| This name, which was found to be twelfth most numerous in its
homeland of Co. Monaghan in 1970, is almost exclusive to the south of that
county, Armagh and Louth. The name in Gaelic was Mac Ardghail, from ardghal,
meaning 'high valour'. They are a branch of the MacMahons of Oriel, forst
noted as Sliocht Ardghail Mhóir Mhic Mathúna, 'the stock of Ardghal Mór
MacMahon', who was chief of the MacMahons from 1402 to 1416. They were
based originally in the barony of Monaghan and a branch became sub-chiefs in
Armagh under the O'Neills of the Fews.
The early-eighteenth-century Gaelic poet James MacArdle was of the Fews
district. He was a contemporary of poet Patrick MacAlinden who was married
to the poet Siobhán Nic Ardghail (Johanna MacArdle).
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. |
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