Túath (plural túatha) is an Old Irish word, often translated as "people" or "nation". It is cognate with the Welsh and Breton tud (people), and with the Germanic þeudō (for which see theodiscus).
"Túath" referred to both the people who lived in the territory, and the territory they controlled.[1] In Modern Irish it is spelled tuath, without the síneadh (length mark).
In ancient Irish terms, a household was reckoned at about thirty people per dwelling. A trícha cét ("thirty hundreds"), was an area comprising a hundred dwellings or, roughly, three thousand people. A túath consisted of a number of allied trícha céta, and therefore referred to no fewer than 6,000 people. Probably a more accurate number for a túath would be no fewer than 9,000 people.[2]
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The organization of túatha is covered to a great extent within the Brehon laws, Irish laws written down in the 7th century, also known as the Fénechas.
The social structure of ancient Irish culture was based around the concept of the fine (plural finte), or family kin-group. All finte descended from a common ancestor out to four generations comprised a social unit known as a dearbhfhine (plural dearbhfhinte). These dearbhfhinte characterized the rulings family or families of the túath regardless of its size. Túatha are often described as petty kingdoms. Due to the complex and ever-changing political nature of ancient Ireland, túatha ranged from being sovereign, locally autonomous kingdoms to states comprising a much larger sovereign kingdom, such as Connacht or Ulaid, and thus describing their place in the socio-political structure of Ireland is varied depending on the power and influence of the individual dynasties. Also much varies depending on what era one is referring to.