difficult to believe that the clans that took part in it were two small clans, or two branches of a large clan. They seem to have been large and powerful clans, which could not be easily brought into a state of proper subjection to the laws of the country. It is tolerably certain that the king would never have taken the heroic measures employed by him in dealing with two comparatively small clans. He would have squelched two small clans without any parade or noise.
Wyntoun’s Chronicle, which was written about 1420, gives an account of the combat of 1396. It will be sufficient to quote the following lines:—
‘Tha three score were clannys twa,
Clahynnhe Qwhewyl and Clachinyha.’
Clannys stands for clan-nis. The second n is simply the first n repeated before is. The old plural termination was as, es, or is, now s. In the singular number Wyntoun would write clan, not clann. For gods he writes goddis, but he always writes the word God or god in the singular number just as we do. Clah is clearly an error for clan. Y before n stands for i, and qwh for ch. In 1396 we find ewil written evil. Ynn evidently stands for in, now an or a’, ‘the.’ Thus then the name we have to deal with is Clan anh-chevil. Clachinyha is an error for Clan Lunyha or Clan Hinyha.
In the name In Caimgilla, in is simply the old form of the article an or a’. Caim may be for cam, originally camm, one-eyed, crooked, or twisty. But it may also stand for coim or caem, now caomh, gentle, kind, noble, handsome; or for camh, strong, stout, mighty. Probably the idea intended to be conveyed by the epithet applied to Donald, son of Muireach—Dōnall MacMhuirich—was that he was a handsome and noble man. He was undoubtedly a caomhan, or beloved person, among his people. A clan named after Donald the Caemhghille would be first Clann a’ Chaimhghille and afterwards Clann a’ Chaemhill or simply Clann Chaemhill. As mh is just v in Gaelic, Clann Chaemhill would become in English Clan Kevill. The e in Kevill is long in Gaelic, but would become short in the English form of the word.
Maelanfiud, now Maol-ŏn-ai, means servant of the blast,
