A Glossary of Terms
found in
Genealogical and Historical Documents
The following terms I have found in a variety of books and documents including dictionaries; there are a great many "Olde Terms" that have fallen from everyday use and many are contained in very good published works but I am not really able to show them here due to copyright so I have referenced the book instead. Where there seems to be no copyright the source is indicated by an alphabetical letter which if clicked will reveal the details of that source.
[Some are more common than others; some are still in use today; some have been included for interest]
[Some descriptions have been truncated due to space restrictions]
| TERM | DEFINITION | SOURCE |
| A | ||
| Abbot | The head of a monastery | B |
| AD | Anno Domini [In the year of our Lord - Equivalent to A.Ch. (After Christ) - easier to write!] | OED |
| Affer | A work-horse for which the term 'Stott' was used at times [QV] | OEL |
| Affeered (Upon Mercy) | The assessment of a fine or penalty at the 'mercy' of the inflictor. (This has no relationship to the word "Affer") | BS |
| Ames-Eames-Hames | The two crooked pieces of wood which encompass a horse collar | DB |
| Aram-Arum | A plant also know as Cuckoo Pint or Wake Robin. Grows in bushy places, the juice is very acrid, the root affords a nutritious bread-making flour | DW |
| Arengo-Eryngo | A plant that grows in sand on the sea shore | DW |
| Antre | Cave | A |
| Armigers | Squires, strictly those entitled to coats-of-arms | A |
| Attainder | This was an act of Parliament, registering somebody's conviction for treason and declaring all his property forfeit to the King and his Blood 'corrupted' only in 1539 did they come to be used in lieu of trials. | EUT |
| AM | 1. Ante Meridian [Before Midday] 2. Anno Mundi [In the year of the World] | OED |
| Augustinian | These monasteries appeared in England c.1100, following the Rule of St Augustine of Hippo (Not to be confused with the monk who landed in Kent in 597) | B |
| B | ||
| Badger | Besides being the name for an animal, it also meant in the 17th century from "The Book of Orders" - One who bought victuals in one place and transported them to another for sale. | PRO |
| Badgery | The Somerset pronunciation or Badgworth | A |
| Bailey | An open space surrounding the motte of a Norman Castle | B |
| Balks | Banks of rough grass that separated the selions | B |
| Bare-serks | Fighting Norsemen who fought without the warshirt in blazing-eyed fury. Hence "Going Berserk" | B |
| Barton | The domain of a manor; the manor itself and sometimes the outhouses | DN |
| Bastard | Properly the base child of a father of gentle or noble birth, but more generally, any illegitimate child | S |
| BCE | Before the Common Era - Equivalent to BC | OED |
| Beastgate | A right of pasturage in a field | OED |
| Benedictine | The oldest Order in England of the Black Monks | B |
| Bennett | An African fish about 2ft long also a woodland plant which roots are used in ale for flavour. | DN DW |
| Bent of it, The | Experiment with a stick and note the "Bent of it, at the tickle of air and water" | A |
| Bermanii | Wine porters who carried the wine from ship to shore and vice versa | B |
| Black Friars | Another name for Dominicans | B |
| Bocland | Bigger grants of land to the church or powerful thegns, known as such because the details were written down in a "boc" or book | B |
| Boat of either foot | Snow Shoes | A |
| Bordar | A cottager | B |
| Box the Compass | Blow from every point or take a heading and replace the protective cover | A |
| Boonwork | Work on the lord's land | B |
| Boors | Probably the highest class of farm labourers employed on the estate. [Eyton, "Domesday Studies"] | MEN |
| Bower | Sleeping room or separate hut | B |
| Breast Plough | A turf cutting spade having a cross-piece against which the breast is pressed. | A |
| Burghs | Danish forts around which settlements grew; strongpoint or fortified town | B |
| Burgheristh | Interpreted by some as equivalent to Burghbeech or Burglary in the Borough - Variant of Burgright? | DUM |
| Burnett | A hard somewhat woody plant about two feet high | DW |
| Byll | A bill which is a kind of spear on a wooden shaft | BB |
| C | ||
| Caddis-Worm | May-fly larva; lives in brooks and forms a sheath, open at both ends of bits of wood & stone etc,. | A |
| Capias [1] | A recipe for herbs for force-meat. (This maybe a misspelling?) | A |
| Capias [2] | A writ directed to the sheriff to arrest a person. | BS |
| Carthisian | An Order of Monks following the Benedictine Order but lived quite different lives | B |
| Cantle | A piece of anything, such as a "cantle of bread, cheese Etc;" | DB |
| Cantor | A monk responsible for the singing and the choir, and with the Librarian, looked after the books and gospels | B |
| Cards | Sham fronts of white cardboard, once common. | A |
| Carolus | Coin of Charles I | A |
| Carmelites | An order emanating from Our Lady of Mount Carmel | B |
| Celery Haulm | Celery Stick or pick haulm, a pick shaft - (A.-S. Healm) | A |
| Cellarer | Another term for Kitchener | B |
| Certain Diamonds | There are black diamonds. [Black Diamonds also refer to coal] | A |
| Chimney Place | A great open fire place where a tree trunk could be placed so as to allow its butt end to smoulder if kept fuelled with turf. | A |
| Chantry | A chapel usually added to a church by some rich person who paid for its construction and the priests to pray daily for his soul and those of his family. The building may or may not have been attached to the body of the church | B |
| Chattel | Possession, a thing belonging to a house or farm. (A plough was such as was a serf) | |
| Chine | Crest, Ridge or Backbone | A |
| Chivaler | Gentleman, Horseman, Knight | OEL |
| Cistercian | An Order of monks founded by Stephen Harding of Dorset and St Bernard at Citeaux in France | B |
| Clack | An instrument in a corn mill that strikes the hopper to promote the running of the corn [Clacker] | DN Z |
| Claus Rolls | A variant of 'Close Rolls' of 1310 - documents that record land transfer | OEL |
| Clinker Built | A method of ship building with probable Norwegian origins | B |
| Clough | A cleft in a hill, a cliff. Also used as a surname | DN Z |
| Cottager | He who held less land than a villein and also gave service instead of paying rent | B |
| Clove | Handful; to set up circulation against frostbite. | A |
| Cluniac | A stricter order than the Benedictine founded at Cluny, France in AD 910 | B |
| Cob-Wall | Built of a mixture of clay & straw | A |
| Cocket | A tax receipt from the payment of tonnage | B |
| Colter | The cutting iron of a plough | DN |
| Combed | Turned into foam as on the crest of a wave | A |
| Common Chest | In which the town documents, the official weights & measures, the horn and Mayoral Rod were kept | B |
| Common Weigher | The Mayor who kept the measures at his home | B |
| Commoner | A servant of the Dean and Chapter of a see or diocese | SN |
| Copyholders | Full-villeins who held land which rights and duties were copied down on the Court Roll of the Manor House | B |
| Corrody | An early form of "State Pension" where a person paid a sum of money (usually about ten marks) to the monastery so that the person could be looked after when they became a "Decayed Person" | B |
| Costard | A sort of apple hence the term "Costard Monger or Costermonger" seller of apples & other fruit | DB DN |
| Cote | A small animal or bird shelter | C |
| Cottars/Cotters | Those who merely had a garden round their cottage and perhaps a few acres in the field also, but inferior to Villeins | B |
| Coulthard-Coulter | A plough share | DB-MEN |
| Cove | Slope Gently | A |
| Crick | Sharp pain caused by movement [What I get!!] | A |
| Crimping | Slashing the flesh of the shoulders supposed to make it tender; often done to cod. | A |
| Crockards | Thin coins used to pay the cockets | B |
| Customs | Landmarks | A |
| D | ||
| Day-Math/Mathe | A Cheshire term for approximately twice a statute acre, or a day's mowing for one man. | LHE |
| Day-Work | In some areas in Yorks, Lancs and Lincs, 3 roods of land. | LHE |
| de Banco Regale | King's Bench Court - One of the major royal courts of justice | OEL |
| de Restitutione | Writ restoring anything unjustly taken from another | BS |
| Decayed Person | One who was elderly and no longer worked [Pensioner] | B |
| Deforciants | Defendants, persons accused or responding to a civil case | OEL |
| Danegeld | A heavy tax exacted by Ethelred the Redless (979) on his subjects. | B |
| Demesne | The lord's farm - land devoted to the lord's profit worked by peasants as part of their obligations. Added to at the time of the Enclosures from strips | B |
| Derrick | A crane also in use as a contraction of Theodoric | DB DN |
| Dessert of Dinner | Fond of dining - (Fr. Desservir - to clear the table) | A |
| Di'S. off arr | Two sheaves of arrows | BB |
| Dibble | A pointed gardening tool for making holes for planting | DN |
| Dibbler | One who uses a Dibble | Z |
| Dill | A plant resembling fennel but smaller | DN |
| Dissiezed | Dispossessed | OEL |
| Dock Leaf | A good remedy and very cooling. Used to combat nettle stings | A-Z |
| Dogs | Horizontal iron bars to support burning wood | A |
| Dominicans | An order founded by St Dominic, a Spaniard also called Black Friars or Preaching Friars | B |
| Doom | Judgement given by the elders at a Moot (Meeting Place) | B |
| Dry Stone Wall | A wall built of stone without mortar | A |
| E | ||
| Ealdorman | An Earl who ruled large districts - Saxon Noble | B |
| Ells | A unit of measurement used in the cloth trade, the English Ell is 1 1/4 Yards | A |
| Enclosure | Strips of land fenced off by some lords and tenants, to make one "Enclosure" - started just after the Peasant's Revolt so as keep sheep or farm as they liked. | B |
| Enfeeof | Put in possession of a (major) property | OEL |
| Essoins | Excuse for non-attendance at court | OEL |
| Evil | Said to mean a Halter? | MEN |
| Exigent (Upon) | A writ to summon the (absent) defendant to appear on pain of outlawry. | |
| F | ||
| Farundelle | A farundell was a quarter acre, i.e. a rood (the first part is a corruption of 'farthing', ie a fourth-ing, the second part is 'deal', i.e. a share). The following is from the OED entry for 'farthingdeal': <http://dictionary.oed.com/help/bib/oed2-r.html#recorde> | OEL |
| Farrow | A cow that ceased being able to calve (Southern Variant "Verrigge") | OED |
| Fealty | An oath sworn by less important tenants and Villeins who promised to be faithful and true and to perform all the proper customs and duties. | B |
| Feoffment | A document transferring the ownership of land held in fee simple. (Probably freehold land or a manor?) | OEL |
| Flux | Matter overflowing. A substance used in metal working to clean it ready for welding | A-Z |
| Flicks-Flux | Any substance or mixture used to promote the fusion of metals or minerals | DN |
| Fodder-Fudder | Cattle Feed. (Also known as a cartload of cattle feed) | OED |
| Fogge or Fogger | An agricultural labourer employed in the feeding and tending of cattle | OED |
| Folk-land | Plough shared more or less between freemen or villagers where the English had rights of pasture and the taking of a fat hare or a deer from time to time | B |
| Fond | Foolish, soft | A |
| Foreskin of the sea | The shore ice | A |
| Forss-Force | An old Norwegian road signifying rush of water or cascade. Used in Westmoreland & Yorkshire | D |
| Freeman | A man owning or holding land for rent. He served in the fyrd and was free to go where he wished, though his rights became fewer. | |
| Freeth-Frith-Vreath | A West Somerset word and Welsh term for a hedge, especially a wattled hedge. Could also mean a gap in hedge filled with wattle. | OEL NQ v5-1897 p.358 |
| Full-villeins | The holder of a yardland which was the total number of his strips in the fields, which might add up to anything from fifteen to thirty acres, according to local custom. Some were also freemen paying a rent in corn for their land whilst others were copy-holders | B |
| Furze Hucks | Stems left of burnt furze clumps in the spring | A |
| Fyrd | Anglo Saxon militia | B |
| G | ||
| Gebur | Ranking below a churl he was peasant who came to be called a villein usually held about 30 acres of land in return for 2 days work a week, various gifts and favours | B |
| Gilbertines | An Order founded by Gilbert a Lincolnshire priest for nuns and monks together, but with separate cloisters. | B |
| Glatting | A local "Sport" in the Watchet/Kilve area of Somerset when villagers armed with stakes and accompanied by dogs, hunted the huge conger eels that came to the sea shore each autumn. | COS |
| Glazing of Twilight | As of a darkening window | A |
| Glebe Land | Strips in the field belonging to the village priest and worked for him by the villagers | B |
| Gleed-Glede | A bird of the rapacious kind, the kite, or species of falco | DN |
| Gleeman | Musician | B |
| Gliddery | Slippery | A |
| Good Folk | Smugglers | A |
| Goose Grease | Fat retained from roasted geese and used as an ointment medicinally, usually on the chest and covered with brown paper | A-Z |
| Gores | One of many meaning a small field or enclosure. At the entrance to the Parret estuary of Bridgwater Bay, there is a long stretch of shifting sand and silt named "The Gore". | OEL |
| Gossips | A long obsolete word derived from 'god -sibs' or god relations meaning godparents. Last seen in use c.1790. | E |
| Grey Friars | Barefoot followers of St Francis of Assisi who in 1224 landed in England | B |
| Grisly | Death-Like | A |
| Groat | A coin equal in value to 4d. | B |
| H | OED | |
| Half-villeins | Holders of half a yardland | B |
| Harnise | Armour | |
| Her | Pronounced 'er or 'ur - Somerset dialect referring to something or someone | A-Z |
| Heriot | A fee due from a villein's widow on his death to the lord. | B |
| Hide | An amount of land measuring about 120 acres | B |
| Her Stook Thee | He or her struck/strike you | A |
| Holm | A sort of oak tree. The evergreen oak, the ilex [Other definitions exist but are more common] | DB DN |
| Hollyoake Hollyock | A kind of garden mallows | DN |
| Homage | This was paid by powerful tenants to their overlord by kneeling down with both hands between those of the lord saying "I become your man from this day forward, for life and limb and earthly worship, and unto you shall be true and faithful for the tenements [lands] that I hold of you - saving the faith that I hold to the King" | B |
| Hornblow | Three blasts blown by the Town Sergeant on an ancient brazen horn to summon the freemen of the town to a meeting | B |
| Horsegate | A right of pasturage in a field | OED |
| Hospitaller | Another term for Guest-Master | B |
| Hue and Cry | The chase after a thief in which every honest man must join | B |
| Hurst | A little wood or thicket of trees | DB |
| Hyrst | Anglo Saxon for wood | DLBA |
| Hyur a bee ees fai | Here he is, indeed | A |
| I | ||
| Implead | To raise an action against the person(s) charged; probably active not passive. | BS |
| J | ||
| Jacobus | Coin of James I | A |
| Jurats | The Mayor and Councillors of the town | B |
| K | ||
| Keep | A stark tower built on the top of the motte of a Norman Castle | B |
| Kiver | A slope sided wooden oblong container used for raising dough or sometimes storing milk ready for cheese making | E |
| L | ||
| Landyard | A Rod, Pole or Perch measuring 5 1/2 yards | A |
| Lawdays | Any days of open court | DB |
| Lawed | A dog belonging to a man whose home was within the boundaries of a Royal Forest, had to have his dog "Lawed" by having three talons from one front paw removed so that he was not able to take part in a hunt chase | B |
| Layfee | Belonging to - in relationship to the church stipend | SN |
| Lea | Fallow ground that lies untilled | DN |
| Leat | Trench or ditch | F C |
| Liefer | Rather | A |
| Linhay (Linney) | A cattle shed where cows are generally brought to for milking | A |
| Louver | A hole in the roof of a house with a raised cover from where the smoke of the central fire could escape | B |
| M | ||
| Maletote | A Bad Tax | B |
| Malt[e] Hutch | A storage box with a 'V' shaped lid used to store malt. | OEL |
| Man Whop | Another term for a sidesman in larger churches | E |
| Manumission | A document which granted freedom to a serf | B |
| Mark | A coin equal in value to 13s. 4d. | B |
| Master of Novices | The monk who was in charge of the teaching and behaviour of boys studying to become brothers | B |
| Mathe or Math | A term found used mainly in Herefordshire as a land measure of about 1 acre or the amount of land that one man could mow in one day. | LHE |
| Mattock | A tool used for grubbing out roots of trees and weeding | DB |
| Maun | A basket or hamper; 40 lbs | A |
| Maundrell-Mandril | A fierce and powerful African baboon | DB |
| Mead | A country drink fermented from honey and water | B Z |
| Merchet | A fee due to the lord from a villein's widow when their daughter grew up and wished to marry | B |
| Mesne Tenant | A direct tenant of the lord of a manor | OEL |
| Micklegard | A name given by Swedish warriors on their early travels for Constantinople, because it was so big or "Mickle" | B |
| Mickleton Jury | A corruption of Mickle-tourn (Magnus turnus), the jury of court leets. These leets were visited Easter and Michaelmas by the county sheriffs in their tourns. {Sheriff's Circuit) | DPF |
| Missel Thrush | Storm Cock | A |
| Mixin | Farmyard Midden [Probably the mix of cow dung and straw?] | A-Z |
| Moiety | A rather ambiguous and misunderstood description meaning in earlier years half of something, which has since become indicative of part of something, both values were indeterminable unless accompanied by a document that defined the moiety although this event was not too often used. [From the OFrench - moité & the Latin medius for Middle] | DICT OEL |
| Moot | An outdoor meeting place, under a great tree or at an ancient holy stone (Hundred Moot-Shire Moot and Witan Moot the most important of all presided over by the Wise Men or Ealdormen) The Witan elected the King. | B |
| Mortuary | In earlier times was the fee paid to an officiating vicar for burying a person who died within the parish and who had more than £40. | OEL |
| Most Pvid | Must Provide | BB |
| Motte | A mound of earth raised by forced labour as the central part of a Norman Castle | B |
| Mother Meldrum | A famous Witch | A |
| Mux Me | A form of omen casting; Bad luck to it; may originally be "Mucks Me" | A |
| N | ||
| Noble | A coin equal in value to half a mark which is 6s. 8d. | B |
| Nothus | Another name for bastard, but understood by usage to be "of a known man" meaning Dad was a gent or rich and could apply pressure not to have his name recorded as the father. | E |
| Novice | An apprentice monk who in early times were the sons of wealthy fathers | B |
| O | ||
| Oblivions | Shortcomings | A |
| Of the House & Chambers | Boarders; Between whom and the town boys there was very often jealousy and open strife | A |
| Only a Woman | Formerly courtesy titles had only a limited use, a yeoman and his wife were, strictly speaking, of rank and the next below that of the gentry. | A |
| Ooze-Weed | A slimy greenish weed found on the rocky beds of swift running streams | A |
| Ouzel | The Water Ouzel or Dipper; sometimes the Blackbird is called this | A |
| Outlawed | Put out of the law for contempt in wilfully avoiding the execution of the process of the court, issued by the sheriff over five successive court sessions. | BS |
| Ovens | Hollows under bushes often made by rabbits | A |
| Oxgang | As much land as one Ox can plough in one year (App. 10 to 18 Acres) | OED |
| P | ||
| Palmer | A pilgrim or crusader | DN |
| Pollards | Clipped coins used to pay the cokets | B |
| Patin/Patina | A Plate [Latin] | A |
| Paynter-Painter | A rope at the end of a boat | DN |
| Peculier | 'Peculiars' were those places in the diocese which for historical reasons were exempt from the bishop's jurisdiction. Records of the various peculiars date only from 1662. | SRO |
| Peydells | One version of many meaning a small field or enclosure, mainly in Berkshire. | OEL |
| Pightle | One version of many, meaning a small field or enclosure, mainly in Berkshire. | OEL |
| Pinfold | A place to pen up cattle | DB |
| Plough Team | Corresponded to about 120 acres. | MEN |
| Pixie Ring | Darker patches of grass rings often seen in pasture land, caused by fungus growths; Fairy Rings | A |
| Plōg | Pronounced 'plōh' - What a yoke of oxen could plough in a day; a ploughland. | |
| Poll | Describes a tax levied during the reign of Richard II on every "Head or Poll" which sparked a revolt led by John Ball a poor priest. | B |
| Poor-Priest | A priest appointed to the local monastery at a lower salary than that of the village priest | B |
| Pop-Weed | Bladderwort, a plant bearing tiny floating bladders | A |
| Portreeve | Appointed by the Prior to look after the monks' interests and property at a port | B |
| Pot Walloners | When Taunton Somerset, chose two Members of Parliament in the 18th century, their way of choosing was by those who they call "pot-walloners," that is to say, every inhabitant, whether house-keeper or lodger, that dressed their own victuals; to make out which, several inmates, or lodgers, will, sometime before the election, bring out their pots, and make fires in the street, and boil their victuals in the sight of their neighbours, that their votes may not be called in question.
| De |
| Powdering Tub | A container used for powdering meat joints to be turned into Bacon for salting for example. | |
| Preaching Friars | Another name for Dominicans | B |
| Presentation | A presentation is a written request from the patron of a living to the bishop to institute a priest to a vacant benefice, prebend, or other preferment. | SRO |
| Prior | The Abbott's assistant | B |
| Punnett | A small shallow basket for holding fruit or flowers | DN |
| Pyer | Pronounced "Puyer" is a hand rail across a wooden bridge | SA1 |
| Q | ||
| Quarrington | A very fine early sort of apple | DB |
| R | ||
| Rabbit Cleve | A steep bank honeycombed by rabbit holes | A |
| Raived | Mocked | A |
| Ranger | An officer who walked daily through the forest or park and present trespasses done in his Bailiwick at the Forest Court. | DB |
| Ray Balling | A Somersetshire expression when catching eels from small ponds, with worms stringed to form a ball and the string attached to a withy pole. | PW |
| Red Cross | A boundary or property marker | A |
| Refectorian | The monk who was in charge of the dining room | B |
| Rhine or Rhyne | A name peculiar to Somerset for the drainage ditches dug in early times to drain the Somerset Levels analogous to its German equivalent The Rhine, now a Somerset and West Country term for a dividing stream (rhin; rine) | JSH |
| Right of Common | The right to pasturage on the common land for one's animals | A |
| Roar | Un-controlled weeping | A |
| Roared | Un-controlled laughter | A |
| Roo-Rue | Common meadow rue; grows in wet meadows and near rivers and ditches | DW |
| S | ||
| Sacristan | The monk who looked after the church building, its holy vessels and ornaments | B |
| Sallett | Helmet | BB |
| Saw Pits | Holes dug so that a man can stand upright to work one end of the saw with another at the other end standing above him to saw the tree lengthways. | A |
| Scammell-Scamilli | Blocks which serve to raise the rest of the members of any pillar of stone | DB |
| Scutage | A payment exacted by a feudal lord from his vassal in place of military service | |
| Selions | Narrow divisions of a field separated by balks | B |
| Seized of his own right | A Property Freeholder | A |
| Serfs | Mere slaves, the property of the landlord, but not belonging to the manor. | MEN |
| Shackell-Shackle | Manacles for malefactors in prison | DB |
| Shaw | A tuft of trees which encompasses a close shade | DB |
| Sheppy | Sheep Cote | A |
| Shieling | A area of rough pasture or a temporary hut erected in such a pasture for the summer | OEL |
| Siesin | Formal Possession | OEL |
| Sidebalk | Balks running parallel to selions. | |
| Single-Stick | Fencing with stick or cudgel held in one hand. Contrast with the quarter-staff | A |
| Skeeling | Farm description for an outhouse or maybe part of a barn, used in Sussex - also the top room of a house such as a garret. | OEL |
| Slade | A long flat piece or slip of ground or a little dell or valley. One at Burnham Somerset is named "Maddox Slade" [Old Saxon] | DB DN |
| Sledder | Runners on which to mount Carts from dragging when wheels were likely to be bogged down | A-Z |
| Soft Cordial | Gin! | A |
| Span | A rope made of horse hair used to tie a cows legs just above the hoof when being milked | OWN |
| Spiets/Splents | Small pieces of armour that protect the arms | BB |
| Spurge | A plant that grows in shady places near Bath, Somerset | DW |
| Stallage | Rent paid by a market stall-holder | B |
| Stert-Sturk | A young ox or heifer. Also the name of places, one in particular is Stert in Somerset another in Wiltshire | DB Z |
| Stook | A shock of corn of 12 sheaves. [Placed so to dry out the corn before threshing] | DB Z |
| Stot | Various spellings exist -Stott-Stotte-Stoote-Stote means: 1. A young castrated Ox. or a Steer or Heifer; 2. A Bullock in Yorkshire and at one time was a plough-horse, mostly male. [See also Affer] | OEL |
| Stickle | The current below a waterfall | A |
| Sub-Prior | The Prior's assistant | B |
| Swaffiled-Swath Field | Grass or corn as it is laid in rows by the mower from the scythe | DB |
| Syled Bedde | Bed with a canopy similar to a four-poster. | OEL |
| T | ||
| Tansy | A plant that grows on the border of fields and by-roads. Yellow flowers | DW |
| Tenant in Capite | Often used instead of Tenant in Chief, means one holding his [or her] land by feudal tenure directly from the King | |
| Thegns/Thane | A title given before the Norman Conquest to the "Upper Class" landowners and local leaders in peace and war. Saxon Noble owning at least 4 hides of land | B |
| Theows | Another name for a Serf | B |
| Thic | This | A |
| Thiccy | That | A |
| Thralls | Another name for a Serf | B |
| Thriftless | Useless | A |
| Tithe | One-tenth of the corn, various gifts and Church dues for burials and marriages given to the village priest | B |
| Tithing | A group of ten men over the age of twelve. This was mandatory, each group being responsible for the good behaviour of each of its member. | B |
| Tilt | A ships tent-like awning, slung over a beam to make a crude temporary cabin, probably of Norwegian origin | B |
| Toft | Homestead or homestead and its arable land | F C |
| Tranter | A hawker of fish | DN |
| Traversed | A legal device by which pleading not guilty to an indictment has the effect of postponing the case to the next court. | BS |
| Trenchard-Trencher | A sort of wooden plate to eat victuals from | DB |
| Trone | Used for weighing wool as it came off a ship | B |
| Troneage | Measurement of wool on the quayside | B |
| Turn of the Days | Twelve hours of daylight | A |
| Twitt | A Somerset dialect expression which means "Tease" [an' twitt en] - and tease him or her. | |
| Tyburn Ticket | This was an incentive in the form of a certificate of life exemption from any kind of parish office, given to those who gave evidence of a felony that secured a conviction of such felony. | SN |
| U | ||
| Unkid | Weird or Ghostly | A |
| Up Country | Referring to London [From the West Country of course!] | A |
| Upright Men | Freemen born with the town | B |
| Ut dixit mater ejus | A phrase entered in early parish registers at baptisms of children born out of wedlock. "As his/her mother said" | OEL |
| V | ||
| Vassals | Tenants-in-Chief such as Barons, Bishops & Abbots | B |
| Villeins | Highest of the classes with no sort of freedom; but they had land and chattels of their own. | MEN |
| Virgate | A land measurement of about 30 acres | B |
| Visitations | Visitation was the process by which the bishop and his associates periodically sought to enforce ecclesiastical discipline in the diocese among both clergy and laity. Transcripts of the registers were also taken at these visits | SRO |
| W | ||
| Wad | A stopple of paper, straw, old clouts etc., which is forced down a gun barrel upon powder. | DB |
| Wadd | An earthy oxide of manganese | DN |
| Wainscot | Thin wooden panels lining the walls of rooms | B |
| Warrens | Men who were allowed the privilege of killing hares, rabbits, foxes, badgers and wild cats because they could take food from the deer. | B |
| Wash-Up | The Scullery | A |
| Welted | Ropy or Stringy | A |
| Wer-gild | A fixed fine meaning "Life-Price" exacted for injury caused by one upon another, variable according to the type of injury. "If an ear be struck off - twelve shillings" or a fine to be paid for murder or injury according to the rank of the victim. | B |
| White Friars | Another name for The Carmelites | B |
| Wind Flower | The Wood Anemone | A |
| Withy | The Osier or Willow tree | A |
| Worth | Saxon for "A Place Enclosed" | MEN |
| X | ||
| Y | ||
| Yeoman | Has been thought of in a variety of contexts and in the Plantagenet period meant a Knight's servant or retainer. The more general definition in genealogical terms is a cultivator of the soil, either freeholders or tenants. Some considered as being farmers. Also applied to officials of the Royal Household and later came into military use. | DG |
| Z | ||
| Zim | Think - but more often means 'seem' | A |
Sources
A - From the glossary of terms used by Richard Dodderidge Blackmore in his book "Lorna Doone" and displayed as part of the "The Doones" research by LB Thornycroft, D.Lit. published by the Cider Press South Moulton 1971.
B - Book 1 [England] "The Medieval Scene" by DJ Unstead - published by A & C Black Ltd 1963
BB - The Book of Bere Regis by FP Pitfield
BS - Bishop Still's Visitation of 1593 and The 'Smale Book' of the Clerk of the Peace 1593-5 (Somerset) [SRS]
C - The New Collins Concise Dictionary - 1985
COS - Curiosities of Somerset by Lornie Leete-Hodge - 1985
D - Surnames of Bath Families or Curiosities of the Post Office Bath Directory 1890 by EC Davey
DB - Bailey, Etymological Dictionary, 1726 - included in 'D' above
DG - The Dictionary of Genealogy, 1985 by Terrick HV Fitzhugh
DW- Withering's British Plants - included in 'D' above
DN- Nutall - included in 'D' above but not further explained
DLBA- Lower's Battle Abbey - included in 'D' above
De - Defoe's travels through the West Country
DICT- Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases by Christopher Corèdon with Ann Williams 3005
DPF - Dictionary of Phrase & Fable by The Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. Late 19th century - twentieth edition.
DUM -Dunmonia and the Valley of the River Parret by the Rev. William Henry Parr Greswell MA., FRGS
EUT - England under The Tudors by G.R. Elton Vol. IV 1965 & 1967 Page 21
E - Eve McLaughlin - Author of McLaughlin Guides for Family Historians - Secretary of Bucks Genealogical Society
F - St Andrews Church Warden's accounts, Burnham-on-Sea Somerset.
G -
JSH - The Place Names of Somerset by The Rev. James S. Hill, B.D. 1914 of Stowey juxta Sutton, Somerset
LHE - The Local Historian's Encyclopaedia John Richardson, Historical Publications, 1974, 1977 reprint
MEN - The Sea-board of Mendip by Franics A. Knight 1902 London - Publishers J.M. Dent & Co.
NQ - Somerset and Dorset Notes & Queries - All Vols.
OED Old English Dictionary - with thanks to Elizabeth Agar emagar@hotkey.net.au and rbrthillier@aol.com
OWN - My own experience of farming when growing up
OEL - Old English Language rootsweb list, definitions provided by its various subscribers
PRO - P.C.2/40, pp. 25-26, PC to JPs, 13 June 1630; QS's orders, SRO, QSOB, 1627/8-1638, Eas. QS 1630, nos. 3-4.
PW- A Somerset Childhood by Phyllis Wyatt published by Pipers' Ash Ltd Chippenham - www.supamasu.com
SANHS - 1. Somerset Archaeological & Natural History Society - Axbridge Branch Vol. I (1898) pp. 33/4
SN - The files and records of Mr Samuel G Nash stored at Burnham reference library Burnham-on-Sea Somerset
SRO - Somerset Record Office [Use the site search facility for the source required]
Z - From my own experience and family memory
Published Works
The Parish Chest by W Tate