|
This Donegal name is from MacColl, Gaelic Mac Colla, the name
of a galloglass family introduced there from Argyllshire in the sicteenth
century. Colla was a Gaelic personal name and Colla Uais, a semi-legendary
Irish king of the fourth century, is claimed as the great ancestor of the
MacDonalds. The MacCalls or MacColls, long settled in Argyllshire, were of the
race of Clan Donald but in practice followed the Stewarts of Appin. Although of
no connection with the Ulster MacCalls or MacCauls, there has been some
intermingling of the two names (see MacCall).
GLOSSARY
| Clan |
From the Gaelic clann which means literally
'children'. |
| Mac- |
From the Gaelic mac, meaning 'son' |
| O' |
From the Gaelic Ó, meaning 'grandson',
'grandchild' or 'descendant'; Ní is the femine form of Ó, meaning 'daughter' or
'descendant' |
| Plantation (Ulster) |
The redistribution of escheated lands after the
defeat of the Ulster Gaelic lords and the 'Flight of the Earls' in 1607. Only
counties Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, Armagh, Fermanagh and Cavan were actually
'planted', portions of land there being distributed to English and Scottish
families on their lands and for the building of bawns. |
| Sept |
A family group of shared ancestry living in the
same locality |
| Undertakers |
Powerful English or Scottish landowners who
undertook the plantation of British settlers on the lands they were granted. |
| Gaelic |
This word in Ireland has no relation to
Scotland. As a noun it is used to denote the Irish language, as an adjective to
denote native Irish as opposed to Norman or English origin. |
| Erenagh |
From the Irish Gaelic airchinneach, meaning
'hereditary steward of church lands'. A family would hold the ecclesiastical
office and the right to the church or monastery lands, the incumbent at any one
time being the erenagh. |
|
