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.
