A flaith (Irish) or flath, in the Gaelic world, could refer to any member in general of a powerful family enjoying a high degree of sovereignty, and so is also sometimes translated as lord or aristocrat in the general sense, or can refer to sovereignty itself. Thus it did not usually refer to a specific position such as Rí (king) which any given flaith 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 a flaith was similar to a tacksman in the Scottish clan system.