Scottish Gaelic

Proper noun

Tuath m

1. north
2. northern

   An t-Eilean a Tuath‎

   The Northern Island

English

Noun

tuath ‎(plural tuaths or tuatha)

1. (historical) A tribe or group of people in Ireland, having a loose voluntary system of governance entered into through contracts by all members.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 331:

     There was nothing fixed or enduring about many tuatha, and reflecting the itinerant character of much of Irish society, the Church developed the peculiar phenomenon of roving ecclesiastic families [...].

Irish

Etymology

From Old Irish túath, from Proto-Celtic *toutā, from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t̪ˠuə/

Noun

tuath f ‎(genitive singular tuaithe, nominative plural tuatha)

1. (historical) people, tribe
   1. country, territory
   2. petty kingdom; territorial unit (of ancient Ireland)
2. laity
3. rural districts, country (rural area), countryside

Declension

Derived terms

• fabhcún tuaithe ‎(“gyrfalcon”)
• tuath- ‎(“lay; rural”)
• tuathánach ‎(“countryman, rustic, peasant”)

Mutation

References

• "tuath" in Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla, An Gúm, 1977, by Niall Ó Dónaill.
• “1 túath” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.

Scottish Gaelic

Etymology 1

From Old Irish túath, from Proto-Celtic *toutā, from Proto-Indo-European *tewtéh₂.

Noun

tuath f ‎(genitive singular tuatha, plural tuathan)

1. country people, folk
2. countryside
3. laity
4. peasantry
5. tenantry

Related terms

• tuathanach ‎(“farmer, agriculturalist, peasant; tenant; yeoman”)

Etymology 2

From Old Irish túaid, túaith.

Noun

tuath f

1. north

Antonyms

• deas

Derived terms

Adjective

tuath

1. northern, north

References

• Faclair Gàidhlig Dwelly Air Loidhne, Dwelly, Edward (1911), Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan/The Illustrated [Scottish] Gaelic-English Dictionary (10th ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, ISBN 0 901771 92 9
• “1 túath” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.
• “túaid, thúaid” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.