tuath

See also: Tuath and túath

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Old Irish túath.

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, published 2010, page 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/
• Homophone: tua

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

   Tá mo mháthair faoin tuath.

   My mother is in the country(side).

Declension

Declension of tuath

Second declension

Bare forms Case Singular Plural Nominative tuath tuatha Vocative a thuath a thuatha Genitive tuaithe tuath Dative tuath tuaith (archaic, dialectal) tuatha

Forms with the definite article Case Singular Plural Nominative an tuath na tuatha Genitive na tuaithe na dtuath Dative leis an tuath leis an tuaith (archaic, dialectal) don tuath don tuaith (archaic, dialectal) leis na tuatha

Derived terms

• fabhcún tuaithe (“gyrfalcon”)
• tuathánach (“countryman, rustic, peasant”)

Mutation

Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Eclipsis
tuath	thuath	dtuath
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “tuath”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 túath”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t̪ʰuə/

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

   Antonym: deas

Derived terms

• a tuath
• An Cuan a Tuath
• ear-thuath (“the northeast”)
• tuath magnaiteach
• tuath-ghaoth (“north wind”)
• tuathach (“north highlander”)

 

See also

(compass points)

iar-thuath	tuath	ear-thuath
iar		ear
iar-dheas	deas	ear-dheas

Adjective

tuath

1. northern, north

Mutation

Scottish Gaelic mutation
Radical	Lenition
tuath	thuath
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

• Edward Dwelly (1911) “tuath”, in Faclair Gàidhlig gu Beurla le Dealbhan [The Illustrated Gaelic–English Dictionary]‎^[1], 10th edition, Edinburgh: Birlinn Limited, →ISBN
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 túath”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “túaid, thúaid”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language