Macdonald, or, as he was more commonly designed, M'Ian of Glencoe, was the head of a considerable sept or branch of the great Clan-Coila, and was lineally descended from the ancient Lords of the Isles, and from the royal family of Scotlandthe common ancestor of the Macdonalds having espoused a daughter of Robert II.

One of the twelve exogamous septs of Santals, by tradition it was formerly the royal sept. Koeri.

These are the five principal septs or families of Ireland, and all not belonging to one of these five septs are accounted aliens or enemies, and could "neither sue nor be sued," even down to the reign of Elizabeth.