Taoiseach

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See also: taoiseach

English[edit]

WOTD – 10 April 2023

Etymology[edit]

Leo Varadkar, who was Taoiseach of Ireland from 2017 to 2020, and again from December 2022 until April 2024.

Borrowed from Irish Taoiseach (“chieftain, leader; prime minister of Ireland”).[1]

The plural form Taoisigh is borrowed from Irish Taoisigh.

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

Taoiseach (plural Taoiseachs or Taoisigh)

  1. (Irish politics) The head of the government of Ireland, comparable to a prime minister of a Commonwealth of Nations country.
    • 1937 July 1 (date ratified), “The Government”, in The Constitution of Erin, Ireland, San Francisco, Calif.: Russell Quinn, published [1938?], →OCLC, page 22:
      Article 28. […] 5. 1º The head of the Government, or Prime Minister, shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the Taoiseach. 2º The Taoiseach shall keep the President generally informed on matters of domestic and international policy.
    • 1940 December 7, Arthur W. Bromage, Mary C. Bromage, “Ireland—What Now?”, in The Michigan Alumnus: Quarterly Review: A Journal of University Perspectives, volume XLVII, number 10, Ann Arbor, Mich.: Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, →OCLC, page 208:
      To cope with the situation created at home by the war so close at hand, an Taoiseach (Prime Minister [Éamon] de Valera) rearranged his cabinet and formed a Ministry of Supplies under one of his ablest men.
    • 1954 May 31, “The Taoiseach Falls: De Valera Nears the End of Long Political Trail”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 36, number 22, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 29, column 1:
      The only leader of the 1916 Easter rebellion to escape hanging, [Éamon d]e Valera lost the civil war, then won elections that made him taoiseach (prime minister) for 19 years.
    • 1983 October, Law Library, Library of Congress, “Time Span between Election or Selection of an Official and the Subsequent Taking of Office in Various Foreign Countries [Ireland]”, in Commencement of Terms of Office of the President and Members of Congress: Hearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, Ninety-eighth Congress, Second Session on S.J. Res. 71: A Joint Resolution Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States Relative to the Commencement of the Terms of Office of the President, Vice President, and Members of Congress […] (Serial No. J-98-113), Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published 24 April 1984, →OCLC, page 42:
      The Constitution of Ireland, art. 13, requires that the President of Ireland, the formal head of state, appoints the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) on the nomination of the Dáil Eireann (a popular elected legislative Chamber of Deputies). Ther same provision also requires that the President appoints the other members of the government on the nomination of the Taoiseach with the previous approval of the Dáil.
    • 1993, Mary Breasted, chapter 12, in Why Should You Doubt Me Now?, New York, N.Y.: Farrar Straus Giroux, →ISBN, page 50:
      So what if they didn't have their Christmas Eve drinks party with the two Taoiseachs? They would have the satisfaction of knowing they could have.
    • 1994, Brian Farrell, “The Political Role of Cabinet Ministers in Ireland”, in Michael Laver, Kenneth A. Shepsle, editors, Cabinet Ministers and Parliamentary Government (The Political Economy of Institutions and Decisions), Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, New York, N.Y.: Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 81:
      Although Taoisigh insist that choices are based on merit and capacity, they show a remarkable tendency to surround themselves with loyalists.
    • 2003, Dermot Keogh, “Ireland, 1972–84”, in J[acqueline] R. Hill, editor, A New History of Ireland, volumes VII (Ireland 1921–84), Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 379:
      Despite the attacks, 'the boss', as [Charles] Haughey was to become known, was elected taoiseach by 82 votes to 62. However, he was a taoiseach with strong opposition from within his own party.
    • 2010, Michael Gallagher, “The Oireachtas: President and Parliament”, in John Coakley, Michael Gallagher, editors, Politics in the Republic of Ireland, 5th edition, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Routledge in association with PSAI Press, →ISBN, part II (Representative Democracy at Work), page 200:
      Under normal circumstances, when a Taoiseach 'advises' the President to dissolve the Dáil and thereby bring about a general election, the President is bound to accede to this. However, the President, in the words of Article 13.2.2 [of the Constitution of Ireland], 'may in his absolute discretion refuse to dissolve Dáil Éireann on the advice of a Taoiseach who has ceased to retain the support of a majority in Dáil Éireann'.
    • 2010, David J. Lynch, “Money is Just Evidence”, in When the Luck of the Irish Ran Out: The World’s Most Resilient Country and Its Struggle to Rise Again, New York, N.Y., Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 175:
      For three centuries, the fabled Round Room in Dublin's Mansion House has been the site of some of Ireland's most important gatherings. British monarchs and Irish taoiseachs, a Catholic pope and a Protestant terrorist, all have walked its halls.
    • 2016, Stephen Kelly, “The Haughey—Thatcher Relationship: The Anglo-Irish Summit Meeting, May 1980”, in ‘A Failed Political Entity’: Charles Haughey and the Northern Ireland Question 1945–1992, Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland: Merrion Press, →ISBN, page 149:
      He [Charles Haughey] was determined to seize the initiative, to paint a picture of a taoiseach forging ahead with a bold new strategy in relation to Northern Ireland – a leader, driven by an inner crusade to transform the landscape of Anglo-Irish relations.
    • 2019 August 1, Kevin Rawlinson, “Leo Varadkar: ‘We should all be afraid of a no-deal Brexit’”, in Katharine Viner, editor, The Guardian‎[1], London: Guardian News & Media, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2022-12-26:
      Everyone in the UK and Ireland should be afraid of a no-deal Brexit, the Irish taoiseach said, after he was accused of engaging in “Project Fear mark two”.
    • 2020, John Coakley, Jennifer Todd, quoting Dermot Nally, “The Anglo-Irish Agreement, 1985”, in Negotiating a Settlement in Northern Ireland, 1969–2019, Oxford, Oxfordshire, New York, N.Y.: Oxford University Press, →DOI, →ISBN, page 173:
      Well, I was there from 1973 to 1993, working directly with five different taoisigh, at different times, of course, as secretary to the government, or Cabinet Secretary in Robert [Armstrong]'s terms—from Sunningdale to the Downing Street Declaration.

Usage notes[edit]

The Irish phrase an Taoiseach (“the Taoiseach”) is often used in English texts.

Alternative forms[edit]

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Compare “Taoiseach, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “Taoiseach, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Further reading[edit]

Irish[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Irish toísech (“leader”), from Primitive Irish ᚈᚑᚃᚔᚄᚐᚉᚔ (tovisaci, genitive), from Proto-Celtic *towissākos (“chief, first, primary”, adjective) (compare Welsh tywysog (“prince”)), from *towissus (“act of leading, leadership; beginning”) (from *to- (prefix meaning ‘to; towards’) + *wissus (“act of discovering or finding out; knowledge”) (ultimately from either Proto-Indo-European *wedʰ- (“to lead”) or *weyd- (“to know; to see”))) + *-ākos (suffix forming adjectives with the sense ‘belonging to, having; involved with’).[1][2]

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

Taoiseach m (genitive singular Taoisigh, nominative plural Taoisigh)

  1. Head of the Irish government, comparable to a UK or Australian Prime Minister.
  2. Title of the person holding that office.

Declension[edit]

Declension of Taoiseach

First declension

Bare forms:

Case Singular Plural
Nominative Taoiseach Taoisigh
Vocative a Thaoisigh a Thaoiseacha
Genitive Taoisigh Taoiseach
Dative Taoiseach Taoisigh

Forms with the definite article:

Case Singular Plural
Nominative an Taoiseach na Taoisigh
Genitive an Taoisigh na dTaoiseach
Dative leis an Taoiseach

don Taoiseach

leis na Taoisigh

Mutation[edit]

Irish mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
Taoiseach Thaoiseach dTaoiseach
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Matasović, Ranko (2009) “*to-wissāko-”, in Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Celtic (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 9), Leiden: Brill, →ISBN
  2. ^ Dunkel, George E. (2014) Lexikon der indogermanischen Partikeln und Pronominalstämme [Lexicon of Indo-European Particles and Pronominal Stems] (Indogermanische Bibliothek. 2. Reihe: Wörterbücher) (in German), volume 2: Lexikon, Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter GmbH Heidelberg, →ISBN, page 774

Further reading[edit]

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