Tadhg

Irish

Etymology

From Middle Irish Tadg (whence also Old Norse Taðkr), from the common noun tadg (“poet”), from pre-Goidelic *tazgos, from Proto-Celtic *taskos (“badger”). Cognate with Manx Taig and with Gaulish names like Tasgetius, Tasciovanus, Moritasgus.

Pronunciation

• (Munster, Connacht) IPA^(key): /t̪ˠai(ə)ɡ/
• (Ulster) IPA^(key): /t̪ˠeːɡ/, (older) /t̪ˠɤːɡ/

Proper noun

Tadhg m (genitive Thaidhg)

1. a male given name from Old Irish, historically anglicized as Thaddeus or Timothy but etymologically unrelated to them.

Derived terms

• Tadhg an mhargaidh (“the man in the street”)
• Tadhg an dá thaobh (“two-faced person”)
• aithníonn/tuigeann Tadhg Taidhgín (“it takes one to know one”)
• Tadhgán (diminutive)
  • Ó Tadhgáin (surname)
    • → English: Te(a)gan
• Taidhgín (diminutive)

Descendants

• → English: taig, Teague
• → Yola: Thieg

Mutation

Mutated forms of Tadhg

radical	lenition	eclipsis
Tadhg	Thadhg	dTadhg

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Modern Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• Ó Dónaill, Niall (1977) “Tadhg”, in Foclóir Gaeilge–Béarla, Dublin: An Gúm, →ISBN
• de Bhaldraithe, Tomás (1959) “Tadhg”, in English-Irish Dictionary, An Gúm
• “Tadhg”, in New English-Irish Dictionary, Foras na Gaeilge, 2013-2025