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.
