, foreigner, Celt”), probably of Celtic origin, from the same source as Latin Volcae (“name of a Celtic tribe in South Germany, which later emmigrated to Gaul”). Akin to Old High German Walh, Walah (“a Celt, Roman, Gaul”), Old English Wealh, Walh (“a non-Germanic foreigner, Celt/Briton/Welshman”), Old Norse Valir (“Gauls, Frenchmen”). More at Wales, Cornwall, Walloon.

Sentence Examples

  • Cisalpine Gaul, including the whole of northern Italy, still constituted a province, an appellation never applied to Italy itself.

  • At first, indeed, the term was apparently confined to the regions of the central and southern districts, exclusive of Cisalpine Gaul and the whole tract north of the Apennines, and this continued to be the official or definite signification of the name down to the end of the republic. But the natural limits of Italy are so clearly marked that the name came to be generally employed as a geographical term at a much earlier period.

  • 594), who begins his history of the Franks by lamenting the decay of Latin literature in Gaul.

  • While Latin was declining in Gaul, even Greek was not unknown in Ireland, and the Irish passion for travel led to the spread of Greek learning in the west of Europe.

  • Later, when Gaul had been subdued, the place was dismantled and its Gaulish inhabitants resettled 4 m.

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Words near gaul in the Dictionary