Editing Taoiseach (section)

===Origins and etymology===
The words {{lang|ga|Taoiseach}} and {{lang|ga|[[Tánaiste]]}} (deputy prime minister) are both from the [[Irish language]] and of ancient origin. The Taoiseach is described in the Constitution of Ireland as "the head of the Government or Prime Minister",{{efn|Article 13.1.1° and Article 28.5.1° of the [[Constitution of Ireland]]. The latter provision reads: "The head of the Government, or Prime Minister, shall be called, and is in this Constitution referred to as, the Taoiseach."<ref>{{cite web |title=Constitution of Ireland |url=https://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html#article28_5_1 |website=Irish Statute Book}}</ref>|name="ConstitIrl"}} its literal translation is {{gloss|chieftain}} or {{gloss|leader}}.<ref name=youthzone>{{cite web|url=http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/attached_files/Pdf%20files/School%20Pack.pdf|title=Youth Zone School Pack|work=[[Department of the Taoiseach]]|access-date=23 June 2010|archive-date=2 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071202192318/http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/attached_files/Pdf%20files/School%20Pack.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> Although [[Éamon de Valera]], who introduced the title in 1937, was a democratic politician who had in the past associated with [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|paramilitaries]], some have remarked that the meaning {{gloss|leader}} in 1937 made the title similar to the titles of [[Fascism|fascist]] dictators of the time, such as {{lang|de|Führer}} (for [[Adolf Hitler]]), {{lang|it|Duce}} (for [[Benito Mussolini]]) and {{lang|es|Caudillo}} (for [[Francisco Franco]]).<ref name=McCarthy2010a>{{cite news |url=http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/wt-became-the-most-ruthless-of-them-all-26621462.html |title=WT became the most ruthless of them all |newspaper=Irish Independent |first=John-Paul |last=McCarthy |date=10 January 2010 |access-date=22 November 2016 |quote=While Taoiseach itself carried with it some initially unpleasant assonances with Caudillo, Fuhrer and Duce, all but one of the 12 men who wielded the prime ministerial sceptre have managed to keep their megalomaniacal tendencies in check. |archive-date=22 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161122223743/http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/wt-became-the-most-ruthless-of-them-all-26621462.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Quigley1944a>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LOdQAQAAMAAJ&q=Taoiseach+Fuhrer+Duce+Caudillo |title=Great Gaels: Ireland at Peace in a World at War |first=Martin|last=Quigley |page=18 |date=1944 |access-date=22 November 2016 |quote=Eamon de Valera is {{lang|ga|An Taoiseach}} or "boss Gael." That title goes considerably beyond the English "prime minister" or the American "president." It is the Gaelic equivalent of the German "{{lang|de|Fuehrer}}," the Italian "{{lang|it|Duce}}" and the Spanish "{{lang|es|Caudillo}}."&thinsp; |archive-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912123429/https://books.google.com/books?id=LOdQAQAAMAAJ&q=Taoiseach+Fuhrer+Duce+Caudillo |url-status=live }} Published in New York, 1944 (publisher not identified); Original from [[University of Minnesota]]; Digitised 6 May 2016</ref><ref name=IPA1970a>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-YWAAAAIAAJ&q=Fuhrer+Duce+Caudillo |title=Administration – Volume 18 |publisher=[[Institute of Public Administration (Ireland)|IPA]] |page=153 |date=1970 |access-date=22 November 2016 |quote=... and let alone the names of the Prime Minister (the Taoiseach, a word that is related to Duce, Fuhrer, and Caudillo) (translated from the original Irish: ... {{lang|ga|agus fiú amháin ainmeacha [sic] an Phríomh-Aire (An Taoiseach, focal go bhfuil gaol aige le Duce, Fuhrer, agus Caudillo)}} |archive-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912123429/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q-YWAAAAIAAJ&q=Fuhrer+Duce+Caudillo |url-status=live }}Original from the [[University of California]]; Digitised 6 December 2006</ref> {{lang|ga|Tánaiste}}, in turn, refers to the system of [[tanistry]], the [[Gaels|Gaelic]] system of succession whereby a leader would appoint an [[heir apparent]] while still living.

In [[Scottish Gaelic]], {{lang|gd|tòiseach}} translates as '[[Scottish clan|clan]] chief' and both words originally had similar meanings in the [[Goidelic languages|Gaelic languages]] of Scotland and Ireland.{{efn|name=BookCawdor|{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TFwJAAAAIAAJ |title=The book of the thanes of Cawdor: a series of papers selected from the charter room at Cawdor. 1236–1742, Volume 1236, Issue 1742 |publisher=[[Spalding Club]] |author=John Frederick Vaughan Campbell Cawdor |editor-first=Innes |editor-last=Cosmo |year=1742 |page=xiii |access-date=23 June 2013 |quote=As we cannot name the first Celtic chieftain who consented to change his style of Toshach and his patriarchal sway for the title and stability of King's Thane of Cawdor, so it is impossible to fix the precise time when their ancient property and offices were acquired. }}}}<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ywZuLEa6oxsC&pg=PA32 |title=Scotland Under Her Early Kings: A History of the Kingdom to the Close of the Thirteenth Century Part One |publisher=[[Kessinger Publishing]] |first=E. William |last=Robertson |date=2004 |page=32 |isbn=9781417946075 |access-date=28 June 2013 |archive-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912123430/https://books.google.com/books?id=ywZuLEa6oxsC&pg=PA32 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=4336&startset=43732115&dtext=snd&query=TOISEACH |title=DSL – SND1 TOISEACH |access-date=27 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202232058/http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=4336&startset=43732115&dtext=snd&query=TOISEACH |archive-date=2 December 2013 }}</ref>{{efn|{{cite news |url=http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails.aspx?ref=4140 |title=Tartan Details – Toshach |publisher=[[Scottish Register of Tartans]] |access-date=27 June 2013 |url-status=dead |quote=Toshach is an early Celtic title given to minor territorial chiefs in Scotland (note Eire Prime Minister's official title is this). |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131202222652/http://www.tartanregister.gov.uk/tartanDetails.aspx?ref=4140 |archive-date=2 December 2013 }}}} The related [[Welsh language]] word {{lang|cy|[[tywysog]]}} (current meaning: 'prince') has a similar origin and meaning.{{efn|name=Celtic_Culture|{{citation|title=Celtic Culture: a Historical Encyclopedia |author=John Thomas Koch |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2006 |isbn=1851094407 |page=1062 |quote=An early word meaning 'leader' appears on a 5th- or 6th-century inscribed stone as both ogam Irish and British genitive TOVISACI: {{lang|cy|tywysog}} now means 'prince' in Welsh, the regular descriptive title used for Prince Charles, for example; while in Ireland, the corresponding {{lang|ga|Taoiseach}} is now the correct title, in both Irish and English, for the Prime Minister of the Irish Republic (Éire).}}}} It is hypothesised that both derive ultimately from the [[Proto-Celtic language|proto-Celtic]] {{lang|cel-x-proto|*[[wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Celtic/towissākos|towissākos]]}} 'chieftain, leader'.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sims-Williams |first=Patrick |date=Summer 1992 |title=The Additional Letters of the Ogam Alphabet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yVopAQAAMAAJ&q=%22medieval+celtic+studies%22+towiss%C4%81kos |journal=Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies |volume=23 |page=48 |access-date=11 December 2022 |archive-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912123431/https://books.google.com/books?id=y9xQAQAAIAAJ&q=towissakos |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AncKAQAAMAAJ&q=towiss%C4%81kos |title=Language |first1=George Melville |last1=Bolling |first2=Bernard |last2=Bloch |date=27 June 1968 |publisher=Linguistic Society of America |via=[[Google Books]] |access-date=3 October 2020 |archive-date=12 September 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210912123431/https://books.google.com/books?id=AncKAQAAMAAJ&q=towiss%C4%81kos |url-status=live }}</ref>

The plural of {{lang|ga|taoiseach}} is {{lang|ga|taoisigh}} (<small>Northern and Western</small> {{IPA|ga|ˈt̪ˠiːʃiː|lang}}, <small>Southern:</small> {{IPA|ga|ˈt̪ˠiːʃɪɟ|}}).<ref name=youthzone/>

Although the Irish form {{lang|ga|An Taoiseach}} is sometimes used in English instead of 'the Taoiseach',<ref name=Oops2017-02-09a>{{cite web|url=http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/News/Taoiseach's_Press_Releases/Statement_by_An_Taoiseach_on_the_death_of_Cardinal_Desmond_Connell.html|title=Statement by An Taoiseach on the death of Cardinal Desmond Connell|publisher=Department of the Taoiseach|date=9 February 2017|access-date=5 March 2017|quote=The Taoiseach has learnt with regret …|archive-date=6 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170406113821/http://www.taoiseach.gov.ie/eng/News/Taoiseach%27s_Press_Releases/Statement_by_An_Taoiseach_on_the_death_of_Cardinal_Desmond_Connell.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the English version of the Constitution states that they "shall be called … the Taoiseach".{{efn|name="ConstitIrl"}}