Tadhg

{{short description|Irish masculine name}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Redirect|Tadc|the animated series abbreviated TADC|The Amazing Digital Circus}}

{{Infobox given name

| name = Tadhg

| image =

| image_size =

| caption =

| pronunciation = {{IPAc-en|lang|t|ai|ɡ}} {{respell|TYGHE}}
{{IPA|ga|t̪ˠəiɡ, t̪ˠeːɡ|lang}}

| gender = Masculine

| language = Irish

| languageorigin =

| origin = Ireland

| derivation = Proto-Celtic {{transliteration|miS|*tazgj-o-}}

| meaning = poet, philosopher, storyteller

| shortform = Tig

| petname = Taidhgín

| cognate = Teague, Taig, Taigue

| derivative =

}}

Tadhg, also Taḋg ({{IPAc-en|t|ai|g}} {{respell|TYGHE}}, {{IPA|ga|t̪ˠəiɡ, t̪ˠeːɡ|lang}}),{{OED|Teague, Taig}} (pronunciations given for the name Tadhg separately from those for the slang/pejorative Teague.){{Cite web |title=Page:Quiggin Dialect of Donegal 0030.png - Wikisource, the free online library |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Quiggin_Dialect_of_Donegal_0030.png |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=en.wikisource.org |language=en}} commonly anglicized as "Taig" or "Teague",{{cite book |author=Nash, J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=leEl8D9dfDkC&pg=PA145 |title=New Essays on Maria Edgeworth |date=2006 |publisher=Ashgate Pub. |isbn=978-0-7546-5175-8 |page=145 |access-date=8 January 2017}}{{cite book |author=Coghlan, P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6X33TOQtH5MC&pg=PA56 |title=Irish Names for Children |date=1998 |publisher=Mercier Press |isbn=978-1-85635-214-7 |page=56 |access-date=8 January 2017}}{{cite book |author=Moser, J.P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_VSzuyA49i4C&pg=PA117 |title=Irish Masculinity on Screen: The Pugilists and Peacemakers of John Ford, Jim Sheridan and Paul Greengrass |date=2013 |publisher=MCFARLAND & Company Incorporated |isbn=978-0-7864-7416-5 |page=117 |access-date=8 January 2017}}{{cite book |author=Mountain, H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DeCTYUagBcUC&pg=PA991 |title=The Celtic Encyclopedia |date=1998 |publisher=Universal Publishers |isbn=978-1-58112-893-2 |volume=4 |page=991 |access-date=8 January 2017}} is an Irish and Scottish Gaelic masculine name that was very common when the Goidelic languages predominated, to the extent that it is a synecdoche for Irish-speaking man. The name signifies "poet" or "philosopher". This was also the name of many Gaelic Irish kings from the 10th to the 16th centuries, particularly in Connacht and Munster. Tadhg is most common in southwest Ireland, particularly in County Cork and County Kerry. The name has had a surge in popularity in the early 21st century;{{cite web

| url = https://www.thejournal.ie/readme/irish-baby-names-2021-5698411-Mar2022/

| title = The Irish For: The rise of Rían - the latest baby names in Ireland

| last = Ó Séaghdha

| first = Darach

| date = 3 March 2022

| website = thejournal.ie

| publisher = The Journal

| access-date = 23 May 2022

| quote = }} As of 2000 it was the 92nd most common name for baby boys in Ireland, according to the Central Statistics Office, rising to 69th by 2005.{{cite web|url = https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/birthsdm/2005/babiesnames_2005.pdf | publisher = Central Statistics Office | website = cso.ie | title = Irish Babies' Names 2005 | date = 16 June 2006 | accessdate = 22 February 2024 }} By 2022, it had risen to the 7th most common name for newly registered male births.{{cite web|url = https://www.cso.ie/en/releasesandpublications/ep/p-ibn/irishbabiesnames2022/data/ | website = cso.ie | publisher = Central Statistics Office | title = Irish Babies' Names 2022 | date = 24 February 2023 | accessdate = 22 February 2024 }}

Etymology

The commonly accepted meaning of Tadhg is "poet"Babies' Names, Oxford University Press, 1995, {{ISBN|0-19-211647-9}}, entry for "Tadhg" or "storyteller". The ultimate derivation is from the Celtic {{transliteration|mis|*tazg(j)o-}},{{Citation needed|reason=All or nearly all mentions of the Proto-Celtic reconstruction *tazg(j)o- from web searches that quote this article. Where does this reconstruction come from?|date=November 2023}} who were poets in early Celtic society. In any case, the name is widely attested in Gaulish and early British names.

When the whole of Ireland was part of the United Kingdom, many Irish names and place-names were given English meanings. Due to similarity in sound, Tadhg is often listed as an Irish equivalent of the English-language names Timothy (Tim) or Thaddeus.

The name is also spelled "Taḋg" in Gaelic type with an overdot over the d to indicate it is lenited; the "dh" serves a similar purpose in the modern spelling. Tadhg has been anglicized as "Taihg", "Tighe" and "Teague". Alternative spellings include "Tadgh", "Tadhgh" and "Tadg".{{cite web|url = https://rollercoaster.ie/pregnancy/baby-names/behind-the-name-tadhg-the-irish-boys-name-going-international/ | website = rollercoaster.ie | title = Behind the Name: Tadhg, the Irish boy’s name going international | date = 5 February 2024 | accessdate = 21 February 2024 | quote = The most common spelling these days is Tadhg, but it can be written as Tadgh or Tadg.}}

Synecdoche

Tadhg is also a metonym and was once so common as an Irish name that it became synonymous with the typical Irishman in the same way that Paddy or Mick might be today. Hence, Irish phrases such as {{lang|ga|Tadhg an mhargaidh}} (lit: Tadhg of the market) or {{lang|ga|Tadhg na sráide}} (lit: Tadhg of the street) are similar to the English language expression "average Joe" or "the man on the street"

{{main|Taig}}

The anglicisation Taig (and formerly Teague) has been used in English since the seventeenth century to refer to Irishmen. The Irish-language name is used defiantly in a Jacobite poem written in the 1690s:

:

Original{{lang|ga|Céad buidhe re Dia}} ("A hundred thanks to God") by Diarmaid Mac Cárthaigh

!rowspan=5|  

! Translation

"You Popish rogue", {{lang|ga|ní leomhaid a labhairt sinn}}

|"You Popish rogue" is not spoken

{{lang|ga|acht}} "Cromwellian dog" {{lang|ga|is focal faire againn}}

|but "Cromwellian dog" is our watchword,

{{lang|ga|nó "cia sud thall" go teann gan eagla}}

|"Who goes there" does not provoke fear,

{{lang|ga|"Mise Tadhg" géadh teinn an t-agallamh}}

|"I am Tadhg" is the answer given

Taig in the Troubles in Northern Ireland was used as an abusive and pejorative term by Protestant loyalists to refer to Catholic nationalists.{{Citation |url=http://www.waywordradio.org/taig/ |author=A Way With Words |title=Taig|date=6 May 2004 }}

People with the name

= Traditional =

= Gaelic nobility =

= Recent =

  • Tadhg Cooke, Irish contemporary musician
  • Tadhg Ó Donnchadha (1874–1949), activist for the Gaelic League
  • Tadhg Furlong (born 1992), Irish rugby player
  • Tadhg Kennelly (born 1981), Gaelic and Australian Rules footballer
  • Tadhg Dall Ó hÚigínn (1550–1591), Irish poet murdered allegedly for writing a satirical poem which insulted a rival aristocratic family
  • Tadhg Purcell (born 1985), Irish soccer player
  • George MacDonald Fraser's 1977 novel Flashman's Lady features the comic character Daedalus Tighe, and John B. Keane's 1965 play The Field, has a character named Tadhg McCabe.{{cite book |author=George MacDonald Fraser |title=Flashman's Lady (The Flashman Papers, Book 3) |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VfI5yaej9F4C |date=1 December 2011 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers |isbn=978-0-00-744949-1}}{{cite book |author=Lance Pettitt |title=Screening Ireland: Film and Television Representation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6r22SC1uF1kC&pg=PA124 |year=2000 |publisher=Manchester University Press |isbn=978-0-7190-5270-5 |pages=124–}}

See also

References

{{Reflist|2}}