Irish Chiefs
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Glossary
Brehon Law - From Gaelic breitheamh, 'judge', pronounced 'bre-hev', the body of ancient native law which was generally operational in Gaelic areas until the completion of the English conquest of Ireland in the early seventeenth century, and which applied also in Gaelic Scotland (the Scottish term 'brieve' is equivalent to 'brehon').
Chief - In Gaelic taoiseach, the head of a ruling kingroup, pronounced 'tee-shok' (the actual term taoiseach does not appear to have been widely used in Brehon Law tracts, and of course is most familiar today from its use to denote the prime minister of the Republic of Ireland).
Clan - From Gaelic clann, 'family, 'pronounced 'clown' or 'clon', in Scottish usage an anglicised term referring to a dominant ruling kingroup, employed by social anthropologists to denote a lineage-based group, but also used generally in a non-technical sense to mean any powerful family group, and in Ireland to denote a Scottish-influenced convivial association of individuals bearing a common surname.
Courtesy Recognition - A form of recognition of Gaelic Chiefs devised by Edward MacLysaght, first Chief Herald of Ireland, which was designed to accord with the constitutional bar on formal acknowledgement of aristocratic titles, and to provide a system of validation to counter the recurring problem of bogus and questionable Chiefs.
Derbfine - Gaelic, 'true kin', pronounced 'der-vi-nah', the kingroup composed of the male descendants of a common great-grandfather, which possessed important legal powers relating to its members' affairs, the control of kin-land and the election of the head of kin.
Primogeniture - The system, employed in England and elsewhere, under which the eldest son, or in default of same, the senior living male relative, succeeds to a title (a qualified system exists in European monarchies whereby the eldest daughter can succeed where there is no son, and indeed a number of Scottish Chiefs are female).
Sept - Possibly from Gaelic sliocht, 'offspring', pronounced 'slucht', in Irish usage an anglicised term referring to a dominant ruling kingroup (unconnected Irish kingroups could bear the same name, eg, there are multiple unrelated septs of Murphy, O'Connor, O'Kelly, etc, and a distinction should be made with regard to the Scottish 'clan system', where indeed 'sept' is used to denote a subdivision of a clan).
Tanistry - From Gaelic tánaiste, 'heir', pronounced 'taw-nish-te', the system under which a successor to a Chief was chosen in his lifetime by the derbfine ('The Case of Tanistry', 1608, actually focusses on succession to property rather than a title, and continues to be cited in legal cases internationally, particularly those relating to native land rights).
Tuath - Gaelic, a petty or tribal kingdom, pronounced 'tua', plural tuatha, pronounced 'tua-ha', of which there were approximately 150 in ancient Ireland.