trícha

Trícha is a historical term found in Old and Early Modern Irish, used to denote a group or division linked to the idea of three. The word is built from trí, meaning three, with a suffix that forms a noun, and it entered discussions of land, administration, and geography in medieval Gaelic contexts.

In Gaelic law and territorial practice, trícha referred to a unit of land, taxation, or military levy within a larger political framework such as a tuath or kingdom. The precise meaning and size of a trícha varied by time and place, and it functioned as a practical element in organizing landholding and tribute rather than as a fixed measurement. The term often appears alongside other Gaelic divisions in historical sources, reflecting a layered system of land tenure.

The term also surfaces in scholarly work on medieval Ireland, where trícha is discussed in the context of geographic divisions, land tenure, and the linguistic formation of place-names. Its appearances in texts help illuminate how Gaelic societies structured territory and obligations among communities.

Today, trícha is primarily of academic interest, noted in discussions of Gaelic legal and geographic history and in linguistic studies of Irish word formation. It is not commonly used in modern Irish outside historical or philological contexts.

See also: tuath, land divisions in medieval Ireland, Irish land tenure and administration.