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KEITH.
From the parish and lands of Keith, in Banffshire, Scotland. The name Keith
is said to be derived from the Gaelic gaoth, wind, pronounced somewhat
similarly to Keith. The old village and kirk are called Arkeith,
which may be a corruption of the Gaelic Ard Gaoth, signifying "high
wind," which corresponds to its locality, which is peculiarly exposed to
gusts of wind. In some old charters, Keith is written Gith, which
still more resembles Gaith. I think the name is derived from the
Welsh caeth, a place surrounded, shut up, inclosed, a deep hollow, a
strait. The root of the word is the Welsh cau, to close, to shut
up. Concerning this family, the traditional account is, that they came
from Germany in the reign of the Emperor Othho, and from the principality of
Hesse, from which they were expelled in some revolution. The
first person of this family of whom our oldest historians take notice, is Robert
De Keith, to whom Malcom II., King of Scotland, gave the barony of Keith, in
East Lothian, as a reward for killing Camus, a Danish general, who then invaded
Scotland, gave with a numerous army. The battle was fought at Barry, seven
miles from Dundee, where an obelisk, called Camus' stone, still preserves
the memory of the victory, and it is said the king, dipping his three fingers in
the blood of the general, stroked them along the field of the Scotch champion's
shield, to whom, besides the landed estate before mentioned, he gave the dignity
of Great Marshal of Scotland.
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