# Is Tolgaim really an Irish word? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 9, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322 "2023-10-09T16:52:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jagraze1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jagraze1/32/14870_2.png) [@Jagraze1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jagraze1)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/1 "2023-10-09T16:52:43Z")
So at first, when I asked someone about if this is a word or not, they said, they haven’t come across this word but a few minutes later, somebody told me that it is. Is it or is it not? If so, what does it mean? ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/2 "2023-10-09T16:58:48Z")
> **[English–Irish Dictionary (de Bhaldraithe): tolgaim](https://www.teanglann.ie/en/eid/tolgaim)** > > Everything about 'tolgaim' in the de Bhaldraithe Dictionary ---
**Author:** ![Jagraze1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jagraze1/32/14870_2.png) [@Jagraze1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jagraze1)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/3 "2023-10-09T17:06:04Z")
Oh I see! So I get it, it is a grammatical form of “tolg”. Thank you for this! ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/4 "2023-10-09T20:04:53Z")
I am really curious what prompted this question. That is one obscure word. ---
**Author:** ![Jagraze1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jagraze1/32/14870_2.png) [@Jagraze1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jagraze1)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/5 "2023-10-09T20:32:09Z")
Read my post ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/6 "2023-10-09T20:37:43Z")
All I did was google the term, and that link was the first one that came up. It seems like that might be a good starting point for these questions. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/7 "2023-10-09T21:18:10Z")
He did. What you said was that you asked someone if it was a real word. Why did you ask that? ---
**Author:** ![Jagraze1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jagraze1/32/14870_2.png) [@Jagraze1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jagraze1)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/8 "2023-10-09T21:47:15Z")
Why does that matter to you? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/9 "2023-10-09T21:50:06Z")
I was about to ask the same thing, because I’m curious. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/10 "2023-10-09T22:07:54Z")
When I search for tolgaim, I get two things. One is some mentions of tolgaim as a word in Irish. The second, with also some mentions, is something related to the Turkish name Tolga. Many of the mentions of tolga around from websites where someone says something that starts like “My name is Tolga Im ten years old”, but either the person forgot to hit the space key, the period key, and the apostrophe key (and that happens more often than you think) or the search engine shoves “Tolga. I’m” together in a single word (and that also happens more often than you think). ---
**Author:** ![Jagraze1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jagraze1/32/14870_2.png) [@Jagraze1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jagraze1)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/11 "2023-10-09T22:08:10Z")
Who are you talking to? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/12 "2023-10-09T22:38:55Z")
Well, it’s a headword on page 689 of a respected if old-fashioned Modern Irish dictionary: [https://celt.ucc.ie/Dinneen1.pdf](https://celt.ucc.ie/Dinneen1.pdf). Knock yourself out—there’s a lot of other words you could query in here. Image of the original (towards the bottom of the right-hand column on p. 743): [Irish English Dictionary : Rev. Patrick S. Dinneen : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/irishenglishdict011837mbp/page/742/mode/2up) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/13 "2023-10-09T23:08:21Z")
To you. Since the word just does not pop up in casual conversation, I was wondering if, perhaps, it came up while playing the Irish version of Scrabble [https://www.boardgamer.ie/products/scrabble-classic-irish](https://www.boardgamer.ie/products/scrabble-classic-irish) ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/14 "2023-10-09T23:21:17Z")
> [@Jagraze1](#): > > Why does that matter to you? Why does it matter to you if Tolgaim is really an Irish word? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/15 "2023-10-09T23:23:17Z")
Why does it matter to you why it matters to him if Tolgaim is really an Irish word? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/16 "2023-10-09T23:30:08Z")
It matters to me because this poster has posted a series of inane and easily answered questions about language. They’ve prompted some good discussion and interesting threads, but it’s sort of silly to start a thread with a yes-or-no question, when just a little extra information would make things MUCH more interesting and worthy of discussion. Is the poster learning Irish? Did he / she / they encounter the word in a text, a conversation, as an example of something? What prompted them to think it might not be a genuine word? Are they interested in what the word means, where it comes from, or what? The OP is under no obligation to answer, but they have form (as the British might say). ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/17 "2023-10-09T23:33:07Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Why does it matter to you why it matters to him if Tolgaim is really an Irish word? I think you’ve been watching too many courtroom dramas where the witness must only answer yes or no. Have you noticed that normal human interaction does not usually proceed along those lines? ---
**Author:** ![Jagraze1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jagraze1/32/14870_2.png) [@Jagraze1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jagraze1)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/18 "2023-10-09T23:36:00Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Is the poster learning Irish? Did he / she / they encounter the word in a text, a conversation, as an example of something? What prompted them to think it might not be a genuine word? Are they interested in what the word means, where it comes from, or what? Why are you referring to a username as them? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/19 "2023-10-09T23:37:22Z")
Because I don’t know whether you prefer “he” or “she” or “they,” and I’m trying to be polite. ---
**Author:** ![Jagraze1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jagraze1/32/14870_2.png) [@Jagraze1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jagraze1)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2023, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322/20 "2023-10-09T23:38:02Z")
You weren’t polite when you said the word “inane” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-tolgaim-really-an-irish-word/991322.md?page=2)