Meanings
nounbetagh (plural betaghs)
plural betaghs
- IrelandhistoricalA tenant that provides food for a household. On Anglo-Norman manors, these workers were servile to their lords.
Their unfree status meant not only unfavourable tenurial conditions for the betaghs but also incapacity to plead on their own behalf in the king's courts where they were represented instead by their lord.
1999, Brendan Smith, Colonisation and Conquest in Medieval Ireland: The English in Louth, 1170-1330, Cambridge University Press, page 79
Origin
- Middle Irishbíatach“providing food”
- Irishbiatach
- Englishbetagh
From Irish biatach, from Middle Irish bíatach (“providing food”), ultimately from bíad (“food”).
More words from Irish, Middle Irish
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
betagh. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/betagh
MLA
“betagh.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/betagh. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “betagh,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/betagh.
Source: betagh on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.