"taghairm" meaning in English

See taghairm in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈtaɡəɹəm/ [Received-Pronunciation], /ˈtæɡəɹəm/ [General-American] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-taghairm.wav [Southern-England] Forms: taghairms [plural]
Etymology: Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic taghairm, from Old Irish togairm, from , from Proto-Indo-European *ǵh₂r̥-smn̥, from *ǵeh₂r- (“to call, to shout”); compare Irish toghairm (“an invocation, a summons”), from gairm, gair (“to call; to invoke”), ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European roots. The Encyclopædia Britannica (3rd ed., 1797) suggests a derivation from Scottish Gaelic ta (“a ghost, a spirit”) + gairm (“to call, to cry”), while the editor of an 1871 edition of Sir Walter Scott’s The Lady of the Lake suggested tarbh (“a bull”) or targair (“to foretell”). These etymologies are no longer to be taken seriously. Etymology templates: {{root|en|ine-pro|*ǵeh₂r-}}, {{bor|en|gd|taghairm}} Scottish Gaelic taghairm, {{der|en|sga|togairm}} Old Irish togairm, {{der|en|cel-pro|*to-garrman}}, {{der|en|ine-pro|*ǵh₂r̥-smn̥}} Proto-Indo-European *ǵh₂r̥-smn̥, {{m|ine-pro|*ǵeh₂r-|t=to call, to shout}} *ǵeh₂r- (“to call, to shout”), {{cog|ga|toghairm||an invocation, a summons}} Irish toghairm (“an invocation, a summons”), {{m|ga|gairm}} gairm, {{m|ga|gair||to call; to invoke}} gair (“to call; to invoke”), {{cog|gd|ta||a ghost, a spirit}} Scottish Gaelic ta (“a ghost, a spirit”), {{m|gd|gairm||to call, to cry}} gairm (“to call, to cry”), {{m|gd|tarbh||a bull}} tarbh (“a bull”), {{m|gd|targair||to foretell}} targair (“to foretell”) Head templates: {{en-noun|-|s}} taghairm (usually uncountable, plural taghairms)
  1. (historical, Scotland) An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots involving animal sacrifice.
    A method of divination involving wrapping a person in the hide of a freshly-killed ox which was then placed beside a waterfall or other desolate place, to enable the person to foresee the outcome of an impending battle; the oracle of the hide.
    Tags: Scotland, error-lua-exec, historical, uncountable, usually Categories (topical): Divination Categories (lifeform): Domestic cats
    Sense id: en-taghairm-en-noun-fzPL9zTy Disambiguation of Divination: 53 47 Disambiguation of Domestic cats: 59 41 Categories (other): Scottish English, English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with topic categories using raw markup Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 55 45 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 62 38
  2. (historical, Scotland) An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots involving animal sacrifice.
    A method of divination in which cats were roasted alive to call up the spirit of the demon cat who would grant the wishes of the torturers.
    Tags: Scotland, error-lua-exec, historical, uncountable, usually Categories (topical): Divination
    Sense id: en-taghairm-en-noun-kud72DRQ Disambiguation of Divination: 53 47 Categories (other): Scottish English
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Synonyms: taigheirm

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

Download JSON data for taghairm meaning in English (11.5kB)

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  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Scottish Gaelic taghairm, from Old Irish togairm, from , from Proto-Indo-European *ǵh₂r̥-smn̥, from *ǵeh₂r- (“to call, to shout”); compare Irish toghairm (“an invocation, a summons”), from gairm, gair (“to call; to invoke”), ultimately from the same Proto-Indo-European roots.\nThe Encyclopædia Britannica (3rd ed., 1797) suggests a derivation from Scottish Gaelic ta (“a ghost, a spirit”) + gairm (“to call, to cry”), while the editor of an 1871 edition of Sir Walter Scott’s The Lady of the Lake suggested tarbh (“a bull”) or targair (“to foretell”). These etymologies are no longer to be taken seriously.",
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  "lang_code": "en",
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          "ref": "1797, “NECROMANCY”, in Encyclopædia Britannica; or, A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature; [...] In Eighteen Volumes, 3rd greatly enlarged edition, volume XII, Edinburgh: Printed for A[ndrew] Bell and C[olin] Macfarquhar, →OCLC, page 787, column 2",
          "text": "There were different kinds of taghairm, of which one was very lately practiſed in Sky. The diviner covered himſelf with a cow's hide, and repaired at night to ſome deep-ſounding cave, whither the perſon who conſulted him followed ſoon after without any attendants. At the mouth of the cave he propoſed aloud the queſtions of which he wanted ſolutions; and the man within pronounced the reſponſes in a tone of voice ſimilar to that which the obs, or pretended dæmons of antiquity, gave from beneath the ground their oracular anſwers. That in the latter days of taghairm the Gaelic diviners pretended to evocate ghoſts, and from them to extort ſolutions of difficulties propoſed, we have no poſitive evidence; […]",
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          "ref": "1844 December, Gideon Shaddoe, “Recollections and Reflections of Gideon Shaddoe, Esq. No. VI.”, in [Thomas Hood], editor, Hood's Magazine and Comic Miscellany, volume II, number XII, London: Published for the proprietors, by H. Renshaw, 356. Strand; and sold by all booksellers, →OCLC, page 603",
          "text": "A country where such traditions could pass current, and in which more unfortunate creatures, perhaps, passed to death through the torturing fire for the imaginary crime of witchcraft under laws framed and administered in the spirit of Moloch himself, then suffered on the same accursed account in any region of similar extent, was a soil well calculated to cherish the Taghairm and Second Sight. […] Those who slept on the skin of the sacrificial lamb at the temple of Amphiaraus, expectant of visions, were, in truth, trying the augury of the Taghairm; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
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          "ref": "1911, J[ohn] A[rnott] MacCulloch, “CELTS”, in James Hastings, editor, Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, volumes III (Burial–Confessions), New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons; London: T. & T. Clark, →OCLC, page 300, column 2",
          "text": "In the taghairm the seer was bound in an animal's hide and left by the waters, the spirits of which inspired his dreams[…]. The hide was probably that of a sacrificial animal.",
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        "An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots involving animal sacrifice.",
        "A method of divination involving wrapping a person in the hide of a freshly-killed ox which was then placed beside a waterfall or other desolate place, to enable the person to foresee the outcome of an impending battle; the oracle of the hide."
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          "kill#Verb"
        ],
        [
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          "desolate#Adjective"
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        "(historical, Scotland) An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots involving animal sacrifice.",
        "A method of divination involving wrapping a person in the hide of a freshly-killed ox which was then placed beside a waterfall or other desolate place, to enable the person to foresee the outcome of an impending battle; the oracle of the hide."
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          "ref": "1824 March 13, “Traditions of the Western Highlands. No. II. The Taigheirm.”, in The Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c., number 373, London: Printed by B. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street; published for the proprietors, at the Literary Gazette Office, Strand, →OCLC, page 172",
          "text": "The last time the Taigheirm was performed in the Highlands, was in the island of Mull, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the place is still well known to the inhabitants. […] The institution was no doubt of pagan origin, and was a sacrifice offered to the Evil Spirit, in return for which the votaries were entitled to demand two boons. […] The sacrifice consisted of living cats roasted on a spit while life remained, and when the animal expired, another was put on in its place.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "1854, Joseph Ennemoser, “The Magic of the Ancient Germans and of the Northern Nations”, in William Howitt, transl., edited by Mary Howitt, The History of Magic. … To which is Added an Appendix of the Most Remarkable and Best Authenticated Stories of Apparitions, Dreams, Second Sight, Somnambulism, Predictions, Divination, Witchcraft, Vampires, Fairies, Table-turning, and Spirit-rapping. … In Two Volumes (Bohn's Scientific Library), volume II, London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, →OCLC, pages 104 and 105",
          "text": "According to Horst's Deuteroscopy, black cats were indispensable to the incantation ceremony of the Taigheirm, and these were dedicated to the subterranean gods, or, later, to the demons of Christianity. […] When the Taigheirm was complete, the sacrificer demanded of the spirits the reward of his offering, which consisted of various things; as riches, children, food, and clothing. The gift of second-sight, which they had not had before, was, however, the usual recompense; and they retained it to the day of their death.",
          "type": "quotation"
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          "ref": "1891, The Zoophilist and Animals' Defender, volume X, London: National Anti-Vivisection Society, →OCLC, page 93, column 2",
          "text": "Anthropology and National Psychology can tell us something about such things; we have heard of those horrible Taigheirms, when for days together Highland shepherds roasted living cats in front of a fire uninterruptedly, in order that, intoxicated with their frightful wailings, they might obtain the magic gift of 'second sight;' […]",
          "type": "quotation"
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      "ipa": "/ˈtæɡəɹəm/",
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        {
          "ref": "1797, “NECROMANCY”, in Encyclopædia Britannica; or, A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Miscellaneous Literature; [...] In Eighteen Volumes, 3rd greatly enlarged edition, volume XII, Edinburgh: Printed for A[ndrew] Bell and C[olin] Macfarquhar, →OCLC, page 787, column 2",
          "text": "There were different kinds of taghairm, of which one was very lately practiſed in Sky. The diviner covered himſelf with a cow's hide, and repaired at night to ſome deep-ſounding cave, whither the perſon who conſulted him followed ſoon after without any attendants. At the mouth of the cave he propoſed aloud the queſtions of which he wanted ſolutions; and the man within pronounced the reſponſes in a tone of voice ſimilar to that which the obs, or pretended dæmons of antiquity, gave from beneath the ground their oracular anſwers. That in the latter days of taghairm the Gaelic diviners pretended to evocate ghoſts, and from them to extort ſolutions of difficulties propoſed, we have no poſitive evidence; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1844 December, Gideon Shaddoe, “Recollections and Reflections of Gideon Shaddoe, Esq. No. VI.”, in [Thomas Hood], editor, Hood's Magazine and Comic Miscellany, volume II, number XII, London: Published for the proprietors, by H. Renshaw, 356. Strand; and sold by all booksellers, →OCLC, page 603",
          "text": "A country where such traditions could pass current, and in which more unfortunate creatures, perhaps, passed to death through the torturing fire for the imaginary crime of witchcraft under laws framed and administered in the spirit of Moloch himself, then suffered on the same accursed account in any region of similar extent, was a soil well calculated to cherish the Taghairm and Second Sight. […] Those who slept on the skin of the sacrificial lamb at the temple of Amphiaraus, expectant of visions, were, in truth, trying the augury of the Taghairm; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1911, J[ohn] A[rnott] MacCulloch, “CELTS”, in James Hastings, editor, Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics, volumes III (Burial–Confessions), New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons; London: T. & T. Clark, →OCLC, page 300, column 2",
          "text": "In the taghairm the seer was bound in an animal's hide and left by the waters, the spirits of which inspired his dreams[…]. The hide was probably that of a sacrificial animal.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots involving animal sacrifice.",
        "A method of divination involving wrapping a person in the hide of a freshly-killed ox which was then placed beside a waterfall or other desolate place, to enable the person to foresee the outcome of an impending battle; the oracle of the hide."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ancient",
          "ancient"
        ],
        [
          "divination",
          "divination"
        ],
        [
          "Highland",
          "Highland"
        ],
        [
          "Scots",
          "Scots"
        ],
        [
          "animal",
          "animal"
        ],
        [
          "sacrifice",
          "sacrifice#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "wrap",
          "wrap"
        ],
        [
          "hide",
          "hide#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "freshly",
          "freshly"
        ],
        [
          "killed",
          "kill#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "ox",
          "ox"
        ],
        [
          "waterfall",
          "waterfall"
        ],
        [
          "desolate",
          "desolate#Adjective"
        ],
        [
          "foresee",
          "foresee"
        ],
        [
          "outcome",
          "outcome"
        ],
        [
          "impending",
          "impending"
        ],
        [
          "battle",
          "battle#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "oracle",
          "oracle"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical, Scotland) An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots involving animal sacrifice.",
        "A method of divination involving wrapping a person in the hide of a freshly-killed ox which was then placed beside a waterfall or other desolate place, to enable the person to foresee the outcome of an impending battle; the oracle of the hide."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Scotland",
        "error-lua-exec",
        "historical",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Scottish English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1824 March 13, “Traditions of the Western Highlands. No. II. The Taigheirm.”, in The Literary Gazette, and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences, &c., number 373, London: Printed by B. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street; published for the proprietors, at the Literary Gazette Office, Strand, →OCLC, page 172",
          "text": "The last time the Taigheirm was performed in the Highlands, was in the island of Mull, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the place is still well known to the inhabitants. […] The institution was no doubt of pagan origin, and was a sacrifice offered to the Evil Spirit, in return for which the votaries were entitled to demand two boons. […] The sacrifice consisted of living cats roasted on a spit while life remained, and when the animal expired, another was put on in its place.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1854, Joseph Ennemoser, “The Magic of the Ancient Germans and of the Northern Nations”, in William Howitt, transl., edited by Mary Howitt, The History of Magic. … To which is Added an Appendix of the Most Remarkable and Best Authenticated Stories of Apparitions, Dreams, Second Sight, Somnambulism, Predictions, Divination, Witchcraft, Vampires, Fairies, Table-turning, and Spirit-rapping. … In Two Volumes (Bohn's Scientific Library), volume II, London: Henry G[eorge] Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, →OCLC, pages 104 and 105",
          "text": "According to Horst's Deuteroscopy, black cats were indispensable to the incantation ceremony of the Taigheirm, and these were dedicated to the subterranean gods, or, later, to the demons of Christianity. […] When the Taigheirm was complete, the sacrificer demanded of the spirits the reward of his offering, which consisted of various things; as riches, children, food, and clothing. The gift of second-sight, which they had not had before, was, however, the usual recompense; and they retained it to the day of their death.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1891, The Zoophilist and Animals' Defender, volume X, London: National Anti-Vivisection Society, →OCLC, page 93, column 2",
          "text": "Anthropology and National Psychology can tell us something about such things; we have heard of those horrible Taigheirms, when for days together Highland shepherds roasted living cats in front of a fire uninterruptedly, in order that, intoxicated with their frightful wailings, they might obtain the magic gift of 'second sight;' […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots involving animal sacrifice.",
        "A method of divination in which cats were roasted alive to call up the spirit of the demon cat who would grant the wishes of the torturers."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ancient",
          "ancient"
        ],
        [
          "divination",
          "divination"
        ],
        [
          "Highland",
          "Highland"
        ],
        [
          "Scots",
          "Scots"
        ],
        [
          "animal",
          "animal"
        ],
        [
          "sacrifice",
          "sacrifice#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "cat",
          "cat"
        ],
        [
          "roasted",
          "roast#Verb"
        ],
        [
          "alive",
          "alive"
        ],
        [
          "spirit",
          "spirit#Noun"
        ],
        [
          "demon",
          "demon"
        ],
        [
          "torturer",
          "torturer"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(historical, Scotland) An ancient divination method of the Highland Scots involving animal sacrifice.",
        "A method of divination in which cats were roasted alive to call up the spirit of the demon cat who would grant the wishes of the torturers."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Scotland",
        "error-lua-exec",
        "historical",
        "uncountable",
        "usually"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtaɡəɹəm/",
      "tags": [
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtæɡəɹəm/",
      "tags": [
        "General-American"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-taghairm.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-taghairm.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-taghairm.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-taghairm.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-taghairm.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ],
      "text": "Audio (Southern England)"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "taigheirm"
    }
  ],
  "wikipedia": [
    "Encyclopædia Britannica",
    "Walter Scott"
  ],
  "word": "taghairm"
}
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  "path": [
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  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "",
  "title": "taghairm",
  "trace": "[string \"Module:links\"]:215: The specified language Proto-Celtic is unattested, while the given word is not marked with '*' to indicate that it is reconstructed."
}

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  "path": [
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  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "",
  "title": "taghairm",
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}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-04-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-04-21 using wiktextract (fc4f0c7 and c937495). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.