Ó hÍceadha (in English: Hickey; O'Hickey) is a surname of Irish origin. According to historian C. Thomas Cairney, the O'Hickeys were one of the chiefly families of the

Dal gCais The Dalcassians ( ) are a Gaels, Gaelic Irish clan, generally accepted by contemporary scholarship as being a branch of the Déisi Muman, that became very powerful in Ireland during the 10th century. Their genealogies claimed descent from Tál ...

Dalcassians The Dalcassians ( ) are a Gaelic Irish clan, generally accepted by contemporary scholarship as being a branch of the Déisi Muman, that became very powerful in Ireland during the 10th century. Their genealogies claimed descent from Tál Cas. ...

who were a tribe of the Erainn who were the second wave of Celts to settle in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

between about 500 and 100 BC.

Naming conventions

History

The Ó hÍceadha surname is especially associated with the

Kingdom of Thomond Thomond (Classical Irish: ; Modern Irish: ), also known as the Kingdom of Limerick, was a kingdom of Gaelic Ireland, associated geographically with present-day County Clare and County Limerick, as well as parts of County Tipperary around Nenag ...

, where bearers of the name were in successive generations a medical family who were physicians to the

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

s of the

Dál gCais The Dalcassians ( ) are a Gaels, Gaelic Irish clan, generally accepted by contemporary scholarship as being a branch of the Déisi Muman, that became very powerful in Ireland during the 10th century. Their genealogies claimed descent from Tál ...

, as well as other premier families of

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

and

Leinster Leinster ( ; or ) is one of the four provinces of Ireland, in the southeast of Ireland. The modern province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige, which existed during Gaelic Ireland. Following the 12th-century ...

. Their home territory was Ballyhickey ("Baile Uí Ícidhe", or ''O Hickey's settlement''), its neighbouring townland of Drim, and other townlands around

Quin, County Clare Quin () is a village in southeast County Clare, Ireland. The name also refers to a civil parish in the barony of Bunratty Upper, and to an ecclesiastical parish of the same name. The main attraction in the vicinity is Quin Abbey, the ruins of ...

. Prior to the 13th century they resided near Killaloe. By tradition, the O'Hickeys were reportedly known for brain surgery, especially the art of trepanning with silver plates the skulls fractures and other head injuries sustained in battle. Doctors in the Hickey family were famous for their study of medicine and translated many Latin and Greek Medical textbooks over the centuries. In 1403, Nicholas Ó hÍceadha (with Boulger O'Callahan) wrote a commentary on the ''

Aphorisms An aphorism (from Greek ἀφορισμός: ''aphorismos'', denoting 'delimitation', 'distinction', and 'definition') is a concise, terse, laconic, or memorable expression of a general truth or principle. Aphorisms are often handed down by tra ...

'' of

Hippocrates Hippocrates of Kos (; ; ), also known as Hippocrates II, was a Greek physician and philosopher of the Classical Greece, classical period who is considered one of the most outstanding figures in the history of medicine. He is traditionally referr ...

, a fragment of which is still preserved in the British Museum, London. In 1489, Donnchad Óg Ó hÍceadha translated the works of contemporary European surgeons, an example being the work of Pietro d'Argeloto, the Chirurgia, into the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

. The British Museum holds two further medical works of 1589 by Tomás Ó hÍceadha of Clare, and one by Domhnall Ó Troighthigh for the O'Hickeys. The ''Book of the O'Hickeys'' is located in the

National Library of Ireland The National Library of Ireland (NLI; ) is Ireland's national library located in Dublin, in a building designed by Thomas Newenham Deane. The mission of the National Library of Ireland is "To collect, preserve, promote and make accessible the ...

References

External links

Hickey family pedigree
at Library Ireland * {{DEFAULTSORT:O hIceadha Surnames Irish families Irish Brehon families Surnames of Irish origin Irish-language surnames Families of Irish ancestry History of County Clare Irish medical families

Naming conventions

History

See also

Further reading

References

External links