Crest Meaning: Campbell

CAMBPELL Here we have a boar’s head and the Latin motto ‘Ne Obliviscaris’, meaning ‘don’t forget’. There are two stories behind this crest.

The boar is a very popular symbol in Scottish heraldry – from all the legends it seems medieval Scotland was plagued with terrible giant boars, who had an especial appetite for kings, who would need to be saved by plucky individuals who were thus handsomely rewarded and came to be the founders of many clans (BAIRD, CHISHOLM, TURNBULL, GORDON, POLLOCK to name a few).The Campbell variant is that Duncan, son of Campbell of Lochow, killed a boar with a stone to the mouth (finishing the poor beastie off with his dirk) near Loch Lomond, Duncan then being rewarded by King James II.

However a more likely origin for the boar is as a reference to the Campbell’s Gaelic designation Clann Diarmaid, a corruption of Clan O' Duine, whom the Campbells had married into to secure the Lordship of Loch Awe. The assumption was that the O’Duines and thus the Campbells were descended from the mythical Diarmid the Boar, or Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, who killed a deadly venomous boar but died after accidentally treading on a poisoned bristle of the corpse – his heel being his only weak spot.

The CAMPBELLs OF BREADALBANE use the same crest, but with the motto ‘Follow Me’, rather than ‘Don’t Forget’.

Campbell of Breadalbane. For Campbell of Cawdor, see here. 

This is our older Carrick version of the Cambell Crest.

MKP 23 September 2020