Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-08-06
THE MACS AND o.s.
Whss she syiiabiss - Prsnnss - ,risA
Names Literally Meae.-
There IL q popular rhyme:


There IL popular rhyme:
by Mac and o.
youil always know
True Irishmen, they say;
Foil They lack
Both o. and Bc
No Irfshmcn are they
I'd est:
His dnobus demptis. nullus Hibsrnus sdest''
What do Mac and o AS prefxes to
Irish names literally means
Answer. CAuthority: Lowers Pat
ronymica Britannica. Mac. we'll
known prefix OF surnames of Celtic
origin, signifying ..son Of and there
fore cognate with the Ap Of Welsh. the
Fitz Of Anglo-NorYan, and the son Of
English use. In England and other
countries Of Europe the great staple
OF family names is derived from ter
ritoriaI source. but among the Celts OF
Scotland. Ireland, and Wales the sur
name was almost uniformly that Of the
father or some ancestor with a prefix.
-. This is very common prefix
to Irish snrnames. and is the Celtic M
grandson. descendant. In England and
other European countries the noble and
wealthy generally borrowed their
family names from their landed posses
sions. but in Ireland the names OF septs
or tribes were uniformly borrowed
from those of their ancient chiefs and
ancestors. The famous King, Brian
Boru. who fell at the bat | OF Clontar
in 1914. published an ed.ct that the
descendants Of the heads Of tribes and
families then in power should take
name from them. either from the faith
ers or grandfathers. ana that those
names should become hereditary and
fixed forever. In some instances, how
ever. families who boasted of distim-
| guished ancestor of earlier date as
/ sumed his name rather than that Of the
grandfather or father.
u, or rather Oy. was used in the
sense OF grandson by the Scottish High
| landers; thus we read OF a very old
| lady Of Gaelic race who, Argus-like.
could boast OF 100 Dyes
The Gaiwegians, who prided them
selves upon not being Irishmen. issued
an order in 1918 prohibiting the native
septs from entering their town, deciar
ing that ''neither o ne Mac should
strut ne swaggsr through thu streets
OF Galway"
A regular error prevails in Ireland
that while the Mac conveys no motior
OF high birth the O. is mark of good
family. In the province OF Connaugh
the o. notifies the gentleman; tb.
OConnors. the OFlahertys. and the
! OMalleys are somebodies. while theil
distant kinsmen, the Connors, tn.
FIahertys and the Malleys are nobodies
Much the same notion prevails i,
France concerning the prefix de. IL
Ireland the O is never predxed to AM
name derived from trade. with the sin
gle exception of OGowan, which il
similar to our Smithson.
i In O Btien's Irish Dictionary i
gives:
Mac. a son. 1t is some
times used for the young of brutcs.
1t is pretixed to the name o
several OF the great families of Ire
laud.
There is another word. an adjective
which means clean, pure. etc. o is
proposition. meaning from. and is use
in connection with names to denot
the place from which person or fam
: lily comes. or descent from particula
parcntage. as q Neil, which would in
dictate descent from the o Neil family
and . Brien means the direct descend
ants of Brian Boirbhe.
On the other hand o Caslaen mean
the family from CastleIyons in tn
: county of Cork. Mail