Macneil's forced to rethink their history

[ctbuchanan]

Modern DNA testing is forcing one very old Scottish clan to rethink their history.
The Macneil are of Scandinavian descent and not Irish as they long thought. This could be the first of many clans to find out "history" needs to be rewritten.

Interesting.
http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/h...tory.116231580

[neloon]

We seem to have agonised over this problem already:
http://www.xmarksthescot.com/forum/f...rything-87139/
I have never met a MacNeil who thought of themselves as of Celtic origin. A quick look at the map of Barra shows it to be more or less totally devoid of placenames that are not of Viking origin. (Indeed the same can be said of all the Outer Hebrides.) And the rowing song that is more or less the anthem of the MacNeils is "a' Mhic Iarla nam Bratach Bana" - in praise of the Jarl (earl) of the White Banners.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZq1VRP055A
Alan

[dakuda]

Find it interesting MacDougall and MacNeil have same clan motto, do other clans have the same on ??

[MacRob]

I read a similar article in The Highlander. Interestingly my clan, the Clan Gunn, which has always billed itself as the Viking clan, is seeing mixed results from DNA testing. There are quite a few Celtic markers and only a limited amount of Scandinavian. There are lots of reasons for the mix, of course. The Gunns traditionally intermarried with the Pictish/Celtic inhabitants of Caithness and Sutherland which probably explains it.

[Reiver]

Interesting.
From what I've been delving into recently the whole 'from Ireland' train of thought that has been prevalent for decades is now being re thought.

It appears, using multiple sources of input, that the Irish immigration east is mostly a thing of myth and legend...often to prop up claims of royalty or origins of royalty that never actually existed.


Our Clan news letter has had some excellent articles on this subject, of late, with the new supported findings by historians indicating different migration routes and influences.

The 'similarity' between language but not place names and local history is now being credited with simple cross channel trade....common language for ease of trade as exists in many modern ports today.

[California Highlander]

Find it interesting MacDougall and MacNeil have same clan motto, do other clans have the same on ??

Many/most of the Clan Chattan confederation clans have a variation of "Touch not the Cat bot a Glove" and have a Scottish wildcat on their badge.

Macpherson, Mackintosh, MacGillvray, MacBean, Shaw, all have a variation of the "Touch not..." motto and the wildcat.