Mi Iuil is the Irish for the month of July, but our imaginative ancestors were rarely satisfied with one name for a thing, when they might have two or more. Mi na Sul mBui, the month of the yellow eyes, also meant July. (Sul bhui was the yellow blossom of certain weeds common among potatoes.)
The central point of the ball of the thumb was suil na hordoige, and suil, apart from meaning "eye", also meant "a globule in broth, a noose, an arch, a whirlpool in a river".
Where sul is found in placenames, the latter meaning might be indicated, rather than referring to the curative qualities of the water. The water of Tobersool in the Co Dublin parish of Balscaddan, and of Tobernasool, Tobar na Sul, "the well of the eyes" in the Co Kilkenny parish of Rathlogan, was claimed to cure sore eyes. Tobernasool is also found a mile north-east of Lisbellaw in Co Fermanagh, from which the adjacent lake is claimed to have got the name of Lough Eyes.
This island had been the headquarters of Brian Maguire, who together with his brother, Turlough, had received 2,500 acres in the Plantation. Long aware of the folly of being a rebel, this man was, after 1608, described by the English as "a proper and active man", and it was said that he "lives in the English manner".
The efficacy of the cure from the water of those certain wells was probably no less effective than that contained in Materia Medica. "Take yarrow and the daisy plant, and bruise and squeeze the juice out of them, put into a little bottle with the milk of a woman who has just given birth to a daughter, and a grain of white copperas, also the red blossom of the common eyebright, and wash the sore eye with it."
Also in the above parish of Balscaddan is the townland named Tobertown (Baile an Tobair, "the town of the well"), and around 1326 "Michael M'Heth held 1 messuage, 25 1/2 acres of land, and pays, by the year 21s 10d. At that same time Geoffrey M'Hethe held the lands of Grange, Kyllothtyr, Mileston and Typyrsoule" (Account Roll of the Priory of the Holy Trinity, Dublin 1337-1346: Four Courts 1996).
Our search discovered no Mac Heth(e) surname, but we considered that if the "c" sound of the "mac" transferred to the Heth, it would sound Mac Keith. Basil Cottle's Penguin Dictionary of Surnames say that McKeith is from the Scottish Gaelic meaning "son of the wolf" (sitheach, wolf). Mac Lysaght's The Surnames of Ireland informs that (Mac) Keith named a Scottish clan numerous in Ulster in the 17th century, and De Bhulbh's Sloinnte na hEireann/Irish Surnames suggests an Irish origin Mac Shithigh (sitheach, "peaceful"), but also concedes that it appears to be Scottish.
And as M'Heth could be a rendering of MacKeith, it is equally likely that McEthe might also. Two of this name - David and Tayg - are listed in the Justiciary Rolls (1308-14). Both were charged at Carlow in 1311, David of being a common robber, and the verdict of his trial was "Let him be hanged", and Tayg was charged with being present at the slaying of John Thaharne, knight, and at the burning of Aghyt.
Depending on one's pronunciation of M'Keigh - listed in a fiant of 1583 concerning pardons in Co Roscommon - this might also be the surname we are discussing, though the same fiant contains M'Kigo and M'Gigo. A fiant of 1599 concerning Co Dublin pardons, lists M'Keigh, M'Keige and M'Kigho.
A Henry Keyt and a Mr Keyt are among those listed in A Minister's Money Account for Clonmel for the year 1703. This account was established in 1665, with the intention of providing an income for incumbents. But did they both have the surname (Mac) Keith?
The Families of Rashane: A District in Northern Ireland (T. H. Mullin 1969) lists the Keiths of Greenhill among those families. Greenhill is in the Co Antrim parish of Glenwherry.
The Northern Ireland phone book has 31 entries of Keith and two of McKeith, while south of the Border there are 20 Keiths, in the 01 Dublin area, and the 04 area, mainly north Leinster and up to Co Monaghan.