a wee bit o' the Irish in me

9:29 PM Posted In , Edit This 0 Comments »
Happy St. Patrick's day everyone! In honor of the rowdiest holiday on the calendar, I thought I'd share some of my Irish roots. This, on the name "Carmack" (my mother's maiden name):

The original Gaelic form of the name Carmack is Mac Cormaic, derived from the forename Cormac.

The scribes who created documents long before either the Gaelic or English language resembled their standardized versions of today recorded words as they sounded. Consequently, in the Middle Ages the names of many people were recorded under different spellings each time they were written down. Research on the Carmack family name revealed numerous spelling variations, including Cormack, MacCormack, McCormack, McCormick, MacCormick, Cormac, Cormick, Cormyck, Kormack, Kormick, Cormach, Cormich, Cormiche and many more.

First found in Munster where they held a family seat from very ancient times.

Suffering from poverty and racial discrimination, thousands of Irish families left the island in the 19th century for North America aboard cramped passenger ships. The early migrants became settlers of small tracts of land, and those that came later were often employed in the new cities or transitional work camps. The largest influx of Irish settlers occurred with Great Potato Famine during the late 1840s. Although the immigrants from this period were often maligned when they arrived in the United States, they provided the cheap labor that was necessary for the development of that country as an industrial power. Early immigration and passenger lists have revealed many immigrants bearing the name Carmack: Daniell Cormack who settled in Virginia in 1643; Christopher Cormack settled in Annapolis Md. in 1731; Patrick Cormack settled in New York State in 1804.

I found another family crest similar to this one, but it had a motto on it: Sine Timore, which, being translated, means "Without fear." Pretty legit.

In closing, this week's episode of 30 Rock had one on the best quotes about St. Patrick's day I've ever heard: "Passing out and cursing on St. Patrick's day? Is nothing sacred?"

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