English
tanist
Tanist comes from Irish tánaiste ‘second-in-command’, and goes back to Old Irish tánaise.
- Old Irishc. 600–900tánaise
- Irishc. 1200–presenttánaiste‘second-in-command’
- Englishearliest quotation 1922tanist
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Old Irishc. 600–900tánaise
- Irishc. 1200–presenttánaiste‘second-in-command’
- Englishearliest quotation 1922tanist
Earliest quotation: 1922, James Joyce, [Episode 3: Proteus]: “Lover, for her love he prowled with colonel Richard…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *sed- ‘to sit’
set, president, size, sell, sit, sitting, seat, method, session, chair, resident, settle, assess, possess, siege, nest, saddle, exodus, reside, niche, subsidy, residue, residual, sediment, nye, sedan, insidious, beset, prasad, cathode, soot, sedative, setter, sedentary, dissident, obsess, sedate, presidio, anode, sate, 96 more
Today it means
noun The heir presumptive to the chieftainship or kingship of a Celtic clan in ancient Ireland, Scotland or Mann.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Old Irish tánaise / tanist