Ulaid

The Ulaid (Old Irish, pronounced [ˈuləðʲ]) or Ulaidh (modern Irish, pronounced [ˈu.liː])) were a people and dynastic group of early Ireland who gave their name to the province of Ulster. Ulaid was also the name of their over-kingdom, which consisted of a federation of minor-kingdoms ruled by an over-king.

Anciently Ulaid spanned across the whole of the modern province of Ulster, excluding County Cavan, but including County Louth stretching as far south as the River Boyne. From the mid 5th-century onwards, the territory of Ulaid was largely confined to east of the River Bann due to encroachment by the Northern Uí Néill and Airgíalla. Ulaid ceased to exist after its conquest in the late 12th-century by the Anglo-Norman knight John de Courcy, and was replaced with the Earldom of Ulster.

An individual from Ulaid was known in Irish as an Ultach, variant spellings being Ultagh and Ultaigh.

Name

Ulaid is a plural noun, indicating an ethnonym rather than a geographic term. The Ulaid are likely the Ούολουντοι (Uolunti or Volunti) mentioned in Ptolemy's 2nd century Geographia. This may be a corruption of Ούλουτοι (Uluti). The name is likely derived from the Gaelic ul, "beard". The late 7th-century writer, Muirchú, spells Ulaid as Ulothi in his work the "Life of Patrick".