83 



Kenealy. Malyvoirrey represents Mary's son, anglice Morrison; Molly- 

 ruig is our Eitson, e'.e, Eedson, the Norman synonym of whicliis Fitzroy; 

 MoUyvriddy is Bridget's son, and Malyvartin Martin's son, while Christo- 

 pherson finds its name synonym in Malychreest. 



The Irish, whose language again is very closely akin to those of both 

 the Highland Scotch and the Manx, use the same prefix Mac by which 

 to form patronymics, but they much more frequently supplant the Mac 

 by prefixing the letter O.' Need I cite such well known names as 

 O'Connel, O'Brien, O'Rourke, O'SuUivan, O'Donoghue 1 Now I must 

 confess this prefix O' puzzled me a good deal some times, but searching 

 through the pages of a Celtic dictionary one day for quite a different 

 purpose I accidentally stumbled upon the following exj)lanation. " O' is 

 a prefix signifying, of ov from, and added to proper names signifies the 

 oldest branch of a family, for," adds the lexicographer "the Erse, i.e. 

 the Highlanders, use Mac for a descendant or son but the Irish use O, as 

 in O'Neil, considering this appellation as being the further removed. " So 

 it appears that family pride — pride of name or descent is at the bottom of 

 it all. The more modest Highlander or Manxman is content to style 

 himself the ion of his immediate ancestor but the Irishman by the use of 

 O,' which is le.?s definite than Mac or Son, wishes to show that his descent 

 dates farther back than at least one generation. In the same spirit the 

 Spaniard who can claim the title of Hidalgo to his name is j^roud to show 

 on all occasions that he is the son of some one and he looks down 

 upon those families who have not acquired this title as a parcel of 

 nobodies. 



We now turn to Welsh names, but I must be very brief on this head. 

 Like the Normans, Scotch, Irish, and Manx, their patronymics are formed 

 by a prefix, viz. Ap, signifying also, " The Son of." In former days the 

 Welshman was proud to show he had an ancestry of more than one, or 

 two, or even three descents and for this purpose had recourse to repeating 

 the Ap instead of using the indefinite 0, of the Irishman. This custom is 

 playfully satirized in the Play of Sir John Oldcastle (1660.) 



Scene — A Court of Justice. 

 Judge. — What bail ? What sureties ? 



