Abthain
abthain
(M. L., abthania, abbacy), Term referring to territories of churches and monasteries founded by Celtic monks, chiefly between the mountain chain of the Mounth and the Firth of Forth. Many of them passed into the hands of laymen, who paid tribute to the Church for them.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Abthain
(Or ABTHANE).
An English or Lowland Scotch form of the middle-Latin word abthania (Gaelic, abdhaine), meaning abbacy. The exact sense of the word being lost, it was presumed to denote some ancient dignity, the holder of which was called abthanus or abthane. Dr. W.F. Skene (Historians of Scotland, IV; Fordun, II, 413) holds that the correct meaning of abthain (or abthane) is not “abbot” or “over-thane”, but “abbey” or “monastery.” The word has special reference to the territories of the churches and monasteries founded by the old Celtic or Columban monks, mostly between the mountain chain of the Mounth and the Firth of Forth. Dr. Skene recommends the use of the word abthany or abthanry. Many of these abthains passed into the hands of laymen, and were transmitted from father to son: They paid certain ecclesiastical tributes, and seem to have closely resembled the termon lands of the early Irish Church.
———————————–
SKENE, Celtic Scotland (Edinburgh, 1887), III, 83, 261, 283; A New English Dictionary (Oxford, 1888).
THOMAS WALSH
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume ICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, March 1, 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York