deasil

noun /ˈdjɛʃəl/

1. A motion towards the right, in the direction of the hands of a clock or of the apparent motion of the sun (in the northern hemisphere); a turning in this direction.

   uncountable

   It consists, as is well known, in the person who makes the deasil walking three times round the person who is the object of the ceremony, taking care to move according to the course of the sun.

Where it comes from

From 1771, from Scottish Gaelic deiseil, deiseal (“southward, sunward; clockwise”) (adjective and adverb), from Old Irish dessel (“sunwise”), from dess (“right, south”) and sel (“turn”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry deasil (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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