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I have found another great article written by the late Roger F. Pye, former Clan MacThomas
Historian and Society Vice President.
McCOMIE MOR: NEW LIGHT ON AN OLD FALLACY
There can be no doubt that in the history of the Clan MacThomas the figure that
towers head and shoulders above the rest is the 7th Chief, John McComie, who sold
Finegand and acquired Forter; fought for Charles I under Montrose; waxed rich
under the Commonwealth and was brought to ruin after the Restoration. The
purpose of this article is to end, once and for all time, the popular misconception
that the designation "McComie Mór" (as it is generally found written) was the
personal sobriquet of this notable chief, but it will first be necessary to clarify one or
two points for those readers who may not be well acquainted with the Gaelic
tongue, which was the language of the Highlands.
The name Tomaidh (meaning "Tommy" and pronounced so) becomes Thomaidh in the
genitive case, when the introduction of the letter "h" alters the pronunciation to
"Homie." Similarly the adjective mór (meaning "big" or "great," and pronounced much
as it would be in English), becomes in the genitive minor or mhoir, the addition of the
"h" in this case changing the pronunciation to "vor" or "voir." The prefix Mac (which
in the genitive becomes Mhic, pronounced "Vic"), as is well known, means "son."
Thus, putting these words together, Tomaidh Mór (pronounced "Tommy Mór") means
"big" or "great Tommy," MacThomaidh Mhór (pronounced "McHomy Vor") means
"Great Tommy's son," while MacThomaidh Mór (pronounced "McHomy Mor") means
"Great son of Tommy." It is this last name, which is generally written "McComy Mór"
or "McComie Mór" that is usually applied to John of Forter in the belief that it was
entirely personal to himself, given to him due to his great size and importance.
However, if this had been the intention he would have been called not MacThomaidh
Mór "Great son of Tommy," but Iain Mór "Great John." It was the invariable rule that
in the Gaelic such personal descriptions should follow not the patronymic but the
forename, which was the only fixed name a Highlander possessed of yore. Thus, we
get such names as Finla Mór "Great Findlay," Lachlan Beg "Small Lachlan," and
Donald Dubh "Black Donald." If it were desired to add the patronymic or surname,
this would follow after the descriptive name (e.g., Finla Mór Farquharson, Lachlan
Beg Mackintosh, or Donald Dubh Cameron). Likewise, no one would have ever
referred to these people as "Farquharson Mór," "Mackintosh Beg," or "Cameron
Dubh." In the same way John McComie would never have been called "Iain McComie
Mór," but rather "Iain Mór McComie."
If this were not proof enough, there is the added circumstance that the 5th Chief
and his heir apparent are referred to in the feu charter of Finegand in 1568, as "John
M'Comy Woir" and "John M'Comy Woir junior."(l) Similarly, we are told that John, the
namesake and heir apparent of the 7th Chief, was known in his father's lifetime,
almost a century later, as "Young McComie Mór."(2) Now the purpose of personal
descriptive names was to distinguish between people with the same forename (e.g.,
if you had several people named John you might call the largest "big John," the
smallest "small John," and the darkest "black John"). Only a gibbering idiot would
simultaneously call two of them "big John" (or "big McComie" for that matter),
because to do so would vitiate the very purpose for which these colloquial names
were given.
It is, in short, abundantly clear that the name "McComie Mór" was not the personal
sobriquet of a single individual, but the chiefly designation of each successive
McComie of Finegand. The fact that it is most commonly used in association with
the 7th chief can simply be ascribed to his being the only one of the MacThomas
chiefs about whom anyone ever troubled to write at any length. As has already
been said, simultaneously to give the same personal descriptive name to both father
and son would be both improbable and absurd; but to attribute the same chiefly
designation to the representor and his heir apparent was in Scotland not merely
customary but the general rule.(3)
Therefore, the only question which remains is whether this chiefly designation of the
lairds of Finegand was (and is) MacThomaidh Mór (pronounced "McHomy Mór,") or
MacThomaidh Mhór (or Mhóir) (4) (pronounced "McHomy Vor" or "Voir")? At first
sight it might seem that the case is analogous with that of the Campbells, whose
chief, the Duke of Argyll (in spite of being the representor of Colin Mór Campbell, so
that one would have expected him to be called MacChailein Mhór; (i.e., "great
Colin's son") has certainly in fact long been styled MacChailein Mór (i.e., "great son
of Colin"). However, the explanation of this apparent discrepancy is not difficult to
find.(5) Great influential clans like the Campbells, Murrays and Grahams, produced
amongst their cadets great lords who were little less in importance than the chief of
the name himself. Under these circumstances it was logical that Campbell of Argyll
should have been called MacChailein Mor to distinguish him from Campbell of
Breadalbane (MacChailein mhic Dhonnachaidh) and signify that he, Argyll, was the
greatest of the Campbells. In the same way Am Moireach Mór and An Greumach Mór
singled out the Dukes of Atholl and Montrose as greatest among the several Murray
and Graham lords respectively.
However, these conditions simply did not prevail in the case of the small and
relatively unimportant clan MacThomas, where there was absolutely no need to
single out "the great McComie" from a galaxy of other McComies. In fact, we do not
so much as know of any other McComies, except for the immediate offspring of the
succeeding chiefs. Furthermore, it would appear that the well know custom of the
patronymic being confined to the chief's own house was observed in Glenshee right
up to the collapse of the clan at the turn of the seventeenth century.
Therefore, it seems much more likely that the designation was in fact MacThomaidh
Mhór (i.e., "Great Tommy's son"), and was taken by successive lairds of Finegand as
representors of the clan's founder Tomaidh Mór. This was the view taken by A.M.
Mackintosh who wrote, "The Mackintoshes who moved from Glenshee to Glenisla had
the alias McThomie (McHomie or McComie, son of Thomas) at one time perhaps
McComie Mhór."(6) He goes on to say of their progenitor "This person, whoever he
was, was 'Mór' (i.e., big, large-as appears from the feu charter of Finegand in 1571
to his descendant 'John McComy Woir,' the word in italics, a phonetic rendering of
the genitive 'mhór' qualifying the patronymic, and thus showing that the charter is
to John, son of Big Thomas." It is also as "McComie Mhór" that John of Finegand and
Forter is mentioned in the 18th Century Latta MS, which establishes the ancestry of
the Lairds of Aberlemno.
However, if this is correct how are we to explain the later general use of the name
"McComie Mór" instead of "McComie Vor?" The answer is probably that most of the
people who wrote about "McComie Mór" did so during the latter part of the 19th
Century, some 200 odd years after the MacThomas chiefship had become dormant.
At that time almost nothing was known of the history of the clan. Furthermore, the
tales and traditions of John of Forter, which had been handed down by word of
mouth during those two centuries, did not deal with him in the context of one of a
line of chiefs, but rather as an individual legendary hero or strong man. Under such
circumstances it would have been natural for his Victorian biographers to think of
the "Mór" as personal to the man himself. Likewise, the possibility of his being the
descendant and representor of an earlier chief who was "Mór" (thus making his
descendant "Mhór") probably never so much as crossed their minds. Add to this that
the said biographers were quite possibly lowlanders, with a very imperfect or even
non-existent knowledge of the Gaelic tongue, to whom the words "mór" and "Mhór"
seemed pretty much the same,(8) and the problem is more or less explained.
Thus, we may take it that our chief's correct Gaelic designation is MacThomaidh
Mhór (pronounced "McHomy Vor"), which name has been given to all his chiefly
predecessors, and will in due course pass to his successors. In writing this it is
certainly not intended to detract in any way from the prominent position of the 7th
Chief. Let us by all means recognize his great size and strength, together with the
important part he played in our clan history, by calling him in the true Gaelic fashion
Iain Mór, which is to say, Great John.
R. F. P.
1) A. M. Mackintosh: Mackintosh Families in Glenshee and Glenisla, 19I6, p. 41; also
Wm. M'Combie Smith: Memoir of the Families of M'Combie and Thoms, 1890, p. 198
n. D, who, however, transcribed Woir as Mór, to which error A. M. Mackintosh, who
was a vastly superior historian, draws attention (op. cit. p. 41 n.). Elsewhere
M'Combie Smith applies to the same father and son the adjective Mór (op. cit. pp,
27-'7, & 101), and it seems clear that he was incapable of distinguishing between
the different cases. Mr. Alick Morrison, an authority on the Gaelic tongue to whom I
am indebted for his assistance, writes, "The word 'mór' does not exist in the
nominative but I have often heard it used in the genitive singular masculine." He
gives as an example a certain Norman, son of Donald, who was designated Tarmad
Dhomhnaill Mhór.
2) Wm. M'Combie Smith, op. cit. pp. 55 & 1O2.
3) Sir Ian Moncreiffe of that Ilk, Bt., Albany Herald, who has been kind enough to
give me much invaluable help in connection with this paper, writes, "A chief or laird
and his heir were regarded as a collective personality (e.g., Old Lochiel and Young
Lochiel; Old Clanranald and Young Clanranald. In 1745 the Lochiel of the day was
Young Lochiel, though it might be argued that although his father was still alive in
exile, as he held the estates himself, he really was Lochiel; but also I've always
understood that he was referred to by his clansmen as MacDhomnuill Duith (being
the one who was present). In the case of Clanranald of the '45 his father was not
only alive but also in possession of the estates (which is one of the reasons why
they weren't forfeited), but throughout the campaign he was called Clanranald." See
also Innes of Learney: Clans, Septs and Regiments of the Scottish Highlands 1960,
p. 408.
4) An alternative form of Mhór. See note
5) I am indebted to Sir lain Moncreiffe of that ilk, Bt., for this explanation.
6) A. M. Mackintosh, op. cit. pp. 38-'9.
7) The Gaelic Census of 1901 shows that out of a total population of 4,472, 013
only 230, 806 people in Scotland claimed to be able to speak the Gaelic. In the
counties of Aberdeen, Angus and West Perthshire, the proportion was much less,
being only one in about 230, 210 and 35 respectively, against the national figure of
about one in twenty.
8) As English adjectives and nouns have no declension, these alterations of case in
the Gaelic are often completely overlooked by the Sassenach, so that even in
Scotland we frequently find, say, Glen Mór (the great glen) or Ben Mór (the great
mountain), written "Glen Mhór" or "Ben Mhór," in the genitive case which is
grammatically absurd.
9) Sir Iain Moncreiffe, having been sent a copy of this paper, replied acknowledging
receipt of "your Revised Version on MacThomaidh Mhoir, with which on reflection I
entirely agree."
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