_Ceile_, as a substantive, means literally, ‘socius, maritus,’ but it has a secondary meaning, ‘servus,’ and as an adverb it means ‘pariter.’ Dr. Reeves, in his work on the British Culdees, adopts the secondary meaning, and considers that it is simply the Irish equivalent of Servus Dei, which, he says, was the ordinary expression for a monk, and hence starts with the assumption that the _Ceile De_ were simply monks. This is one of the very few instances in which the author has found himself unable to accept a dictum of Dr. Reeves. This rendering appears to him objectionable—first, because no example can be produced in which the term Servus Dei appears translated by _Ceile De_; secondly, that the term _Ceile De_ is applied to a distinct class who were not very numerous in Ireland, while the term Servus Dei is a general expression applicable to religious of all classes, and included, as we have seen, the secular canons as well as the monks. Ebrard rejects the rendering by Servus Dei, and supposes that it is the Irish equivalent of Vir Dei; but this is still more objectionable. Vir Dei was a term applied to all saints of whatever class; and in the Litany of Angus, who himself bore the name of _Ceile De_, or the Culdee, it is translated _Fer De_, but in the glosses on the Felire of Angus the word _Ceile_ is glossed _Carait_, or friend; and the author long ago came to the conclusion that, though not etymologically identic, it is the Irish equivalent of _Deicola_, God-worshipper, in its primary meaning, that is, in the sense of companionship or near connection with God. The late Dr. Joseph Robertson, when he was preparing the Introduction to the _Statuta_, came by an independent inquiry to the same result (see Introduction, vol. i. p. ccxii.); and the author cannot help thinking that, had it not been for the etymological considerations which weighed with Dr. Reeves, his historical inquiry would have brought him to the same conclusion. Footnote 475: Colgan, _A.SS._, p. 454. Footnote 476: _Leabhar Breac_, part ii. p. 261. Dr. Reeves has printed the part that relates to the _Cele De_ from a different MS., with a translation, in his _British Culdees_, p. 82. Footnote 477: A.D. 869 Comgan fota Ancorita Tamlachta quievit.—_An. Ult._ 2 August, Comgan _Cele De_.—_Mart. Tam._ A.D. 1031 _Cond na mbocht, cend Celed nDe agus Ancoiri Cluana mic Nois_.—_An. F. M._, vol. ii. p. 525. Footnote 478: _An. Ult. ad an._ 921. Footnote 479: Reeves’s _British Culdees_, Pref. p. ix. Footnote 480: Elarius ancorita et scriba Locha Crea.—_An. Ult. ad an._ 806. Footnote 481: _Topog. Hib._, dist. 2, c. 4. Footnote 482: Reeves’s _British Culdees_, p. 79. Footnote 483: Printed with translations in Dr. Reeves’s _History of the British Culdees_, p. 84. Footnote 484: Compare the rule in page 84 with canons of the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle. Footnote 485: