Old English Words and Terms

A Glossary for Historians

Joy Bristow

• Publisher: Countryside Books
• Year: 2005
• ISBN:
  9781846748868
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History Reference
• Index: History

Researching local history can be absorbing but often key documents, such as Manorial and Estate papers and parish registers, are full of archaic or Latin words and phrases which need translation.

Joy Bristow first compiled this Glossary from a collection of ancient words she drew up while studying for the Advanced Certificate in Local History at the University of Nottingham. Since then, she has added many more words and some new topics, making her book an extremely popular and valuable reference guide.

This Third Edition includes:

Over 3, 000 unfamiliar words and terms

Saints Days, Festivals and moveable Feast Days

Dates of Sittings of the Supreme Court

Lists of obsolete weights and measures

Latin words and phrases

English currency back to the Roman period and a Decimal Currency Converter

Comparative costs of living and values of the pound since 1300

Regnal years of English monarchs 1066-1952

Roman Numerals

A

abred. Spread out or ‘abroad’; outdoors.

achyyt. Hatchet.

acled chest. Meaning obscure. Possibly a cupboard for crockery, as in ‘acobil’ or ‘acobgill’ (Oxfordshire dialect).

acolyte. Lowest of the four orders of priesthood; a boy who had taken the first tonsure with a view to becoming sub-deacon, then deacon, then priest.

acquavite. See aquavite.

acre. Unit of area standardized by Edward I at 40 rods × 4 rods. However, it varied in different parts of the country. A statute acre today = 4,840 sq. yards.

acre tax. Drainage tax - 1787.

act book. Register in which the minutes of a court were written. Some entries are very cramped and difficult to read because the same page spacing was allowed under each heading.

addice/ades/adze. Tool with the cutting edge at right angles to the handle, used by coopers for shaping the concave sides of timber boards.

adit. See sough.

advent. Four weeks before Christmas set aside to commemorate the first and second coming of Christ: the first to redeem, and the second to judge the world. The season begins on St. Andrew’s Day, 30 November, or the Sunday nearest to it.

adventurer. Shareholder in a lead mine or sough q.v.

advertisements. Series of injunctions issued to the clergy in 1566, pursuant to the Act of Uniformity, 1 Elizabeth, c.2 (1558), 2 & 3 Edward VI, c.1 (1548), 14 Car. II, c.4 (1662).

advowson. Right of presentation to an ecclesiastical benefice.

aelevan. See aleven.

affeer. To settle the amount of an amercement q.v.; to assess.

affeerer/afferatore. Officer of the manorial court whose duty it was to assess monetary penalties.

affinity. The entourage of a lord.

aftermath. Herbage remaining after hay harvest.

ager/eagre/eger. High tidal wave of the rivers Trent and Ouse. Also called the ‘Bore’’ in the Severn.

agist. To pasture; to pay for pasture.

agistment/gysting/joisting. The pasturing, on payment, of one’s animals on someone else’s land.

agnate. Any male relation on the father’s side.

agnatic. Related entirely through the male line of ancestors. See also cognate.

agnus dei. Cake of wax or dough stamped with the figure of a lamb supporting the banner of the Cross, distributed by the Pope on the Sunday after Easter as an amulet.

aicent/aiecent. Adjacent.

aid. Tax in medieval times paid by a vassal to his liege lord either:

1. as a ransom after capture;

2. on the occasion of the lord’s eldest son being knighted; or

3. on the occasion of his eldest daughter being married.

Feudal Aids were abolished in 1660.

ails. See hales.

alamode. Thin, light, glossy, black silk.

albacio. Whitewashing.

alcuin/alkemy. Antimony.

ale conner/finder/taster. A manorial officer whose duty it was to assess the assize and goodness of bread and ale q.v. within the precincts of the manor.

alehouse. A public house distinguished by a long pole in front; if wine could be obtained, a bush was placed on the pole.

alembic. See limbeck.

a...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• Body Matter
• Back Matter