The Highlanders of Scotland - Clan Strachan Society

AND NOTES] OF SCOTLAND 419
Page 344. Macphee :
Gaelic (old) Mac Duibhsithe. The name Dubh-
sithe means " Black of Peace," the adjectives of colour being so used often to
govern nouns in the genitive.
: Page 345. Macquarrie Mac-Guaire. The name Guaire, Celtic Gaurios
or Gorios, means "noble," "glorious." The clan had a good position under
the Macdonald chiefs.
Page 345. Mac-Aulay. Skene's two objections to the Mac-aulays being
not of the line of the Earls of Lennox are of little value. The bond of
kinship of 1591 rests on pure tradition. The Aulay is no doubt here the
Norse Olaf or Anlaf The Macaulays of Lewis are certainly of Norse origin.
There was an old Gaelic name, Amalghaidh, which confuses the etymology
of the name in the case of the Lennox Macaulays, where the Earls bear old
Gaelic names like Aihn and Maoldomhnach.
Page 347. Garmoran. In 1343 this name is Garw-morwarne, that is,
Garbh-morbhern or " Rough Morvern," meaning, no doubt, the " Rough
(bounds) of Morvern," the district to the south of it. Mor-vern itself means
likely "Great Passes" {hearna). Neither name has anything to do with
Mearns (older Magh-ghirghinn), either in pronunciation or roots. Garmoran
was the Clanranald country, "from Sheil to Sourn," as the Dean of Lismore
has it. It was never an earldom, only a district. Skene here is entirely
wrong, and the Earldom of Garmoran has no place in Celtic Scotland.
Pages 348, 349. The events here detailed as I., II., III. belong to
Mearns. See Celtic Scotland^ i. 364, 439, and 452.
Page 349, last line. Cellach could not become Gilli in Norse ; it becomes
Kjalakr. Earl Gilli ruled in the Isles (Coll, &c.) and not on the mainland.
Besides, there was no Earldom of Garmoran. Nor could it remain in the
Crown till Alexander III.'s time. It then belonged to the M'Rorys, and had
been so held since Rory's time {Celtic Scotland., iii. 88).
Page 350, line 17. The Macleods and Campbells were entirely unconnected
and never belonged to the fabled Earldom of Garmoran.
Page 351. Clan Leod. Skene denies the Norse origin usually ascribed
to the Macleods by tradition. The genealogies given both for the Campbells
and Macleods in the Kilbride MS. of 1540 and MS. 1450 are clearly absurd :
both deduce the lineage of these clans from Fergus Lethderg, son of Nemed
save these
(2349 B.C. I), but there is nothing in common in the genealogies,
last two names. The Campbell genealogy passes through King Arthur and
other British names. The Macleod genealogy passes through Iver, the
Norse King of Dublin (9th century), and several ancestors bearing such
Norse names as Olvir, Magnus, Harold, Uspac, Magnus of Orkney,
Longbard, &c. To make them Gaelic, the two mythic heroes are added at
the end. There is therefore no connection whatever between the Campbells
and Macleods, as a student of Highland history might expect. (See Celtic
Scotland., iii. 340). Skene regards the Macleods as mainland clans, mainly
because the charters of 1343 to the respective heads of both branches are for
but the after history of the Macleods show them to be
(ilenelg and Assynt ;
almost purely an Island race. Indeed, Assynt is traditionally recorded as
coming to the Lewis branch through the heiress of the Macnicols. We may,
therefore, regard the Macleods as a Hebridean clan ; and, secondly, we can