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Aflaith (Irish) orflath (Scottish Gaelic; pluralflathan), in theGaelic world, could refer to any member in general of a powerful family enjoying a high degree ofsovereignty, and so is also sometimes translated aslord oraristocrat in the general sense, or can refer to sovereignty itself. Thus it did not usually refer to a specific position such asRí (king) which any givenflaith might or might not hold, allowing for the term to eventually develop the slightly alternative meaning of any hereditary high aristocrat who was understood to be subordinate to the king. In this later sense aflaith was similar to atacksman in theScottish clan system.
The later development in meaning, innocent in itself, allowed the termflaith to become confused with "chief" as that term is commonly understood in English, when in fact a Gaelic "chief" was very often technically arí (king) of any one of three or more grades and holding aWhite Wand. Aflaith might not hold a White Wand; he might simply be a brother, nephew or some relation of the king. Theflaith might be the head of a juniorsept of the royal kindred or a member of another great family which was somehow in the king's service.
It became an element in personal and eventually family names, an example being the royal family ofO'Flaherty (Old Irish:Ua Flaithbertaig "Descendants of the Bright Prince"). It could be combined withrí to form the personal nameFlaithrí ("Princely King" or "Kingly Prince"), an example beingFlaithrí mac Domnaill,King of Connacht.
ABanfhlaith (lit. "Lady Prince") was a princess more specifically described. However, illustrative of howflaith was principally a general term for a member of the high nobility, the personal namesGormflaith ("Blue Princess" or "Blue Sovereignty") andÓrflaith ("Golden Princess") were understood to be female without the addition of the feminine affix.