A Researcher's Guide to Local History Terminology/Abecedary

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

< A Researcher's Guide to Local History Terminology

Jump to: navigation, search

[edit] An Abecedary of Local history terminology

[edit] A Words

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Abecedary - the full alphabet carved in stone in churches, on paper, etc. Generally considered to be teaching aids, particularly to the illiterate. The alphabet may have been thought at that time to posses supernatural powers along the lines of the runic futhork. Each letter would have had a symbolic meaning to the devout. An example from the Church of St Mary of the Grey Friars was found in Dumfries, Scotland, in 1967. ^[1]
Abjure - to renounce under oath; to recant solemnly; repudiate: abjure one's beliefs; to give up an action or practice.
Abstersion - the act of wiping clean; a cleansing; a purging.
Abstracted multure - the title of the offence when tenants failed to bring their corn to the mill of the thirl. They could be sued for this offence.
Accolade - a ceremonial embrace, as of greeting or salutation; the ceremonial bestowal of knighthood.
Acre - the English 'statute acre' is 4840 square yards, the 'Scots acre' was somewhat larger. In medieval times shape mattered more than size. An acre was an oblong shaped portion of land, either straight sided or sinuous, with a length of 220 yards and a width of 22 yards, giving a ratio of 10 : 1. It was variable in size, but was regarded as the area of land that one man could plough in one day.^[2]
Advocate - a person who pleads, intercedes, or speaks for another. It also means a person whose profession is to plead causes in courts of law. This is especially the use in Scotland. In the USA it means any lawyer. To advocate, means to speak in favour of an idea.
Aedicule - the framing of a window or opening by columns topped with a pediment so that it resembles a temple facade in miniature.
Agistment - letting-out of land (including woodland) as grazing for farm animals.
Agnate - Related on or descended from the father's or male side.
Ague - an acute fever. In late Middle English a malarial fever with cold, hot, and sweating stages (at first especially the hot stage, later especially the cold). From the late 16th century could also mean any shivering fit.
Air Vent - any of a wide variety of holes in farm buildings which allow ventilation and prevent crops inside getting damp and mouldy. This can result in quite complex brickwork patterns; very visible and distinctive.
Airey - variant of "area".
Aisle - a side extension to the nave of a church. Churches could be enlarged by having arches pierced through the existing side walls.
Alb - a long white garment worn by priests, etc. under the chasuble.
Alba - the Scottish Gaelic, Welsh language (Yr Alban) and Irish language name for the constituent country of Scotland.
Albion - a Celtic word referring to the whole island of Great Britain.
Alembic - an apparatus consisting of two vessels connected by a tube, formerly used for distilling liquids; a device that purifies or alters by a process comparable to distillation.
All & Haill - 'all and whole'. Found in legal documents.
Allure - the parapet walk on a castle wall, town wall, etc.
Almoner - Christian religious functionaries whose duty was to distribute alms to the poor.
Alms - the charitable donation of money or food to the poor.
Almshouse - a charitable home for those in need. Usually set up or endowed by a wealthy benefactor.
Alquife - an enchanter in the medieval romances of knight-errantry.
Alter ego - another side of oneself; a second self. An intimate friend or a constant companion.
Anathematise - curse or declare to be evil or anathema or threaten with divine punishment.
Animadvert - to remark or comment critically, usually with strong disapproval or censure.
Anima loci - the 'soul' of a place, its essentially personality. A Wicca concept linked to the supernatural spirits of nature as residing in stones, springs, mountains, islands, trees, etc.
Antiburgher - a member of a section of the Secession Church which in 1747 separated from the other party in that Church (the Burghers) on the question of taking the Burgess oath. The two sections were reunited in 1820.
Antediluvian - extremely old and antiquated; occurring or belonging to the era before the Biblical Flood.
Apocrypha - the biblical apocrypha includes texts written in the Jewish and Christian religious traditions that either were accepted into the biblical canon by some, but not all, Christian faiths, or are frequently printed in Bibles despite their non-canonical status.
Apocryphal - a piece of work where the authenticity or authorship is in doubt.
Apogee - the farthest or highest point; the apex.
Apophthegm - a brief wise saying.
Apoplexy - used to describe any sudden death that began with a sudden loss of consciousness, especially one where the victim died within a matter of seconds after losing consciousness. Those reading historical documents should take into consideration the possibility that the word "apoplexy" may be used to describe the symptom of sudden loss of consciousness immediately preceding death and not an actual verified disease process. Sudden cardiac deaths, ruptured cerebral aneurysms, certain ruptured aortic aneurysms, and even heart attacks may have been misdiagnosed as apoplexy in the distant past.
Apothecary - a chemist licensed to dispense medicines and drugs.
Appendix - additional or supplementary material generally located at the end of a book or piece of work; article, etc.
Apse - a usually semicircular or polygonal, often vaulted recess, especially the termination of the sanctuary end of a church.
Arable - land which is ploughed or suitable for ploughing for growing crops.
Archive - a place in which historical documents and other records are preserved. Usually operated by large organizations, they may or may not be open to the public.
Area (architecture) - a basement level light well in front of Georgian period houses.
Aries - earnest-money, a gift.
Armiger - a person entitled to use a heraldic coat of arms. Such a person is said to be Armigerous.
Armorial - relating to heraldry or coats of arms.
Artificer - a craftsman.
Ashlar - dressed stone work of any type of stone. Ashlar blocks are large rectangular blocks of masonry sculpted to have square edges and even faces.
Asperity - roughness or harshness, as of surface, sound, manner or climate; severity or rigor. A slight projection from a surface; a point or bump.
Assart - private farmland formed out of part of a wood, common or forest.^[3]
Assignation - to legally make over property, etc (Legal).
Asylum - Latin from Greek for refuge. It entered English with the special meaning of a place of safety where criminals or political dissidents could escape the law. By the early 18th century it had its general meaning of a place of refuge, being applied to institutions by the mid 18th century. Through into the mid 19th century or later, however, there were other asylums than lunatic asylums, "orphan asylums" for example.
Astricted - thirled or bonded to a particular mill (Legal).
Atavism - a science word, coined from Latin for "beyond one's grandfather", meaning a reversion of animals (including humans) or plants to an ancestral type. Word coined by Antoine Nicolas Duchesne (1747-1827) in relation to strawberries (about 1766) as in degeneration theory.
Athame - a ceremonial black-handled knife, one of several magical tools used in Wicca; other forms of modern witchcraft have since adopted the term for various ritual knives. It is variously pronounced /ˈæ.θə.meɪ/, /ə.ˈθeɪ.miː/, etc.
Auchan - also 'Auchen' - a variety of Pear (Scots). Old Auchans near Dundonald is famous for it's own variety of pear.
Auchen - a field made from cleared woodland. A Scots term frequently found as a place name component.
Aught - also 'Ought' - anything at all.
Augur - one of a group of ancient Roman religious officials who foretold events by observing and interpreting signs and omens; a seer or prophet; a soothsayer.
Aumbrey - also Aumbry. A wall recess; sometimes as a cupboard for food. Often found in churches, chapels, etc. for keeping the sacramental vessels, etc.
Aureole - a halo or circle of light or enclosed area, especially around the head or body of a portrayed religious figure.
Autographed - any document carrying the signature of the person who wrote it.
Autographed letter - a letter which is handwritten.
Aw - a flat-board of an undershot water-wheel.

[edit] B Words

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Bailey - the courtyard or courtyards that existed around a motte.
Bailliary - the office or authority of a baillie.
Baillie - a local official. Equivalent to an Alderman. A Baron's deputy in the context of a Barony. Also became a personal name, such as William Baillie who was a prisoner after the Battle of Durham in the 14th-century. He was the Baillie of Lambroughton in North Ayrshire.
Bal - noise; uproar; merriment (Scots).
Ballista - a siege engine which fired smaller stones, heavy arrows and iron bolts. Tensile power was supplied by twisting ropes with windlasses.^[4]
Bannock - in the context of Mills, a payment to a servant amounting to a handful of meal, in addition to that given as knaveship. Also a type of Scottish or Manx bread.
Banshee - from the Irish Gaelic bean sí ("woman of the sídhe" or "woman of the fairy mounds") is a female spirit in Irish mythology, usually seen as an omen of death and a messenger from the Otherworld. Her Scottish counterpart is the Bean Nighe ("washer-woman").^[5]
Barbican - a forward defensible structure jutting out or set in front of the main part of a castle's defences or walls. In many cases the barbican formed part of the castle gatehouse complex
Barmikan - also Barmkin. Originally a livestock enclosure, later a legal term for the walls of the inner or outer court or close of a castle, place, etc.a term used in Scotland to cover the various walled courtyards, service yards, walled gardens and orchards that spread in every direction from a house.^[6]
Barn - a building designed for threshing and storing corn.
Baron baillie - a Baillie of a barony court (Scots).
Barony - lands held directly from the crown.
Barr - mountain grazing attached to a specific lowland area. (Gaelic).
Bartizan also 'Bartisan' - a small, overhanging turret on a wall or tower, especially of a castle.
Bastard - an illegitimate child. Indicated by the 'bend' sinister on armorial bearings.
Bastle house - found along the Anglo-Scottish border, in the areas formerly plagued by border reivers. They are farmhouses, characterised by elaborate security measures against border raids.
Bavardage - much talking; prattle; chatter.
Baxter - a baker.
Bearherd - a man who tends a bear.
Bearward - a keeper of bears.
Beck - a name for a small stream, especially in Cumbria.
Bedizen - to ornament or dress in a showy or gaudy manner.
Bedlam - Bethlehem was shortened to Bedleem and Bedlem in Middle English. The hospital was nicknamed Bedlam from early on. From the early 16th century, bedlam also came to mean `mad'. Shakespeare, in Henry 6th, speaks of "the bedlam brain-sick duchess" (1590s?). This use lasted to the early 18th century, but the late 16th century was already using bedlamite.
Bed-stone - the lower of a pair of grindstones, with the rind passing though it. It is the one that remains stationary.
Bee Bole - an alcove or space in which a Skep for bees is kept to provide shelter. *Beehive - an artificial home for bees. The 'Stewarton Hive' was the first that did not require the killing of the bees in order to extract the honey.
Beeves - also Beefs, meaning cattle or a herd of cows. Common usage in 19th century writings.
Beget - to father or sire; to cause to exist or occur.
Belfry - a mobile siege tower which could be wheeled up to the walls of a castle etc. Wet hides could be hung on it to prevent fire and they had small drawbridges to allow besiegers to access the top of the walls.^[7]
Beltane - an ancient Gaelic holiday celebrated around May 1. Historically celebrated in Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man. Similar festivals were held at the same time in the other Celtic countries of Wales, Brittany and Cornwall.
Belvedere - also Belvidere, a small round copse on a hill or knoll as part of the scenic layout of formal gardens on an estate.
Benighted - overtaken by darkness, as used in Sir Walter Scott's Guy Mannering. Also intellectually or morally ignorant.
Benitier - a stoup for holy water in a chapel, church, etc.^[8]
Bequeath - a term appearing in a will meaning to leave or give property as specified therein to another person or organization (Legal).
Bere - also 'Bear' - the primitive indigenous form of one-sided barley. It gave a good yield on poor soils and its straw, used for thatching, was long and strong (Scots).
Beshrew - to curse; invoke evil upon.
Bestow - to present as a gift or an honor; confer; too apply or use; to place or stow or to store or house.
Bibliophile - a lover of books.
Bicket - a pocket, as in place names, e.g. Bickethall (Scots).
Biggin - a building. A general term used in Scotland, Cumbria and elsewhere in England.
Billet - a piece of wood cut for use as fuel and often of a standard size.^[9]
Binding - in books terms this is the cover of the book.
Blackhouse - a traditional house which used to be common in Highland Scotland, the Hebrides & Ireland. Generally built with double wall dry-stone walls packed with earth and wooden rafters covered with turf or reed thatch. The floor was generally flagstones or packed earth and there was a central hearth for the fire. There was no chimney (Gaelic).
Blair - a plain (Gaelic).
Blazon - a formal description of a coat of arms or flag, which enables a person to construct or reconstruct the appropriate image. A coat of arms or flag is therefore not primarily defined by a picture, but rather by the wording of its blazon. Blazon also refers to the specialized language in which a blazon is written, and, as a verb, to the act of writing such a description.
Bleachfield - a bleaching works with its adjacent drying-ground. Now generally as a survival in place-names (Scots).
Blench duty or Blanch - a 'Blench Holding' is by a nominal payment by the feu holder , as of a penny Scots, or a red rose, often only to be rendered upon demand to the superior.
Block Book - a book printed from wooden blocks in which each page, both words and pictures, is carved from a single piece of wood and cannot be rearranged for subsequent use; a technique mainly employed in the mid-fifteenth century.^[10]
Bloody - it may be derived from the phrase "by Our Lady", a sacrilegious invocation of the Virgin Mary. The abbreviated form "By'r Lady" is common in Shakespeare's plays around the turn of the 17th century, and interestingly Jonathan Swift about 100 years later writes both "it grows by'r Lady cold" and "it was bloody hot walking to-day" suggesting that a transition from one to the other could have been under way.
Blout - also 'Bloak' - an upwelling of water, a spring or a wet, damp place (Scots).
Bodger - itinerant chair leg makers, who in places like Chinnor in England, would camp in the woods in the summer months in days gone by.
Bogle - the Scots name for a scarecrow, which is a device (traditionally a mannequin) that is used to discourage birds such as crows from disturbing crops and feeding on recently cast seed.
Boll - also Bow, 'bol', 'boill', 'boall', or 'bowl' - a measure of capacity for grain, malt, salt, etc., or sometimes of weight, varying for different commodities and in different localities (Scots).
Boline - (also Bolline) is a white-handled ritual knife, one of several magical tools used in Wicca. Unlike the Athame, which in most traditions is never used for actual physical cutting, the boline is used for cutting cords and herbs, carving candles, etc.
Bolster - “That part of a mill in which the axletree moves" (Scots).
Bolt - a measure of fabric, stored rolled up in fixed lengths.
Bolter - a device in a mill used for separating the flour or meal from impurities (Scots).
Bond of surety - a written, binding agreement to perform as specified. Many types of bonds have existed for centuries and appear in marriage, land and court records of used by genealogists. Historically, laws required administrators and executors of estates, grooms alone or with others, and guardians of minors to post bonds. It is not unusual to discover that a bondsman was related to someone involved in the action before the court. If a bondsman failed to perform, the court may have demanded payment of a specified sum as a penalty (Legal).
Bonds of Manrent - a form of mutually beneficial bond of allegiance.
Bookplate - a pasted-in sign of ownership of a book. Many of the older bookplates were highly elaborate with engraved coats of arms, family mottoes etc. They are sometimes dated and give useful information of titles, full names, the interests of the owner, etc.
Bordland - also Borlum or Bowland. The terra mensalis or table land tjhat specifically furnished food for the castle table.^[11]
Boor - a serf to which Norman lords often apportioned lands near to their castles, hence 'Boorland'.
Borough - originally a town (built area larger than a village), or one that was fortified, or one that had its own internal government. Later came to mean a town that had its own self-government given to it by charter from the king or queen (a municipal borough) or which sent representative/s to parliament (a parliamentary borough). In 1845 a borough is defined as A borough, town or city corporate having a quarter sessions, recorder and clerk of the peace.
Boss - an Umbo or raised central area on a shield or buckler. Also a carved keystone at rib intersections on a stone or wooden roof. Often highly carved and brightly painted.
Bote - Housebote, Hedgebote, Gatebote, Harrowbote, etc., are the rights of particular tenants or commoners to cut timber or wood from hedges, commons or woods when needed for maintaining buildings and equipment.^[12]
Bothy - a single room for a bachelor farm worker (Scots).
Bour Tree - a Common Elder (Scots); often used as part of a place name, such as Bourtreehill in Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland.
Bovate - a Carucate was sub-divided into bovates (measure of land) (also called Oxgates) and these were based on the area a single oxen could till in a year, they were therefore one eighth of a carucate.
Box Bed - a bed which is boxed in; as found in cot-houses.
Brae - a steep or sloping bank of a river, lake or shore; a steep slope rising from a water (Scots).
Brace - a triangulating piece, usually in a timber frame.
Brachet - a type of hound that hunts by scent; bitch-hound. Also a spoilt child.
Braggart - one given to loud, empty boasting; a bragger.
Brandanes - also Brandini. A collective term for the natives of Arran and Bute, now archaic. Its origin may be in the name of Saint Brendan or in the bold water or spray men.^[13]
Brank - a scold's bridle, consisting of a locking metal mask or head cage that contains a tab that fits in the mouth to inhibit talking. Some have claimed that convicted common scolds had to wear such a device as a preventive or punitive measure.
Brasses - memorials to the dead on tombs. Usually made of latten hammered into sheets and highly ornamented, with the name of the dead person, a portrait, etc.^[14]
Breastshot - a water wheel turned by water hitting it midway up.
Brehon - an Anglicisation of breitheamh (earlier brithem), the Irish word for a judge). The Brehon laws were written in the Old Irish period (ca. 600–900 AD) and are assumed to reflect the traditional laws of pre-Christian Ireland and parts of Scotland. They are associated with the Justice or Moot Hills.
Breike - trousers (Scots).
Breves -
Brigid or Bridget - the midwife of Mary, mother of Jesus. Also a Celtic Goddess as daughter of Dagda, an Irish god. On February 1, Brigid is celebrated at the Gaelic festival of Imbolc, when she brings the first stirrings of spring to the land.
Brisure - a system of marks added to coats of arms in heraldry to distinguish between members of the same family.
Broach spire - a half-pyramid of stone set at each corner of a square tower to shape the spire.
Broadside - a single sheet printe don one side and issued by itself, used for advertisements, ballads, propaganda, etc.^[10]
Broch - an Iron Age circular stone tower, found in the Shetlands and Western coastline of Scotland.^[14]
Brocard - an elementary principle or maximum; a short, proverbial rule, in law, ethics, or metaphysics.
Brock - a badger. Often used in the country. The Old-English name.
Brook - a small stream, also Brooklet.
Brother german - a brother by both the father's and mother's side, in contradistinction to a uterine brother, one by the mother only.
Brownie or Urisk (Lowland Scots) or brùnaidh, ùruisg, or gruagach (Scottish Gaelic) is a legendary kind of creature popular in folklore around Scotland and England (especially the north).
Brythonic - Indo-European languages, such as Welsh belong to the Brythonic branch of Celtic Languages, which includes Breton and Cornish. This branch is also named "P-Celtic". See Goidelic.
Buckler - a small rounded shield held by a handle. The 'Buckler fern' is so named from the resemblance of the 'spore covers' (indusia) to these shields.
Buckram - a heavy linen cloth used in book binding. Buckram is often starched or coated with some form of protective material.
Bulla (plural, Bullae), a lump of clay molded around a cord and stamped with a seal. When dry, the container cannot be violated without visible damage to the bulla, thereby ensuring the contents remain tamper-proof until they reach their destination. Bullae from antiquity appear as a lump surrounding a dangling cord (as with much later wax bullae and Papal bulls made of lead rather than clay) or a flat, disc-shaped lump pressed against a cord surrounding a folded document (such as papyrus or vellum).
Bullaun - the depression in which a free standing rounded boulder sits within a water filled natural cavity. Bullauns are often associated with cursing stones and healing stones.^[15]
Burgher - a member of the Secession Church who upheld the lawfulness of the burgess oath (Scots).
Burgess - a freeman or citizen of an English borough: a member of the English Parliament who once represented a town, borough, or university.
Burin - the tool used by engravers for gouging lines on copper or steel printing plates.^[10]
Burn - a small stream (Scots).
Burr stone (p) - a hard-waring stone, usually from France, used in the construction of millstones. Often made into sections and bound together with iron hoops.
Burthen - a burden.
Bushel - a unit of dry measure/ dry volume, usually subdivided into eight local gallons in the systems of Imperial units. Used for volumes of dry commodities, not liquids, most often in agriculture.
Butt & Ben - Literally 'backwards and forwards'. A dwelling entered by a single shared fore-door with a double partition and doors to the living quarters on one side and the byre on the other. A person sitting in the living area, called the in-seat, would look 'butt to the byre' and someone in the byre would look 'ben' to the living area' (Scots).
Buttery - a bottle store - a service room for liquid foodstuffs.
Buttress - supports for walls, usually made of stone and sometimes crowned with a pinnacle. Flying buttresses are a variant which allowed a more delicate appearance whilst maintaining the strength of the supports.
Butts - targets for archery. Often made from straw and placed on a wooden or basket 'woven' frame; sometimes set against an earthen mound.
Byre - a cowshed or barn (Scots).

[edit] C Words

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Cabriole - a form of furniture leg that curves outward and then narrows downward into an ornamental foot, characteristic of Queen Anne and Chippendale furniture.
Cadency - any systematic way of distinguishing similar coats of arms belonging to members of the same family. Cadency is necessary in heraldic systems in which a given design may be owned by only one person at once. As heraldic designs may be inherited, the arms of members of a family will usually be similar to the arms used by its oldest surviving member (called the "plain coat"). They are formed by adding marks called brisures, similar to charges but smaller. Brisures are generally exempt from the law of tincture.
Cadet - in genealogy, a junior branch of a aristrocratic family.
Cadger - used in Scots as in standard English to mean a traveling hawker (chiefly of fish or Cheese in East Ayrshire ), beggar or carter.
Caitiff - a base or despicable person, a coward.
Callant - a stripling, a lad, a term of affection. Rarely - a girl (Scots).
Calm - Limestone (Scots).
Caltrop - a metal device with four projecting spikes so arranged that when three of the spikes are on the ground, the fourth points upward, used as a hazard to the hooves of horses. The first settlers in the USA even used them against the Native Americans.
Calumny - a false statement maliciously made to injure another's reputation; maliciously false statements; slander.
Cambric - A finely woven white linen or cotton fabric. The etymology is obsolete Flemish kameryk, from Kameryk, Cambrai, a city of northern France. Reference is made to this material in Sir Walter Scott's Kenilworth.^[16]
Camlet - a durable, waterproof cloth, esp. for outerwear or apparel made of this material. Also to decorate (fabric, book edges, etc.) with a colorful, marbled design.
Canon law - the ecclesiastical law of the Roman Catholic Church, is a fully developed legal system, with all the necessary elements: courts, lawyers, judges, a fully articulated legal code and principles of legal interpretation.
Canticle - a song or chant, especially a non-metrical hymn with words taken from a biblical text other than from the Book of Psalms.
Caparisoned - an ornamental covering for a horse or for its saddle or harness; trappings; richly ornamented clothing or finery.
Capital - the top, often ornately carved, of a column.
Capital Messuage - the main messuage of an estate, the house in which the owner of the estate normally lived.
Caponier - a covered passage across a ditch, used militarily as a protected musketeer emplacement. A fine example is to be found at Craignethan castle in Lanarkshire, Scotland.
Carding - the processing of brushing raw or washed fibers to prepare them as textiles.
Carl - also (also see Churl) - large stalks of hemp which bear the seed; - called also carl hemp; kind of food - Caring or carl are seeds steeped in water and fried the next day in butter or fat. They are eaten on the second Sunday before Easter, formerly called Carl Sunday.
Carlin Stone - a witch. the name Carlin was used as a derogatory term for a woman meaning an 'old hag'. It is also said in the context of mythology to be a corruption of the Gaelic word “Cailleach”, meaning the 'old Hag', the Goddess of Winter. Several stones and places in Scotland are known by this name (Scots).
Cart - a strong vehicle with two or four wheels designed for carrying loads and drawn by a horse or horses.
Cartouche or Cartouch - a structure or figure, often in the shape of an oval shield or oblong scroll, used as an architectural or graphic ornament or to bear a design or inscription; an oval or oblong figure in ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that encloses characters expressing the names or epithets of royal or divine personages; a heavy paper cartridge case.
Cartshed - a building for housing carts, waggons, ploughs, harrows and other farm machinery.
Carucage - the tax levied on each carucate of land.
Carucate - a unit of assessment for tax found in most of the Danelaw counties of England. The word derives from caruca, Latin for a plough. It is analogous to the hide, the measurement of land for tax assessment used outside the Danelaw counties. It was used in Scotland where it was equal to 100 Scots acres.^[17]
Carved Stone Balls - tennis ball sized balls with a variable number of protruding knobs. Mostly thought to date from the Late Neolithic and almost always found in Scotland. Their function is unknown.
Casque - a helmet or helmet-like process.
Castellan - the governor or caretaker of a castle or keep. The word stems from the Latin Castellanus, derived from castellum 'castle'. Usually, a castellan combined the duties of both a majordomo (responsible for a castle's domestic staff) and a military administrator (responsible for maintaining defences and protecting the castle's lands). This was particularly the case if there was no lord resident at the castle, or if the resident lord was frequently absent.
Cathedral Close - an enclosure pertaining to a cathedral in which such as staff housing and maintenance facilities are sited.
Caudal - of, at, or near the tail or hind parts; posterior; situated beneath or on the underside; inferior.
Caudel - a warm drink consisting of wine or ale mixed with sugar, eggs, bread, and various spices, sometimes given to ill persons. The etymology is from the Middle English caudel, from Medieval Latin caldellus, from Latin caldum, hot drink, from caldus, calidus, warm, hot.
Causeymaker - a street or lane maker; a layer of cobblestones.
Cautioner - one who acts as surety for another, thereby undertaking to be liable for the default of another, or for his appearance in court, payment of a fine, etc. (Scots).
Cellarium - a storehouse, such as in an abbey.^[18]
Cereal - any plant which produces grain.
Cess - An assessment tax or levy, superseded by rates. In Scotland it originally meant land-tax and it is still frequently used to denote a local tax of any kind.
Chaff - also Bran, the husk of a cereal seed, removed during from the flailed grain by winnowing.
Chaeatabeastie - the mill-dust, mixed with husks and sold as an animal feed. The story of a pig's death from being over fed with milldust is in Dr. Duguid's book (Service 1887).
Chagrin - a keen feeling of mental unease, as of annoyance or embarrassment, caused by failure, disappointment, or a disconcerting event.
Chained library - old libraries in which the books and manuscripts were attached to the bookcases by short chains so as to allow actual reading but detering theft. Hereford Cathedral and the Bodlean still have such libraries.
Chain Lines - the vertical lines seen in a sheet of handmade paper, usually about 2cm apart, which hold the wires in place in paper moulds.^[19]
Chancel - also Sacrarium'pit' or prison cell.^[20] the part of a Christian church near the altar, reserved for the clergy, the choir, etc. They are usually enclosed by a screen or separated from the nave by steps.
Chantry chapel - endowed by rich parishioners, these would have a separate altar where priests would have said prayers for the souls of the benefactor and his family. These were often located in the transepts.
Chapman - chiefly British A peddler. A dealer or merchant.
Chapter-house - the building in an abbey, minster, etc. where the business aspects of the religious community were conducted.^[18]
Charge - any object or figure placed on a heraldic shield or on any other object of an armorial composition. Any object found in nature or technology may appear as a heraldic charge in armory. Charges can be animals, objects, or geometric shapes. Apart from the ordinaries, the most frequent charges are the cross—with its hundreds of variations—and the lion and eagle. Other common animals are stags, boars, martlets, and fish. Dragons, unicorns, griffins, and more exotic monsters appear as charges and as supporters.
Chartulary - a collection of charters.
Chase - Chiefly British. a private game preserve; a tract of privately owned land reserved for, and sometimes stocked with, animals and birds to be hunted. Used as an element in English place names.
Chasuble - a highly decorative cloak worn by a priest over the white undergarment, the alb.
Chateau - a French castle; a French manor house; a large country house.
Chateau reve - a 'castle of dreams'.
Chatelaine - the mistress of a large house; a set of short chains attached to a womans belt.
Chatelet - a gatehouse or other feature built in the form of a miniature chateau.
Cheese-brizer - a cheese press (Scots).
Cheese-stane - a large, heavy stone, worked with a screw, for pressing cheese (Scots).
Chesset - originally the oak wood container banded with iron hoops into which slated curd was placed to press it and shape it (Scots).^[21]An example at Dalgarven Mill, North Ayrshire in Scotland has a thick wooden sides and is perforated at the bottom. It is strengthened with metal hoops.
Chevalier - a member of certain male orders of knighthood or merit, such as the Legion of Honor in France. A French nobleman of the lowest rank. Used as a title for such a nobleman.A chivalrous man.
Chi-Rho - an early Christian symbol or monogram made from the first two Greek letters of Christ's name, X and P.^[22]
Chiromancy - palmistry. Read the palm to determine the future; as practiced by Gypsies, etc.
Chromolithography - a method of printing in colours by the process of lithography.^[19]
Churl - (etymologically the same name as Charles), in its earliest Anglo-Saxon meaning, was simply "a man", but the word soon came to mean "a non-servile peasant", still spelt ceorle, and denoting the lowest rank of freemen. According to the Oxford English Dictionary it later came to mean the opposite of the nobility and royalty, "a common person". Says Chadwick, "from the time of Aethelstan the distinction between thegn and ceorl was the broad line of demarcation between the classes of society." This meaning held through the 15th century, but by then the word had taken on negative overtone, meaning "a country person" and then "a low fellow". By the 19th century, a new and pejorative meaning arose, "one inclined to uncivil or loutish behaviour".
Ci-devant - the French nobility of the ancien régime (the Bourbon monarchy) after it had lost its titles and privileges in the French Revolution. Even prior to the revolution, the tern ci-devant was already a common expression to refer to "people or things dispossessed of their estate or quality
Cist - also Kist a small stone slab-built coffin-like box or ossuary used to hold the bodies of the dead, especially during the Bronze Age in the British Isles and occasionally in Native American burials.
Citadel - a term for a Fortress or Keep.
Clan Crest - the badge worn by a clan member, usually on the arm as a sign of allegiance. The crest of the clan chief is actually his crest and not that of the clan in terms of rightful use.
Clap - the form or lair of a hare or rabbit (Scots).
Clapp & Happer - an expression used in milling, meaning the whole mill - 'The paddles on the water wheel and the grain hoppers' (Scots).
Clare constat - this phrase means it does clearly appear.
Clerestory - the windowed top of a nave in a church. Certain early Victorian railway coaches had a similar top structure and were named clerestory coaches.
Cloister - covered walkways in a cathedral or abbey, set out as a square and used by the monks as a study.
Close-stools - pierced wooden seats with a removable container beneath, used in many country houses before modern plumbing was developed.
Coat of Arms - the heraldic bearings or shield of a person, family or corporation. The presence of a coat of arms on an item usually signified ownership, hence the appearance of coats of arms on buildings, furniture, silverware, coins, etc.
Cobbled - surfaces such as roads and floors covered with small rounded stones or cobbles.
Cocidius - a Brythonic Celtic deity worshipped in northern Britain. The Romans equated him with Mars, god of war and hunting and with Sylvanus, god of forests, groves and wild fields. Like Belatu-Cadros, he was probably worshipped by lower-ranked Roman soldiers as well as Britons.
Cockade - an ornament, such as a rosette or knot of ribbon, usually worn on the hat as a badge. A White Cockade was the badge of the Jacobites.
Codex, Codices - the standard book format, with folded flat sheets stitched along one edge to bind the sheets together,^[19] also an ancient volume of manuscript, such as those surving from the Aztec civilisation.
Codger - an old or strange person. May be derived from 'Cadger'.
Codicil - a supplement or addition to a will; not intended to replace an entire will (Legal).
Codicology - the study of books as physical objects, especially manuscripts written on parchment in codex form. It is often referred to as 'the archaeology of the book', concerning itself with the materials (parchment, sometimes referred to as membrane or vellum, paper, pigments, inks and so on), and techniques used to make books, including their binding.
Cogswounds - an expression meaning God's Wounds, now archaic. A character in Sir Walter Scott's 'Kenilworth' uses this expression. It is an example of a word which has had a consonant altered.
Collateral line - a line of descent connecting persons who share a common ancestor, but are related through an aunt, uncle, cousin, nephew, etc.
Collegiate church - a church served and administered by a college of canons or prebendaries, presided over by a dean or provost. In its governing a collegiate church is similar to a cathedral, although a collegiate church is not the seat of a bishop. Collegiate churches were often supported by (sometimes extensive) lands held by the church. Lincluden at Dumfries in Scotland is an example.
Colophon - an identifying inscription or emblem from a printer or publisher appearing at the end of a book. Also the emblem at the bottom of the spine on both a book and its dust-wrapper as well as the logo on the title or copyright page.
Columbarium - a dove-cote or doocot.
Columbarius - a full time keeper of a flock of pigeons.^[23]
Combine harvester - a mobile machine that reaps, threshes and bales.
Commendam - also Commendator. The origins of the practice can be found in the Early Middle Ages when temporarily unoccupied church property (ecclesiastical benefice) would be temporarily entrusted to the protection of a member of the church, to safeguard it until order was restored and a new permanent holder of the position was granted in titulus. The safeguarder would receive any revenues generated from the property in the meantime. An example would be that of Kilwinning Abbey, Ayrshire, Scotland which was placed in the hands of a Commendator after the reformation.
Common Law - the traditional code of law in England, dating from the Middle Ages and supplemented by legal decisions over the centuries. Not written down in any one place. Often contrasted with statute laws passed by Parliament.
Commutation - exchange or substitution.
Coney - an adult rabbit.
Connexus - a connecting structure.
Consanguinity - the degree of relationship between persons who descend from a common ancestor. A father and son are related by lineal consanguinity, uncle and nephew by collateral sanguinity.
Contumely - insolently abusive and arrogantly humiliating. An insolent or arrogant remark or act.
Conventicle - an illegal meeting of Presbyterian covenanters (Scots).
Conveyance - a legal document by which the title to property is transferred; warrant; patent; deed (Legal).
Coppice - a traditional method of woodland management in which young tree stems are cut down to a low level. In subsequent growth years, many new shoots will emerge and after a number of years the cycle begins again and the coppiced tree, or stool, is ready to be harvested again.
Coracle - small boats made of flexible twigs, such as willow, and then covered with animal hides and sewn together with leather thongs. They were used before the Romans arrived and continue to be used in parts of Wales for fishing, such as in the rivers Teifi and Tywi.^[24]
Corbel - a projection from a wall-plane intended to support a structure above.
Cordon sanitaire - a guarded line between two areas, such as the border between Scotland and England prior to the Act on Union.
Corn - any cereal before or after harvesting.
Cornage - an ancient tenure of land, which obliged the tenant to give notice of an 'invasion' by blowing a horn.^[25]
Cornice - a horizontal ornamental moulded projection around the top of a building. Keeps the rain of the walls.
Corpus delicti - the actual subject of inquiry in a criminal trial - such s the body of the person murdered; without which a trial could not take place.
Coterie - a small, often select group of persons who associate with one another frequently.
Cothouse or Cot - a dwelling with or without land attached. A tied cottage to a farm labourer and his family (Scots).
Cottage Ornee - a type of 'Summer House' or 'Cottage orne' from the early development of country estates, early 18th century. Aiton gives the following description of such a building, saying that "Near to the gardens, in a remote corner, more than half encircled by the river, a remarkably handsome cottage has been reared, and furnished, under the direction of Lady Jean Montgomery, who has contrived to unite neatness and simplicity, with great taste, in the construction of this enchanting hut. That amiable lady, spends occasionally, some part of her leisure hours, about this delightful cottage: viewing the beauties, and contemplating the operations of nature, in the foliage of leaves, blowing of flowers, and maturation of fruits; with other rational entertainments, which her enlightened mind is capable of enjoying."
Cottar - a tenant or villein.
Cotte - woman’s or child’s petticoat; a skirt.
Cottown - Also 'Cottoun' - a group of cottages (Scots).
County or shire - an English administrative district, uniting several smaller districts called hundreds, ruled jointly by an ealdorman and sheriff, who presided in the shire-moot. Moot Hall or Mote House became the name for what we now call a Town Hall (See 1890 romanticisation by William Morris). The Normans (from 1066) continued to rule England in shires, using Anglo-French counté, Anglo-Latin comitatus to describe them. These words were absorbed into English as county.
Court hill - see Moot or Mote hill.
Cousin german - a child of one's aunt or uncle; a first cousin.
Covenanter - a person who had signed or was an adherent to the 'National Covenant of the Solemn League and Covenant' in 17th. century Scotland, in support of Presbyterianism (Scots).
Coxcomb - a conceited dandy who is overly impressed by his own accomplishments; a cap worn by court jesters; adorned with a strip of red [syn: cockscomb].
Crenellate, Licence to - Royal permission was necessary for the fortification of dwellings. Later thios became more a matter of the craetion of impressive apparent, rather than real fortifications.^[26]
Crest - The correct use of the heraldic term 'crest' refers to just one component of a complete achievement in heraldry. The crest rests on top of a helmet which itself rests on the most important part of the achievement — the shield. The crest is usually found on a wreath of twisted cloth and sometimes within a coronet. The modern crest has evolved from the three-dimensional figure placed on the top of the mounted knights' helms as a further means of identification. In most heraldic traditions a woman does not display a crest.
Crinoline - originally a stiff fabric with a weft of horse-hair and a warp of cotton or linen thread. The fabric first appeared around 1830.
Crock - an earthenware jar which was historically used for the storage of butter or other food items. Dalgarven Mill, North Ayrshire in Scotland has a good collection. The expression 'Crock of gold' in relation to the supposed treasure at the end of a rainbow refers to this type of pot.
Crockets - clumps of carved foliage on pinnacles, etc. Usually found on Christian churches.
Croft - a fenced or enclosed area of land, usually small and arable with a crofter's dwelling thereon (Scots).
Cromlech - also known as 'Dolmens' or quoits', are a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of three or more upright stones (megaliths) supporting a large flat horizontal capstone. Mostly dating from the early Neolithic period in Britain (4000 BC to 3000 BC). They were usually covered with earth or smaller stones to form a barrow, though in most cases that covering has weathered away or removed for drystone dyking, etc.
Crop - the produce of cultivated plants, especially cereals.
Crop rotation - growing different crops on the same field each year to prevent the build up of pest species, etc.
Cross pattée - also cross patty or Cross formy is a type of cross that has arms which are narrow at the center, and broader at the perimeter. The name comes from the fact that the shape of each arm of the cross was thought to resemble a paw (French patte). There are several variants of the cross pattée.
Crowstep - Also 'Corbie-step'. rectangular stones forming the gable of a building, each one stepped back from the one below.
Crozier - also crosier. The stylized staff of office carried by high-ranking Roman Catholic , Eastern Orthodox , Anglican and some Lutheran prelates
Cruck - curved timber, used in pairs to form a bowed A-frame which supports the roof of a building independently of the walls.
Crupper - a leather strap fastened to the saddle of a harness and looping under the tail of a horse to prevent the harness from slipping forward; the rump or buttocks of a horse or armour for the rump of a horse.
Cuckold - a man married to an unfaithful wife. The female of some Old World cuckoos lays its eggs in the nests of other birds, leaving them to be cared for by the resident nesters. This parasitic tendency has given the female bird a figurative reputation for unfaithfulness as well. Middle English cokewold, the ancestor of Modern English cuckold, is first recorded in a work written around 1250.
Cudrun - a Scottish unit of measurement for cheese. It is not known what the measure was.^[27]
Culdee - the Celi De or 'Clients of God'. The Priests of the early celtic church, originally from Ireland. In Scotland they had communities at Iona and St.Andrews, with monasteries at Brechin, Abernethy, Loch Leven, Monymusk and Muthil.
Culver - the Anglo-Saxon word for a pigeon.
Cup and ring mark Stone - these are a form of prehistoric art found predominantly in the upland parts of the British Isles but also in some parts of continental Europe. They consist of a concave depression, no more than a few centimetres across, pecked into a rock surface and often surrounded by concentric circles also etched into the stone. Sometimes a linear channel called a gutter leads out from the middle.
Cupola - also a Lantern or Glover - a cover which provides an entrance / exit, but keeps out the rain from a building or structure.^[28]
Cupping - drawing blood by applying a heated cup to the scarified (scratched) skin. Also called wet cupping. The practice as a treatment for disease is old and found in different cultures.
Cur - a dog considered to be inferior or undesirable; a mongrel. A base or cowardly person.
Curling - a precision team sport similar to bowls or bocce, played on a rectangular sheet of prepared ice by two teams of four players each, using heavy polished granite curling stones which players slide down the ice towards a target area called the house. Points are scored for the number of stones that a team has closer to the center of the target than the closest of the other team's stones.
Curmudgeon - a crusty irascible cantankerous person, usually old, full of stubborn ideas. Deriving from the 16th-century, origins unclear.
Curse - the effective action of some power, distinguished solely by the quality of adversity that it brings. A curse may also be said to result from a spell or prayer, imprecation or execration, or other imposition by magic or witchcraft, asking that a god, natural force, or spirit bring misfortune to someone.
Cursus - a name given by early British archaeologists such as William Stukeley to the large parallel lengths of banks with external ditches which they thought were early Roman athletics tracks, hence the Latin name 'Cursus', meaning 'Circus'. Cursus monuments are now understood to be Neolithic structures and may have been of ceremonial function. They range in length from 50 metres to almost 10 kilometres and the distance between the parallel earthworks can be up to 100 metres. Banks at the terminal ends enclosed the cursus. More than a hundred examples are known, such as the one near Drybridge in North Ayrshire, Scotland.
Curtilage - the land and structures on property which immediately surround the residence.

[edit] D Words

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Dairy - where milk was made into butter and cheese. In earlier times demand for milk as a drink was quite low as it went off quickly in the absence of refrigerators.
Dalmatic - a highly decorative cloak worn by a Deacon over his white alb.
Dandiprat - a little fellow; - in sport or contempt. Also a small coin. King Henry VII issued a small coin denomination nicknamed a dandiprat.
Davidian Revolution - a term given by many scholars to the changes which took place in the Kingdom of Scotland during the reign of David I of Scotland. These included his foundation of burghs, implementation of the ideals of Gregorian Reform, foundation of monasteries, Normanization of the Scottish government, and the introduction of feudalism through immigrant French and Anglo-French knights.
Davy Dust - a name for powdered limestone used to 'dampen down' coal dust in mines.^[29]
Damask - a fabric of silk, wool, linen, cotton, or synthetic fibers, with a pattern formed by weaving. Today, it generally denotes a linen texture richly figured in the weaving with flowers, fruit, forms of animal life, and other types of ornament.
Dapifer - a bearer of meat to table; a steward. This term was later used in the context of the High Stewards of Scotland, later the Stewarts & King Robert II; first Stewart king of Scotland.
Dean - a wooded hollow or valley (Anglo-Saxon).
Deasil - clockwise, righthandwards or sunwise, form the Gaelic deiseil.
Debateable land - specifically an area of the Scotland and England Border which was not properly delineated until the construction of the Scots Dyke following arbitration by the French.
Deckle edges - a term for uncut or untrimmed edges on a book.
Deed - a document transferring ownership and title of property (Legal).
Delirium- a mental state with incoherent speech, hallucinations, restlessness and excitement which resulted from either illness or alcohol. Febrile delirium is delirium caused by fever.
Demesne - all the land, not necessarily all contiguous to the castle, that was retained by the lord for his own use as distinguished from that "alienated" or granted to others as tenants. Initially the demesne lands were worked on the lord's behalf by villeins or by serfs, in fulfillment of their feudal obligations.
Dempster - also deemster - an officer whose duty it was to announce the doom or sentence pronounced by the court (Scots law).
Dentelle - the decorated edge of the leather which a book binder brings over the boards from the outside of the binding. Also called the Turn In.^[19]
de Eodem - 'of that place.' Such as with the name Fergushill of Fergushill q.v. Fergushill de Eodem.
Descry - to catch sight of (something difficult to discern) or to discover by careful observation or scrutiny.
Desuetude - a doctrine that causes statutes, similar legislation or legal principles to lapse and become unenforceable by a long habit of non-enforcement or lapse of time. It is what happens to laws that are not repealed when they become obsolete. It is the Legal doctrine that long and continued non-use of a law renders it invalid, at least in the sense that courts will no longer tolerate punishing its transgressors.
Dewar - A relic keeper.
Diablotin - an 'imp'; a small devil or wicked spirit.
Dilligrout - a watery porridge made with plums in it. Much favoured by William the Conquerer and once served as part of the Coronation ceremonies.^[30]
Dimity - a sheer, crisp cotton fabric with raised woven stripes or checks, used chiefly for curtains and dresses.
Dirk - a long dagger as formerly worn by Scottish Highlanders. A fine example is the Campbell Dirk which belonged to Sir John Campbell, the adviser to William III over the Massacre of Glencoe.^[31]
Disavow - to disclaim knowledge of, responsibility for, or association with.
Disponed - to make over or convey legally (Legal).
Dissenter - name given a person who refused to belong to the established Church of England.
Divination - the attempt of ascertaining information by interpretation of omens or an alleged supernatural agencies.
Divot - a piece of turf torn up by a golf club in striking a ball, or by a horse's hoof. A thin square of turf or sod used for roofing (Scots).
Dobby stone - Milk was poured as an offering to Gruagach the Gaelic guardian-goddess of cattle, into hollows in stones called Dobby stones or Leach na Gruagach.^[32]
Doctrine - a principle of political or religious belief.
Dog tooth - a type of ornamentation in the moulding of an arch; typically found in churches and some castles.
Dolmen - also known as Cromlechs or quoits, are a type of single-chamber megalithic tomb, usually consisting of three or more upright stones (megaliths) supporting a large flat horizontal capstone. Mostly dating from the early Neolithic period in Britain (4000 BC to 3000 BC). They were usually covered with earth or smaller stones to form a barrow, though in most cases that covering has weathered away or removed for drystone dyking, etc.
Dominum utile - the right to use something, often used in connection with feudal law in which the Crown held dominum directum over the land and granted this right to the lords or vassals.
Donjoun - a fortified building or castle. Specifically the originally wooden tower on top of the motte. Originally however the earthen hillock.^[33]
Doocot - Scots for a dovecote. A shelter with nesting holes for domesticated pigeons, originally kept as a source of food (especially in winter) and later for appearances sake.
Dool Tree or Dule Tree - a tree used for executions and as a gibbet in connection with the feudal rights of 'pit and gallows' held by local barons and other such representatives of the crown (Scots). In England known as a Gallows-Tree
Doric order - One of the three orders or organisational systems of Ancient Greek or classical architecture which stood on the flat pavement of a temple without a base, their vertical shafts fluted with pararell concave grooves topped by a smooth capital that flared from the column to meet a square abacus at the intersection with the horizontal beam that they carried.
Dowager - a widow holding property or a title received from her deceased husband; title given in England to widows of princes, dukes, earls, and other noblemen.
Dower - a legal provision of real estate and support made to the widow for her lifetime from a husband's estate, as in 'Dower House' (Legal).
Dowry - also 'dowery' - land, money, goods, or personal property brought by a bride to her husband in marriage.

Drawcansir - a blustering, bullying fellow; a pot-valiant braggart; a bully.
Dressing stones - preparing the surface of the millstone for grinding.
Druid - the priestly class in ancient Celtic societies, which existed through much of Western Europe north of the Alps and in Britain and Ireland until they were supplanted by Roman government and, later, Christianity. A common element in place names.
Druids' Cord - a device used for measuring, laying out a right angle and making the seventh part of a circle using geometry. It is a rope with thirteen equal sections, each marked by a knot, making a total of twelve knots.
Drum - a long narrow ridge or knoll, “applied to little hills, which rise as backs or ridges above the level of the adjacent ground”
Dry-goose - a ball of extra finely ground meal, wetted until it could be patted and rolled into a round shape, then roasted in the hot ashes from a mill kiln (Scots).
Dry multure - the multure that a tenant had to pay, whether it was ground or not (Scots).
Dryster - someone who attends to a kiln at a mill.
Du - also 'Dubh' - black or dark (Gaelic).
Dule Tree or Dool Tree - a tree used for executions and as a gibbet in connection with the feudal rights of 'pit and gallows' held by local barons and other such representatives of the crown (Scots).
Dun - also 'Doon' or 'Dum' - a stronghold or hill-fort (Gaelic).
Dunlop Cheese - a mild cheese or 'sweet-milk cheese' which resembles a soft Cheddar cheese in texture. It originates in Dunlop, Ayrshire, Scotland and was first made in south western Scotland in the 18th century (Scots).
Dunter - also known as a Powrie or Red cap, is a type of malevolent murderous goblin, elf or fairy found in British folklore. They inhabit ruined castles found along the border between England and Scotland. Redcaps are said to murder travelers who stray into their homes and dye their hats with their victims' blood (from which they get their name (Scots).
Dur - also 'Der' - water (Gaelic).
Dutch Barn - a farm building which is completely open on one or more sides and supported by brick or stone pillars or cast-iron or steel piers.
Duvate - roofing made from turfs. The same origin as the word Divot, used in golf and polo.^[34]
Dyke - in geology an intrusion or band of hard stone, usually igneous, often running for miles and eroded very slowly in relation to softer rocks (Scots).
Dyke - a stone wall. In England it can mean a ditch. prior to this enclosure of land the cattle were free to mix without much control from the farmer and establishing or maintaining a 'pure breed' was therefore practically impossible. The development of superior breeds of cattle therefore depended upon the enclosure of pastures.
Dysentery - formerly this disease was very prevalent in the UK, but in the present day it is practically confined to hot climates. Soil contaminated with excremental matters is one of the most important contributing conditions essential to the occurrence of dysentery. The infectivity of bacillary dysentery lies in the stools.

[edit] E Words

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Ea - also 'Ey' - an island (Anglo-Saxon).
Earth House - also fogou, pict's house or souterrain.
Easter - the more easterly of two places, buildings or other things (Scots).
Ebrious - Inclined to drink to excess; intoxicated; tipsy. As found in Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novel.
Ecclesiastical - pertaining to the church or the clergy.
Ecclesiastical benefice - a church property.
Eclaircissement - the clearing up of anything which is obscure or not easily understood; an explanation.
Effulgent - Shining brilliantly; resplendent.
Eld - a late time of life or a time of life (usually defined in years) at which some particular qualification or power arises; "she was now of school age"; "tall for his eld", etc.
Elephant folio - the watermark on paper used in a book which is about 23 inches tall; therefore named after the watermark.
Ellwand - a staff or measuring one ell in length. In the Baronial court this was one of the 'badges' of the Baron-sargeant.
Embroidery - an ancient variety of decorative needlework in which designs and pictures are created by stitching strands of some material on to a layer of another material. See also: Machine embroidery.
Emolument - payment for an office or employment; compensation.
Emparkation - the creation of a park with its associated pale.
Enceinte - the main enclosing or curtain-wall of a fortification.
Encomium - a formal or high-flown expression of praise. An example is that of the praise often heaped upon a person at their death.
Enfilade - where all the rooms in a dwelling open one into the next so that you can see from one end through to the other.
En·nui - listlessness and dissatisfaction resulting from lack of interest; boredom.
Entail - to entail is to restrict the inheritance of land to a specific group of heirs, such as an individual's sons. The Scottish form 'tailyie' became obsolescent in the mid. 18th c.; the law books favour the spelling tailzie. (Legal).
Enumeration - a list of people, as in a census.
de Eodem - 'of that place.' Such as with the name Fergushill of Fergushill q.v. Fergushill de Eodem.
Ephemera - something which disappears quickly. A word from the Greek ephemeron, covering items which are easily lost to the historical record, such as manifestos, programs, tickets, posters, broadsides, etc.
Equiponderate - to weigh; to be equal in weight; to weigh as much as another thing.
Erenagh - person responsible for upkeep of church property. {Gaelic].
Ergastula - a Roman building used to hold in chains dangerous slaves, or to punish other slaves. The ergastula was usually subsurface, built as a deep, roofed pit - large enough to allow the slaves to work within it and containing narrow spaces in which they slept.
Erotic - about sexual love came from French into English in the mid-17th century, but Erotical was a rare earlier form. Eros Latin from Greek name for the god of love also a word for sexual love: Entered English in the late 17th century. Erogenous and erotogenic, meaning capable of arousing sexual feeling.
Errata - mistakes or errors ina publication; generally recorded as an errata slip laid into a book by a publisher who has discovered errors just prior to publication.
Escalier d'honneur - a principal staircase in a castle or mansion house.
Eschatology - a part of theology and philosophy concerned with the final events in the history of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humanity, commonly referred to as the 'end of the world.'
Eschew - to avoid or shun.
Escuage - or Scutage the law of England under the feudal system, allowed a knight to "buy out" of the military service due to the Crown from the holder of a knight's fee. Its name derived from the knightly shield (in Latin: scutum).
Escutcheon - the term used in heraldry for the shield displayed in a coat of arms. An Inescutcheon is a smaller escutcheon borne within a larger escutcheon. The term crest is often used incorrectly to designate this part of the coat of arms. The term "escutcheon" also refers to the shield-like shape on which arms are often borne. The escutcheon shape is based on the Medieval shields that were used by knights in combat. Since this shape has been regarded as a war-like device appropriate to men only, ladies customarily bear their arms upon a lozenge, or diamond-shape, while clergymen bear theirs on a cartouche, or oval. Other shapes are possible, such as the roundel commonly used for arms granted to Aboriginal Canadians by the Canadian Heraldic Authority.
Esquire - (abbreviated Esq.) is a title of honour and dignity ranked below a knight and above a gentleman, allowed, for example, to the sons of nobles and to the gentry who do not possess any other title. It ultimately derived from the medieval term squire. On this basis, a gentleman was traditionally designated Mr ('mister' before his name), whereas an Esquire was designated 'Esq.'
Estate - this comprises the houses, outbuildings, supporting farmland and woodland policies that surround the gardens and grounds of a very large property, such as a country house or mansion. It is an "estate" because the profits from its produce and rents are sufficient to support the household in the house at its center. Thus "the estate" may refer to all other cottages and villages in the same ownership as the mansion itself.
et al - "and others."
et ux - "and wife."
Excambied - a Scots term for the exchange of property, especially land.
Exculpate - to clear of guilt or blame.
Execration - hate coupled with disgust or abhorrence; an appeal to some supernatural power to inflict evil on someone or some group; the object of cursing or detestation.
Executor - a male appointed by a testator to carry out the directions and requests in his or her will, and to dispose of the property according to his testamentary provisions after his or her death (Legal).
Executrix - a female appointed by a testator to carry out the directions and requests in his or her will, and to dispose of the property according to the testamentary provisions after his or her death (Legal).
Exigent - requiring much; exacting; urgent or pressing.
Ex-Libris - a bookplate printed with the owner's name or initials. It is Latin for "From the library of ...".
Exordium - a beginning or introductory part, especially of a speech or treatise.
Expunge - the sealing or destroying of legal records. Generally, expungement can be viewed as the process to "remove from general review" the records pertaining to a case. But the records may not completely "disappear" and may still be available to law enforcement (Legal).
Extents - documenting in a thorough but not exhaustive fashion the details of the lands held by aristocrats, the church, etc. Not common in Scotland, but a frequent practice in England. They are often entitled the 'Black Book of ....' and have echoes of the Doomsday Book.

[edit] F Words

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Facsimile - an exact reproduction, by photography or by typographic or manuscript imitation, of an original leaf or book. The 'Doomsday Book' and the 'Book of Kells' would be examples of items reproduced as facsimiles^[19].
Faggot - a bundle of twigs, sticks, or branches from the underwood bound together; a bundle of pieces of iron or steel to be welded or hammered into bars. Often of a specific size and used as a unit of measurement.^[35]
Fairy dust - the spores or 'seeds' of ferns were widely believed to make the user invisible.
Fairy ring - also known as fairy circle, Elf circle or pixie ring, is a naturally occurring ring or arc of mushrooms which lead to the temporary enrichment of the ground giving a dark green ring which progressively expands outwards.
Fallow - ploughed and harrowed land left uncultivated for a year.
Farina - the flour or meal of cereals, nuts, or starchy roots such as potatoes.
Farm - In the Latin of medieval Europe, 'firma' was a fixed payment. Our farm (agricultural) derives from paying rent for land. Farm (and especially "farm out") also had the meaning (from the mid-17th century) of subcontracting a job for a fee. In particular, the care of people, or the maintenance of an institution (workhouse for example) in which they were kept, for a fixed fee.
Fauld - a field which is manured by keeping sheep or cattle on it.^[36] Rarely manure from other livestock, such as pigeons droppings from a dovecot at Kilmaurs in Ayrshire. Pigeons produce considerable amounts of manure as any city dweller will know! (Scots).
Faun - place-spirits (genii) of untamed woodland. Romans connected their fauns with the Greek satyrs, wild and orgiastic drunken followers of Bacchus (Greek Dionysus). Fauns and satyrs were originally quite different creatures. Both have horns and both resemble goats below the waist, humans above; but originally satyrs had human feet, fauns goat-like hooves.
Fauxine - a person in Medieval times branded with an 'F' on their forehead for being guilty of a falsehood.A female outlaw; abandoned without the protection of the law.^[37]
Fealty - the fidelity owed by a vassal to his feudal lord; the oath of such fidelity.
Feckless - feeble; ineffective.
Feeble-minded - such people were neither idiots nor imbeciles, but if adults, their condition was so pronounced that they require care, supervision, and control for their own protection or the protection of others. If children of school age, their condition wasso pronounced that they by reason of such defectiveness appear to be personally incapable of receiving proper benefit from instruction in ordinary schools.
Fee - an inherited or heritable estate in land (Legal).
Fee simple - an inheritance having no limitations or conditions in its use (legal).
Feeing Market - the market at which the hiring of farm workers took place.
Fell - a mountain (Scandinavian).
Feme sole - an unmarried woman or a married woman with property independent of her husband (Legal).
Fermee Ornee - a country estate laid out partly according to aesthetic principles and partly for farming. Ferme ornee were an expression in landscape gardening of the Romantic Movement of 18th. century Europe, i.e. a working farm, domestic animals, natural landscape joined with follies and grottoes, statuary and classical texts combined with avenued walks, flowing water, lakes, areas of light and shade, special plantings and inspirational views.
Fermtoun - a collection of rural buildings including a farm (Scots).
Fertilizer - any chemical added to the soil which makes it more fertile or productive.
Festy-cock - a ball of extra finely ground meal, wetted until it could be patted and rolled into a round shape, then roasted in the hot ashes from a mill kiln. Eaten as a substitute for the cockerel and eaten at Shrovetide (Scots).
Feu - this is an annual payment in money or in kind in return for the use of land. The crown is the first overlord or superior; the land is held by crown vassals (Lords, etc.), but they in turn may feu their land, as it is called, to others who become their vassals (Legal).
Feudalism - this refers to a general set of reciprocal legal and military obligations among the warrior nobility of Europe during the Middle Ages, revolving around the three key concepts of lords, vassals, and fiefs.
Fiat - an arbitrary order or decree; an authorization or sanction.
Fief - also fiefdom, fief, feud, feoff, or fee, often consisted in medieval feudalism of inheritable lands or revenue-producing property granted by a liege lord in return for a form of allegiance, originally to give him the means to fulfill his military duties when called upon. However anything of value could be held in fief, such as an office, a right of exploitation (e.g., hunting, fishing) or a revenue rather than the land it comes from.
Finial - an ornamentation above the apex of a gable which can also function as a lightning rod, and was once believed to act as a deterrent to witches on broomsticks attempting to land on one's roof. On making her final landing approach to a roof, the witch, spotting the obstructing finial, was forced to sheer off and land elsewhere.
Fire marks - fire insurance companies of the 17th-century and later had their own fire brigades and firemen would only attempt to save a house if it was insured by their company; fire marks of lead or iron were attached to the outside of buildings in prominent positions to indicate the insurance company concerned.^[38]
Firlot - a firlot was equal to 4 pecks and the peck was equal to 4 lippies or forpets or 3 grudgies: a quarter of a bole^[36] (Scots).
First Edition - strictly speaking the first appearance of a work in book or pamphlet form; its first printing. Such books as Charles Darwin's Origin of Species command extremely high prices as first editions.
Flagstone - a type of flat stone, usually used for paving slabs, but also for making fences or roofing.
Flail - a wood pole with a smaller pole linked at the end via a chain or leather thong, used for threshing.
Flax - the fiber is soft, lustrous and flexible. It is stronger than cotton fiber but less elastic. The best grades are used for linen fabrics such as damasks, lace and sheeting. Coarser grades are used for the manufacturing of twine and rope.
Flibbertigibbet - a "chattering gossip, flighty woman," probably a nonsense word meant to sound like fast talking; as the name of a devil or fiend it dates from 1603.
Flux or flix - from French or Latin for flow. A flowing. As well as the flowing of tides (flux and reflux) it was used for an abnormal flow from the body of blood or excrement (for example). Thus for diarrhoea and dysentery.
Flying buttress - a buttress variant which allows a more delicate appearance whilst maintaining the strength of the supports to a wall.
Fogou - an underground structure which is found in many Iron Age defended settlements in Cornwall. The purpose of a fogou is no longer known, and there is little evidence to suggest what it might have been. It has been conjectured that they were used as refuges, for religious purposes, or for food storage.
Fold - an enclosure in which animals were kept, often sheep.
Folio - a single leaf, especially the leaf of a book printed with two leaves to each quire.^[19]
Font - a structure in achurch for holding water for baptisms. Often with highly carved panels and made from wood, stone and rarely lead.
Foot - a unit of land measurement which was 25.1 cm for the Welsh, 29.6 cm for the Romans, 31.7 cm for the Greeks and 33.5 cm for the Saxons. It was based on the Barleycorn in Wales, with 27 making a Welsh foot. Three barleycorns were a 'thumb' and three thumbs made a palm; three palms making a foot.
Ford - a crossing for pedestrians and vehicles across a river where it is sufficiently shallow to permit passage across.
Fore-edge painting - a painting executed on the fore-edges of a book held open obliquely. The edges of the closed book are then gilded so that the painting only becomes visible when the book is fanned open again.^[19]
Forest - a tract of land subject to special laws, usually concerned with the preservation of game.
Foreyard - the outer court.
Forpet - a quarter of a peck; a dry goods measure containing this amount. Derived from a 'fourth part' (Scots).
Forswear or Foreswear - to renounce or repudiate under oath; to renounce seriously; to disavow under oath; deny.
Fortalice - a small fortified dwelling or castle, such as the example that existed near Corsehill Castle in Stewarton, North Ayrshire. Built for the protection of the people rather than for a lord or landowner.
Fox covert - these were small areas of woodland put aside for encouraging the breeding of foxes to ensure sufficient numbers for hunting. Badgers and other wildlife benefit from them.
Foxfire - the term for the bioluminescence created in the right conditions by a few species of fungi that decay wood. The luminescence is often attributed to members of the genus Armillaria, the Honey mushroom, though others are reported.
Foxing - irregular brown spots or stains in paper caused by chemical or metallic impurities in the original stock of paper, often aggravated by poor storage, such as moist conditions.^[19]
Frankalmoin - one of the feudal duties and hence land tenure forms in feudal England by which an ecclesiastical body held land, in return for saying prayers and masses for the soul of the granter. Not only was secular service frequently not due but in the twelfth and thirteenth century jurisdiction over land so held belonged to the ecclesiastical courts. It fell into disuse because on any alienation of the land the tenure was converted into socage, and no fresh grants in frankalmoin.
Franklin - in medieval times a person who was a landowner, but not a nobleman or aristocrat.
Frankpledge - an Anglo-Saxon legal system in which units or tithings composed of ten households were formed, in each of which members were held responsible for one another's conduct. A member of a unit in frankpledge.
Freeman - a male of legal age with the right to vote, own land and practice a trade.
Freestone - stone used in architecture for molding, tracery and other work required to be worked with the chisel. The stone is fine-grained, uniform and soft enough to be cut easily without shattering or splitting.
Frith stool - 'the Chair of Peace'. Frith, though now obsolete, was common enough in Anglo-Saxon English and Old German, meaning peace, security and freedom from molestation. Different forms of the word are found in the name 'Frederick' (peace-ruler) and the modem German words for peace, Friede, and churchyard, Friedhof. Many of the greater churches had such frith stools placed, as was one at Hexham Abbey, close by the high altar. Refugees in time of trouble and civil war, or wrongdoers in flight from authority and justice could claim the protection of the Church until they were assured of a full and fair trial. Anyone breaking the right to sanctuary by taking or killing a refugee within the church was liable to a fine of £96; but, if the victim reached 'the stone cathedra next to the altar, which the English call the fridstol', that breach of sanctuary was beyond pardon, and the culprit faced excommunication or death
Frontis or Frontispiece - an illustration at the beginning of a book, usually facing the title page. In some books this may be the only full print within the work. An illustration that faces or immediately precedes the title page of a book, book section, or magazine. In archaic terms a title page. In architecture a façade, especially an ornamental façade or a small ornamental pediment, as on top of a door or window.
Fulling Mill - mills used for a finishing process on cloth.
Fusee - a friction match with a large head capable of burning in a wind. A coloured flare used as a warning signal for trucks and trains. A cone-shaped pulley with a spiral groove, used in a cord- or chain-winding clock to maintain even travel in the timekeeping mechanism as the force of the mainspring lessens in unwinding.
Futhorc - the Anglo-Saxon version of the runic alphabet.

[edit] G Words

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Gabardine - a tough, tightly woven fabric often used to make suits, overcoats and trousers. The fibre used to make the fabric is traditionally worsted (a woolen yarn), but may also be cotton, synthetic or mixed. The fabric is smooth on one side and has a diagonally ribbed surface on the other.
Gable stone - carved and often colourfully painted stone tablets, which are set into the walls of buildings, usually at about 4 metres from the ground. They serve both to identify and embellish the building. They may also tell us something about its owner.
Gadzooks - a mild or ironic oath: "Gadzooks! Perhaps from an aliteration of God's hooks, the nails of the crucifixion of Christ.
Gainsay - to declare false or deny; to oppose, especially by contradiction.
Galletting - insertion of chips of stone into mortar between larger stones for decorative effect.
Gallows - usually a wooden structure, sometimes a Dule Tree, from which a person was hung following conviction.
Gambade - a spring or leap by a horse; a caper or antic.
Garderobes - medieval toilets in large public buildings and castles.
Gargoyle - carved rainwater spouts on churches, medieval houses, etc. They were often grotesquely carved animals or humans and were in addition believed to protect the church from the Devil.
Garitour - a day watchman, especially in a castle. A Vigiles was a night watchman.
Garret - a top floor or attic room.
Garth - in a cathedral or abbey this is the area of ground surrounded by the cloisters.
Gauffered - an engraved design on the edges of a book's covers.
Gauger - a person who performs the duties of an exciseman (Scots).
Gavelkind - a type of tribal succession, by which the land was divided at the death of the holder amongst his sons. Illegitimate sons, but not daughters, were included in the division. The Normans gave this Irish inheritance law the name Gavelkind due to its apparent similarity to Saxon inheritance in Kent.
Gaw - the 'cut' left by a plough^[36] (Scots).
Gazebo - a freestanding, roofed, usually open-sided structure providing a shady resting place; a belvedere.
Geis - plural Geassa - A controlling spell or enchantment in which a certain action or behavior will cause another certain action or effect. Usually it takes the form of a taboo or a destiny, as when CuChullain overheard Cathbad say that any boy who accepts weapons on that day would be destined to be a great hero, and he asked his king for arms.
Genealogy - a term referring to the study of the history of past and present members of a particular family, which usually includes the preparation of a "family tree" or pedigree chart, showing the past and present members of the family joined together by a series of lines that help in ascertaining their relationship to each other, and the location, documentation and recording of a family history, including stories about the personal lives of individual members of the family, sometimes even including pictures of these individuals or family groups.
Genethliac - Pertaining to nativities; calculated by astrologers; showing position of stars at one's birth. It is used in Sir Walter Scott's Waverley Novel, 'Kenilworth'.
Gentleman - a man who did not need to work, and the term was particularly used of those who could not claim nobility or even the rank of esquire.
Gentleman of the bedchamber - an office in a European royal household beginning from about the early in the 11th century. The office duties involved such activities as waiting on the royal person when he would eat in private, helping him dressing, guarding the bedchamber and closet, and providing companionship.
Geomancy - a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground, or how handfuls of dirt land when someone tosses them.
Georgian - of or characteristic of the times of kings George I - IV (1714 - 1830).
Gewgaw - something gaudy and useless; trinket; bauble.
Gibbet - a type of gallows from which a body remained hanging as a warning to others over a considerable period of time.
Gig - a lightweight two-wheeled carriage designed to be drawn by one horse.
Gilt Edges - page edges which have been smoothed and trimmed prior to gilt or gold being applied. Often on the top edge only, the purpose being to prevent dirt from staining the most frequently handled surface; additionally to help prevent dirt getting into the book.
Gingham - a fabric made from dyed cotton yarn.
Girdle - a form of 'Griddle', a circular iron plate with hooped handle, suspended or placed over the fire and used for baking scones, oat-cakes, etc.
Girnal - a chest used for storing oats or other grains or a granary,^[36]such as the Girnal field on the glebe at Kilmaurs in Ayrshire.
Glacial Erratics - pebbles, stones and boulders that are transported by glaciers, and deposited up to several hundred kilometres from where they originated.
Glacis - a defensive earthwork designed to deflect cannonballs.
Glebe - land apportioned to a minister in addition to his stipend. A plot of land belonging or yielding profit to an English parish church or an ecclesiastical office. In archaic speech, the soil or earth; land.
Gleeman- a medieval itinerant singer; a minstrel.
Glen - a valley (Scots).
Gloaming - evening twilight or dusk^[36] (Scots).
Glover - also a Lantern or Cupola - a cover which provides an entrance / exit, but keeps out the rain from a building or structure.^[39]
Goblin - an evil or merely mischievous creature of folklore, often described in as a grotesquely disfigured or gnome-like phantom, that may range in height from that of a dwarf to that of a human. They are attributed with various (sometimes conflicting) abilities, temperaments and appearances depending on the story and country of origin.
Gogsnouns -
Goidelic - languages (also called Gaelic) have historically been part of a dialect continuum stretching from the south of Ireland, the Isle of Man, to the north of Scotland.
Gonfalon - a flag hanging from a crosspiece instead of an upright staff, usually ending in streamers; esp., such a standard of any of the medieval republics of Italy.
Good brother - a brother-in-law.
Good sister - a sister-in-law.
Good son - a son-in-law.

Classical labyrinth

Gossamer - a very light, sheer, gauze-like fabric, popular for white wedding dresses and decorations.
Gowpen - a double handful (Scots).
Grandam - a grandmother.
Gowan - also Gown - a general name given to various wild‐flowers, such as Daisies, either yellow or white with yellow centres, e.g. various species of the Ranunculus family, such as the buttercup & meadow crowfoot (Scots).
Gowk - In northern Europe, words like gowk, gouch, qaukr and gough were used in imitation of the cuckoo. In southern Europe words like kokkux (Greek) cucu (Latin). Cuckoo succeeded gowk in Middle English. How far back the association with foolishness and/or staring goes is not clear. Dictionaries tend to place the association in the late 16th century. T
Graddan - a kind of coarse oat-meal made from parched grain roughly ground by hand (Scots).
Grain - a seed of a cereal, such as wheat, maize, rye, oats, and barley. Pigeon's dung used in tanning.
Granary - a building for the storage of grain. Sometimes lifted up on staddles or bricks to improve aeration and prevent rats and mice from gaining access.
Grange - a small mansion or country house with associated farm buildings.
Grantee - a person purchasing, buying or receiving property (Legal).
Grape - an iron fork with three or four prongs, fitted to a handle like that of a spade, used for lifting dung, etc., or for digging (Scots).
Grassum - the payment, amounting to a year's rent, for entering into the miller's rights under thirlage^[36] (Scots).
Grazing - grassland suitable for pasture.
Gregorian Reform - a series of reforms initiated by Pope Gregory VII, circa 1050–1080, which dealt with the moral integrity and independence of the clergy. These reforms are considered to honour Gregory the Great.
Grieve - an overseer or farm-bailiff^[36]. It occurs not infrequently as a surname. (Scots).
Griffin, griffon or gryphon - from the Old French grifon. A legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.

Kasha - buckwheat groats or grist.

Grist - also Groat - Corn to be ground; also, a batch of such corn (Scots).
Grizell or Grisel - The Scottish form of the first name Griselda. Very commonly used in the 19th century.
Groats - also Grist - oats after shelling of their husk in the milling process (Scots).
Groined vault - early medieval vaults were round-arched tunnels; when two of these intersect at right-angles the meeting lines, formed by the curved planes are called groins.^[40]
Gruagach - the Gaelic guardian-goddess of cattle. Milk was poured as an offering to her into hollows in stones called Dobby stones or Leach na Gruagach.^[32]
Grudgie - a measure of dry goods. One third of a peck (Scots).
Guardian - a person lawfully appointed to care for the person of a minor, invalid, incompetent and their interests, such as education, property management and investments (Legal).
Guild - a society of a particular trade, membership of which was gained through examination. The 'Bonnet Makers Guild' in Stewarton, Ayrshire is an ancient example. The trade in question could not be carried out without membership of the guild. Usually with a dedicated Guild Hall.

[edit] H Words

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Ha-ha - a sunken fence as a type of boundary to a garden, pleasure-ground, or park, designed not to interrupt the view and to be invisible until closely approached, consisting of a trench, the inner side of which is perpendicular and faced with stone, with the outer slope face sloped and turfed.
Habeas Corpus - the legal right to a trial in a court before a judge and jury.
Hackneyed - Overfamiliar through overuse; trite.
Haddish - also Huddish - a measure of grain equal to one quarter or one third of a peck; hence, a vessel holding this amount (Scots).
Haill - Whole (Scots).
Halidome - an archaic term for something held sacred, such as a church or a sanctuary.
Ham - old English for a village or homestead.
Hamesucken - the crime of violently assaulting a man in his own home (Scots).
Hamlet - a small village.
Hammer-beam - this is a braced strut which projects from a wall, supported by a brace post that sits on a corbel. An upright hammer-post atpports the rafter above. Such roofs are found in churches, cathedrals and medieval great halls, etc.
Hand - the handwriting of a person. References are made to the characteristics of the individuals penmanship.^[41]
Hank - a traditional measure of length for yarn. The length of yarn in a hank varies with the market and the material; for example, a hank of cotton yarn traditionally included 840 yards (768 meters) of yarn, while a hank of wool yarn was 560 yards (512 meters). For both cotton and wool, these traditional hanks are equal to 7 leas or to 12 cuts. In retail trade, a hank is often equal to 6 or 7 skeins of varying size.
Happer - a basket in which the sower carries his seed (Scots).
Harl - an external rough-cast coating on buildings made from lime, sand & gravel.
Harp - one of the ten sections on a millstone with four furrows each, the flat surfaces, or lands lying in between (Scots).
Harrow - a heavy metal frame with iron teeth dragged over ploughed land to break up clods, remove weeds, etc.
Hatchment - a funeral escutcheon or armorial shield enclosed in a black lozenge-shaped frame which used to be suspended against the wall of a deceased person's house. It was usually placed over the entrance at the level of the second floor, and remained for from six to twelve months, after which it was removed to the parish church. Sometimes two were produced, one for the home and one for the church. Hatchments have now fallen into disuse, but many hatchments from former times remain in parish churches throughout Britain. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen mother had a hatchment produced for use at her funeral.
Hauberk - a shirt of chain mail armour. The term is usually used to describe a shirt reaching at least to mid-thigh and including sleeves. Haubergeon ("little hauberk") generally refers to a shorter variant with partial sleeves, but the terms are often used interchangeably. Slits to accommodate horseback-riding were often incorporated below the waist. Most are put on over the head. Hauberk can also refer to a similar garment of scale armour.
Haugh - also Hauch - a piece of level ground, generally alluvial, on the banks of a river, river-meadow land.
Hawker - a person who travels about selling goods.
Hay - grass mown and dried for fodder / feed.
Headrace - a watercourse directing water to a waterwheel or turbine.^[42]
Hebdomadal - of or occurring every seven days.
Heck - a rack for keeping fodder, often coupled with manger. 'Food and board' in modern terms (Scots).
Heir - a person who succeeds, by the rules of law, to an estate upon the death of an ancestor; one with rights to inherit an estate (Legal).
Heir apparent - by law a person whose right of inheritance is established, provided he or she outlives the ancestor, see also primogeniture (Legal).
Helve - a handle of a tool, such as an ax, chisel, or hammer. Middle English, from Old English hielfe.
Hemp - The main uses of hemp fibre are rope, sacking, carpet, nets and webbing. Hemp is also being used in increasing quantities in paper manufacturing. The cellulose content is about 70%.
Herald - an assistant to the Lord Lyon King of Arms in Scotland. They are known as Marchmont, Rothesay, and Albany.
Heraldry - pertaining to the study or use of armorial bearings.
Heretic - a person holding an unorthodox opinion or belief contrary to accepted doctrine.
Heritour - The proprietor of a heritable property; an inheritor. Alteration of Middle English heriter, from Anglo-Norman.
Heugh - a crag; a cliff; a glen with overhanging sides. Also s shaft in a coal pit; a hollow in a quarry (Scots).
Hex - a curse or magical spell or a female caster of such.
Hide - a very old English unit of land area, dating from perhaps the 7th-century. The hide was the amount of land that could be cultivated by a single ploughman and thus the amount of land necessary to support a family. Depending on local conditions, this could be as little as 60 acres or as much as 180 acres (24-72 hectares). The hide was more or less standardized as 120 acres (48.6 hectares) after the Norman conquest of 1066. The hide continued in use throughout medieval times, but it is now obsolete. The unit was also known as the carucate.
Hinkypunk - in the West Country (probably derived from the Welsh Pwca (Puck) the name for a Will o'the wisp.
Hippogriff also Hippogryph - a monster having the wings, claws, and head of a griffin and the body and hindquarters of a horse.
Histriography - the writing of history or the study of the writing of history.
Hoar - ice crystals forming a white deposit (especially on objects outside); Hoarfrost.
Hobby lantern - used in Hertfordshire, East Anglia, and in Warwickshire & Gloucestershire as Hobbedy's Lantern, otherwise the Will o'the wisp.
Hocktide - an ancient general holiday in England, celebrated on the second Monday and Tuesday after Easter Sunday. Hock-Tuesday was an important term day, rents being then payable, for with Michaelmas it divided the rural year into its winter and summer halves. The derivation of the word is disputed: any analogy with Ger. koch, high, being generally denied. No trace of the word is found in Old English, and hock-day, its earliest use in composition, appears first in the 12th century. The characteristic pastime of hock-tide was called binding. On Monday the women, on Tuesday the men, stopped all passers of the opposite sex and bound them with ropes till they bought their release with a small payment, or a rope was stretched across the high

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]

[39]

[40]

[41]

[42]

A Researcher's Guide to Local History Terminology/Abecedary

From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection

Contents

[edit] An Abecedary of Local history terminology

[edit] A Words

[edit] B Words

[edit] C Words

[edit] D Words

[edit] E Words

[edit] F Words

[edit] G Words

[edit] H Words