tanist

English

Etymology

From Irish tánaiste (“second-in-command”). Doublet of Tánaiste.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtænɪst/
• Rhymes: -ænɪst

Noun

tanist (plural tanists)

1. (historical) The heir presumptive to the chieftainship or kingship of a Celtic clan in ancient Ireland, Scotland or Mann.
   • 1922, James Joyce, Ulysses:

     Lover, for her love he prowled with colonel Richard Burke, tanist of his sept, under the walls of Clerkenwell and, crouching, saw a flame of vengeance hurl them upward in the fog.

   • 2007, Mark Wycliffe Samuel, Kate Hamlyn, Blarney Castle: Its History, Development, and Purpose, Cork University Press, page 36:

     In 1570 Dermot died at 'his own house' of Castle Inch. His brother and tanist, Cormac Mac Teige (fourteenth Lord), succeeded him (Ó Murchadha, p. 16).

   • 2014, Ulla Secher, Aboriginal Customary Law: A Source of Common Law Title to Land‎^[1], Bloomsbury Publishing (Hart Publishing), page 120:

     As a result of the universal introduction of the English common law, therefore, the original tanist acquired a common law title to the disputed land 'without grant or confirmation of the conqueror'.

Derived terms

• tanistry

Translations

heir presumptive to the chieftainship or kingship of a Celtic clan in ancient Ireland, Scotland or Mann

• Spanish: tanista m

Further reading

• Tanistry on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Chief of the Name on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Tanist Stone on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• -statin, Nittas, Titans, nittas, sattin, statin, taints, tintas, titans