Murrough Ó Laoí () was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

. Ó Laoí was a descendant of a hereditary medical family to the O'Flahertys, who were first mentioned in

Crichaireacht cinedach nduchasa Muintiri Murchada Muintir Murchada was the name of an Irish territory which derived its name from the ruling dynasty, who were in turn a branch of the Uí Briúin. The name was derived from Murchadh mac Maenach, King of Uí Briúin Seóla, who died 891. Overview ...

, c. 1000. They moved west across

Lough Corrib Lough Corrib ( ; ) is a lake in the west of Ireland. The River Corrib or Galway River connects the lake to the sea at Galway. It is the largest lake within the Republic of Ireland and the second largest on the island of Ireland (after Lough Nea ...

with the O'Flahertys, continuing their profession into the 17th century. Ó Laoí lived in Letterdeskert, just west of Carna,

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

Hy-Brazil

Hy-Brazil Brasil, also known as Hy-Brasil and several other variants, is a phantom island said to lie in the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland. Irish myths described it as cloaked in mist except for one day every seven years, when it becomes visible but ...

is a mythical island said to be found off the west coast of Galway. In an account written in 1684,

Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh Roderick O'Flaherty ( ga, Ruaidhrí Ó Flaithbheartaigh; 1629–1718 or 1716) was an Irish historian. Biography He was born in County Galway and inherited Moycullen Castle and estate. O'Flaherty was the last ''de jure'' Lord of Iar Connacht, a ...

states:

There is now living, Morogh O'Ley, who immagines he was himself personally in O'Brazil for two days and saw out of it the iles of
Aran Aran m Places Azerbaijan Villages and municipalities: * Aran, Aghjabadi * Aran, Lerik * Aran, Shaki * Aran, Tovuz * Aran, Yevlakh Iran * Aran, Alborz, a village in Alborz Province * Aran, Nain, a village in Isfahan Province * Aran, K ...
, Golamhead, Irrosbeghill and other places of the west continent he was acquainted with. The manner of it he relates, that being in Irrosainhagh, in the month of April, Anno Domini 1668, going alone from one village to another, in a melancholy humour, upon some discontent of his wife, he was encountered by two or three strangers, and forcibly carried out by boat into O'Brazil, as such as were within it told him, and they could speak both English and Irish. He was ferried out hoodwink'd, in a boat, as he immagins, till he was left on the sea point by
Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...
; where he lay in a friend's house for some dayes after, being very desperately ill, and knowes not how he came to Galway then. But, byt that means, about seven or eight years after, he began to practise both chirugery and phisick, and so continues ever since to practise, tho' he never stdyed not practised either in his life before, as all we that knew him since he was a boy can averr.

In a version given to John O'Donovan in 1839, Ó Laoí was a member of a ship's crew who landed on the island, and were warned off by a man who told them it was enchanted. As they were leaving, the man gave Ó Laoí a book, telling him not to open it for seven years. Ó Laoí obeyed the instructions, and was able to practise surgery and medicine. O'Donovan was told that Ó Laoí descendants had recently sold the book in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

The Book of Hy-Brazil

However fanciful its given origins, the Book of Hy-Brazil exists. It was written, in

and

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

, in the 15th-century giving lists of diseases, their symptoms and cures under various columns. In his notes to ''Iar-Connacht'',

James Hardiman James Hardiman (1782–1855), also known as Séamus Ó hArgadáin, was a librarian at Queen's College, Galway. Hardiman is best remembered for his '' History of the Town and County of Galway'' (1820) and '' Irish Minstrelsy'' (1831), one of the f ...

supposes that with the loss of the family lands during the Cromwellian era, Murrough invented the Hy-Brazil adventure to establish and set himself up in business, using the old family book.

References

* ''A Chorographical Description of West or H-Iar Connaught'',

, 1684; edited and published by

, 1846. * ''Stones of Aran:Labyrinth'', Tim Robinson, pp. 451–53.

External links

Royal Irish Academy Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:O Laoi, Murrough People from County Galway 17th-century Irish medical doctors Irish-language writers