kell

• Rhymes: -ɛl

Compare caul.

kell (plural kells)

1. (obsolete) The caul.
2. (obsolete, figuratively) That which covers or envelops, like a caul; a net; a fold; a film.
   • Beaumont and Fletcher

     I'll have him cut to the kell.

3. (obsolete) The cocoon or chrysalis of an insect.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ben Jonson to this entry?)

kell (plural kells)

1. A kiln.

A modification of kale.

kell (uncountable)

1. A sort of pottage; kale.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ainsworth to this entry?)

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɛlː/

From Latin cōleus (“testicle”) (compare Cornish kell, Welsh caill).

kell f (plural kelloù, dual divgell)

1. testicle

From Latin cella (compare Old Irish cell).

kell f (plural kelloù or killi)

1. cell (of prisoner, monk):

• (Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [kɛlː]
• (Revived Late Cornish) IPA^(key): [kɛlʰ]

From Latin cōleus (“testicle”) (compare Breton kell, Welsh caill).

kell f (dual diwgell, plural kellow or kellyow)

1. testicle

From Latin cella (compare Old Irish cell).

kell f (plural kellow or kellyow)

1. cell

From Swedish skälla.

kell (genitive kella, partitive kella)

1. clock
2. bell
3. (plural, colloquial) balls, testicles

• käekell

From Proto-Finno-Ugric *kelke- (“to be necessary, need to, must, be obligatory”). [1][2]

• IPA^(key): [ˈkɛlː]

• Audio

  (file)

kell

1. (auxiliary with a verb in the infinitive) must, need to, have to

   Ezt látnod kell. ― You have to / need to / must see it.

2. to be needed

   Kell nekem az a ház. ― I need that house.

• kellék
• kellemes
• kellemetlen
• kellet
• kelletlen

From kien (“was”) + l- (“to”).

kell- (imperfect ikoll)

1. to belong to; expresses English have

   Kelli ktieb.

   I had a book.

   (literally, “It was to me a book.”)

   Ir-raġel kellu ktieb.

   The man had a book.

   (literally, “The man it was to him a book.”)

2. (with following verb) to be obligatory for; to be necessary for; expresses English have to, must

   Kelli nikteb ktieb.

   I had to write a book.

   (literally, “It was to me (that) I write a book.”)

• The perfect of this verb expresses the past, while the imperfect expresses future and subjunctive senses. The present is expressed by forms of għand. This is equivalent to the situation in the underlying kien (“to be”), where the present is expressed (if expressed at all) by the personal pronouns.
• The verbal inflection is that of a defective verb that inflects only for tense (imperfect ikoll), but not for person or number. They who “have” something, or “have to do” something, are given with the appropriate personal suffixes (as above: kelli = it was to me = I had; kellu = it was to him = he had; etc.).
• Syntactically, it is not sound to define either of the two elements (possessor or thing possessed) as the object of the phrase. Rather the construction is that which in Arabic and Greek grammar is called a nominativus pendens: The possessor is prepositioned and referred back to with a personal suffix, while the thing possessed is the grammatical subject. This construction is generally popular in Maltese; for example: Ir-raġel qatluh. (“They killed the man.”, literally “The man, they killed him.”).

• għand (possessive)