Irish nomenclature assistance.

[MNP]

Is there an Irish word for the equivalent of an Anglo-Saxon moot or Scandinavian thing? Did anything like this exist before the Vikings in Ireland?

[Codae]

This Wikipedia article claims that "the first Irish legislature was the Parliament of Ireland."

[Thande]

Originally Posted by Codae

This Wikipedia article claims that "the first Irish legislature was the Parliament of Ireland."

That's not what he asked.

From what I gather, I don't think the Irish had moots to elect kings like many of the Germanic peoples (including the Anglo-Saxons); Ireland at the time was a patchwork of petty-kingdoms somewhat comparable to the later Holy Roman Empire or the Marathas in India--kings could be deposed by internal coups and succession was not necessarily hereditary, but there was no organised manner for nobles to choose a king from among them and therefore no councils of state from which you could take a name. As far as I know.

[Codae]

Originally Posted by Thande

That's not what he asked.

I was just providing it as evidence to suggest that, there being no ancient Irish legislative-assembly tradition, there would not be a word for a legislative-et-cetera assembly. Unless I'm misunderstanding what a thing is.

[Falkenburg]

While there was no single comparable body to a Parliament in Gaelic Ireland there were several bodies that could fill the role with a little tweaking.

Despite being distinctly (and persistently) tribal in its social structures with the kin-grouping the basic unit of organisation, Gaelic Ireland did have larger assemblies from time to time.

Each petty kingdom would have its own assemblies, a Cuirmtig which was a 'General Assembly' and a Dal (from which we get Dail) that was for the Chieftains of the Clann.

Below that each Clann would also have had a Tocomra which would elect Chieftains and Tainisti (Designated Heirs).

There were also periodic regional and 'National' gatherings that were combination festivals and assemblies.
These usually coincided with major pagan festivals and focused on the various important sites of early Ireland.

Bit hazy on the details but searching for info on the Tri-ennial Feis at Tara should help fill in the blanks.

Falkenburg

[MNP]

Hey thanks a lot guys.

I have some more terms to look up now. There didn't seem to be any official assemblies but Falkenburg's gatherings are a good place to extrapolate from.