CLAIM / COUNTERCLAIM / LIMITRECORD 672
DISPUTE
RECORD.
One scholarly question. Every attached source. The present editorial state, without pretending the last word has been written.
openprobable
What is the earliest surviving use of cais in either sense?
Not established here. eDIL supplies located citations but the underlying objects and dates were not normalized or directly inspected for an earliest-use audit.
WORD UNDER REVIEWDISPUTE 672
cais
not directly recoverable · Middle Irish noun
eDIL separates two Irish headwords written cais. The first, also recorded as caise, is explicitly explained both as love and as hate; its cited passages and glossary equations range from searc and grádh "love" to miscais and mioscais "hatred", with context deciding individual readings. One Éigse line is tentatively translated so that the same visible form occurs on both sides: "my love ... is met by hatred(?)". The question mark matters. The second eDIL headword cais means "eye" and is excluded from this semantic lineage. These records establish a remarkable lexicographic opposition, not one timeless essence, a chronology from love to hate, or proof that every occurrence belongs to one historically indivisible sense. John T. Koch compares the noun with Proto-Celtic *katsi- < *kad-t/si- and a wider *kad- family, but that ancestry and its proposed Germanic comparison remain open. eDIL itself generally supplies etymologies only selectively. No manuscript pixels were directly inspected, no earliest-use or historical-frequency claim is made, and no exact pronunciation is invented.
01DIRECT CLAIM EVIDENCE
2 SOURCES WITH A STANCE
A citation is not a vote. Each record says whether the work supports, challenges, contradicts, or contextualizes the position—and identifies the exact locus used.
SOURCE 01supportshistorical dictionary
eDIL — 1 cais, noun explained as both love and hate
Supplies evidence locations without a verified first-use claim.
Located citation inventory under headword 1 cais- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Royal Irish Academy · eDIL editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Royal Irish Academy
SOURCE 02contextlexicographic method
eDIL — About the dictionary, revision, headwords, and citations
Explains why web order is not automatically earliest attestation.
Headword form and citation-order policies- AUTHOR / EDITOR
- Royal Irish Academy · eDIL editors
- YEAR
- 2026
- PUBLISHER
- Royal Irish Academy
02 / EDITORIAL STATE
THE QUESTION REMAINS OPEN.
- CONFIDENCE
- probable
- STATUS
- open
- LEGACY SOURCE SUMMARY
- The dictionary's headword and citation policies do not turn the first visible web citation into a first-use record.
WHY NO RESOLUTIONThe reviewed evidence does not yet warrant collapsing the competing or incomplete analyses into one secure answer.