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The
History And Origin Of The Scahill Name
The Irish surname
Scahill is an anglicized form of the Gaelic MacScaithghil. The prefix
“mac” signifies “son of” and indicates the patronymic origin for the
name, while the first name is probably derived from ”scaith geal”, meaning
bright flower.
Variants of
the Scahill name are:
Sahil, Scahail,
Scahal, Scahaill, Scahall, Scaheil, Scaheill, Scahel, Scahhil, Scahhill,
Scahil, Scail, Scarhill, Scarles, Schaill, Schahill, Seahil, Sehill,
Seahill, Shahill, Skahell, Skahil, Skahile, Skahill, Skaehil, Skaehill,
Skehel, Skehill, Skilhill.
The MacScahill
sect was located in east Galway and the name is now found there and
in County Mayo in small numbers.
O'Dugan
in his topographical poem, written about 1365, refers to Mac Sgaithghil
(i.e. Mac Scahill) as "of beautiful studs" and as "over Corca Mogha"
(i.e. Corcamoe which may be equated with the present parish of Kilkerrin
in east Galway), but it is recorded elsewhere that they were dispossessed
of this territory by the Concannons before 1170.
The prefix
"O" (i.e. grandson of or descendant) was sometimes used with
this name, but both prefixes have by now fallen into disuse.
In general,
Gaelic prefixes, which date from the tenth century, tended to be discarded
from the seventeenth century, a time of religious and cultural persecution
and of renewed colonization by England, despite a revival of sorts in
the late nineteenth century under the auspices of the Gaelic league,
there are still, even today, a number of surnames where the prefix is
rarely, if ever, seen.
To conclude,
this surname has been equated, albeit wrongly, with Cahill from time
to time so that it is possible that some Cahill's were originally Scahill's.
Dr. Edward
MacLysaght was once the Chief Herald of Ireland.
As a historian
and author he wrote 15 books in both Irish and English and edited over
60.
He was acknowledged
in his time as the foremost family historian in Ireland. His diversity
has led him to be remembered for many different things and for being
the Chief Herald of Ireland.
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