bealaidh

broom, Irish beally/i (Lh. Comp. Voc.); cf. Breton balan, Middle Breton balazn, Old French balain; also French balai, older balain, a broom. This might be referred to the common root bhel, bloom (prolific as a root, like the corresponding root of broom, as in Welsh balannu, to bud), but the Welsh for "broom" is banadl, Cornish banathel, which Middle Ernault has compared with Latin genista, broom (root gen, beget?). Jub. gives Breton as banadlon (R.C.$$+18 106). The Breton might be a metathesis of Welsh banadl (cf. Breton alan v. anail). It is possible that Gaelic is borrowed from the Pictish; the word does not appear in the Irish Dictionaries, save in Lh.'s Celt. part, which perhaps proves nothing.