Note 130 — Chapter IV · Kenneth the Second—971–995.

A.F.M., 3922. The Masters attribute the institution to Ollamh Fodla, into whose claims I will not enter; but it is very evident, I think, that they alluded to an institution well known at least in tradition. The word Toshach simply means “captain” or “leader”—dux; the Irish Taisigeacht meaning “captaincy,” “leadership,” or “precedency.” When the office of dux, originally elective, became hereditary, according to the invariable principle of “divided authority” so characteristic of all the Celtic communities, it remained permanently in the family of the eldest cadet of the clan, the Tighern farthest removed from the chieftainship. The “Captains of Galloway” and the “Thanes of Ross” were probably known in their native tongue as Toshachs—captains by right of office—for though the oldest cadet and the thane, in his military capacity, were known as Toshachs, it by no means follows that a Toshach was necessarily either one or the other.