Macdonells

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Members of a Scottish Highland family and clan of the MacDonald lineage, bearing a surname of Gaelic origin
2. Scottish Highland kinsfolk belonging to a clan descended from the MacDonald line and carrying a Gaelic-derived surname
3. People of a Highland Scottish clan with a family name linked to the wider MacDonald kindred of the western isles

Etymology: "Macdonells" is the plural of "Macdonell," a Scottish surname and clan name. The "Mac" means "son of" in Scottish Gaelic, and the rest comes from "Domhnall," the Gaelic form of Donald. The name is therefore "son of Donald," and the plural refers to the members of that family, most often the branch associated with Glengarry in the Highlands. The Gaelic name "Domhnall" comes from Old Irish "Domnall," which is usually explained as combining "domun," meaning "world," and "val," meaning "rule," so it has been read as "world ruler." The spelling "Macdonell," with its "-ell" ending, is an anglicised form that developed as Gaelic names were written in English, and other spellings such as "MacDonald" belong to the same name family.