|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
tuath
tuath, an Old Irish word, the primary meaning of which is ‘people’ or ‘community’. In 8th‐century glosses, it is used to translate Latin plebs, and as a synonym for Irish popul (people). Such communities are led by a single leader (tuath Dé, ‘God's people’, or tuath Barrfind, ‘Barrfind's people’) and most commonly this leader is a king (rí). The word also has extended meanings which give some insight into the nature of communities in pre‐Norman Irish society: territory, a band of warriors, or the institutions of the secular world as opposed to those of the church. Tuatha can range in size from the island of Ireland to Tuosist parish (Tuath Ó Siosta), Co. Kerry. Since specification of size is extremely rare, such variation makes it impossible to calculate the number of tuatha at any one time. Similarly, legal formulations as to the number of warriors in a tuath or the necessity for each to have a scholar, a poet, and a churchman should be seen as aspirational rather than prescriptive. Secondary literature occasionally uses tuath as a shorthand for ‘tribe in archaic state of organization’. This notion originates in 19th‐century historiography, but is increasingly disregarded as knowledge of Old Irish has grown.
Catherine Swift |
|
|
Cite this article
"tuath." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "tuath." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-tuath.html "tuath." The Oxford Companion to Irish History. 2007. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O245-tuath.html |
|
tuath
tuath, túath. The basic territorial unit of early Irish society, consisting of a population group capable of maintaining from 700 to 3,000 soldiers in an emergency, and by extension, the land it occupied. The Royal Irish Academy Dictionary of the Irish Language (1948) spells this ‘túath’ and defines it: ‘people, tribe, nation’. Dinneen's dictionary (1927) of Modern Irish reports that it now loosely means: ‘a people or folk, the laity; the country (as opposed to city or town), a tract of land, territory, region’.
|
|
|
Cite this article
JAMES MacKILLOP. "tuath." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 29 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JAMES MacKILLOP. "tuath." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 29, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-tuath.html JAMES MacKILLOP. "tuath." A Dictionary of Celtic Mythology. 2004. Retrieved May 29, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O70-tuath.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
