‖ deasil, deiseal, adv., n.
(ˈdjɛʃəl, ˈdɛsəl)
Also deisal, deisul.
[Gaelic deiseil (deiseal, deasal) adj. and adv., righthandwise, turned toward the right, dextrorsum, f. deas right hand, south, in OIr. dess, des, Welsh dehau, cognate with Lat. dex-ter, Gr. δεξ-ιός. (The meaning of the latter part is unknown.)]
Righthandwise, towards the right; motion with continuous turning to the right, as in going round an object with the right hand towards it, or in the same direction as the hands of a clock, or the apparent course of the sun (a practice held auspicious by the Celts).
| 1771 Pennant Tour Scotl. in 1769, 309 (Jam. s.v. Widdersinnis) At marriages and baptisms they make a procession round the church, Deasoil, i.e., sunways. 1774–5 ― Tour Scotl. in 1772, II. 15 (Jam.) The unhappy lunatics are brought here by their friends, who first perform the ceremony of the Deasil thrice round a neighbouring cairn. 1794 Statist. Acc. Perthshire XI. 521 (Jam.) If a person's meat or drink were to..come against his breath, they instantly cry out, Deisheal! which is an ejaculation praying that it may go the right way. 1814 Scott Wav. xxiv, The surgeon..perambulated his couch three times, moving from east to west, according to the course of the sun..which was called making the deasil. 1875 Lubbock Orig. Civiliz. vi. 300 There was a sacred stone in Jura round which the people used to move ‘deasil’, i.e. sunwise. 1897 Daily News 26 July 5/1 ‘Walking the deisul’ round a person or place was lately, perhaps is still, a ceremony in the Highlands. 1945 Archit. Rev. XCVII. 49/3 English roundabouts run deisul, clockwise. 1947 Auden Age of Anxiety (1948) ii. 49 O Primal Age When we danced deisal. |