ROOTS Genealogical Dictionary
ROOTS
Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms
[M]
Last Edited:
January 17, 2012
This file contains many of the common "buzzwords", terminology and legal
words found in genealogy work. If you think of any words that should be added to
this list, please notify Randy Jones.
-
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
-
- MAC
- [Irish, son of] from the British "*mapos" meaning "son"
- MÆGBOT
- compensation paid to a family
- MÆGBURG
- kin
- MÆRRA
- money
- MAGISTER MILITUM
- [Latin] Master of Soldiers, head of the Roman armies, and equivalent to
the British Field Marshal. In the East there were five, including two
magistri in præsenti (Masters in Presence)
of the Emperor; and two in the West,
including one Master of Foot and one Master of Horse in præsenti.
The Master of Foot in
præsenti
tended to be the most powerful though, and controlled the government.
Later this office assumed the tile of magister ultriusque, or master of
both army and cavalry.
- MAGNA CARTA SURETY
- One of the 25 Barons who agreed to enforce the Magna Carta against King
John of England 1215.
- MAIN
- [Welsh narrow, thin] Also as vain.
- MAJORITY
- The age at which a person becomes an adult. See "AGE
OF MAJORITY"
- MAN-AT-ARMS
- a soldier holding his land, usually 60-120 acres, in return for military
service. Also called a yeoman.
- MANBOT
- compensation for a crime
- MANCIPIA
- goods, possessions, including slaves
- MANCUS
- 30 pence
- MANOR
- a British self-governing agricultural estate, with its own
courts. The manor as a unit of
land was generally held by a knight's fee. The Lord of the Manor
was the head of the estate.
- MANTACH
- [Welsh toothless] Also as fantach.
- MANUMISSION
- a formal written act to free serfs or slaves
- MANUMITTED
- used in the United States to indicate a slave that was set free. For the
Palatinate immigrates it indicates release from obligation to the land and by
extension the gentry/royalty/church that owned that land. They could not leave
without a document of manumission.
- MANWRYTH
- see LEODGELD
- MARABOTIN
- a gold coin of the Arabs of Spain
- MAP
- [Welsh son, boy] 'Son of'' is usually ab,ap.
Also occurs as 'Mab' . 'Map' or 'Mab' is not related to the Latin "ab", but is
rather from the British 'mapos' meaning 'son' and is a cognate of Irish "mac".
The word becomes 'map' in Old Welsh and 'mab' in Modern Welsh. When following
a personal name the "m" lenites in a v-sound, still spelled 'm' in Old Welsh,
but increasingly spelled 'v' and 'f' later on. The v-sound tends to be rather
weak in Welsh (cf. 'tref' becoming 'tre'), and in the highly formulaic nature
of these names is lost. British "Moricantos mapos Totorigos" (genitive of
Totorix) -> Old Welsh "Morcant map Tutur" -> Modern Welsh "Morgan ap
Tudur". See also bachgen.
- MARCHER LORD
- the palatine lord, usually an earl in
England, but a margrave in other European countries,
whose responsibility is was to protect the kingdom from their march, or
property. Typically, these lords were given extraordinary powers to
govern these border or frontier areas. In England, Chester and Durham
were considered marches for Wales and Scotland; in Germany, the Rhineland was
consider the march between Germany and France and governed by a
palsgraf.
- MARGRAVE/MARGRAVINE
- see MARQUIS
- MARITAGIUM
- a gift of land a bride takes into a marriage as part of her dowry.
If the marriage produced no heirs, the property would revert to the bride's
family
- MARK
- [Medieval] English unit of currency worth 13
shillings and four
pence. An English mark equaled 2/3 pound; on
the continent the mark was equivalent to 8 oz. of silver.
- MARKS OF CADENCY
- [Heraldry] symbolic changes to show seniority of the sons of the bearer of
a coat of arms, as standardized by the 18th C. The marks were usually placed
in the chief,
unless it had to overlap all four quarters of a quartered shield. The mark is
permanent and passed down to his sons. Illegitimate sons could be granted
arms, but their mark usually involved a differenced border, most often wavy,
but occasionally plain, compony,
or engrailed.
The marks were:
- eldest son: no change, except a label until he succeeds
his father.
- second son: a crescent
- third son: a molet
-
fourth son: a martlet
-
fifth son: an annulet
-
sixth son: a fleur-de-lis
-
seventh son: a rose
- eighth son: a moline
-
ninth son: a double quatrefoil
- MARQUIS
- earldoms/counties at the edge of a realm were called "Mark". Such
earldoms/counties were more important than the ordinary earldoms. The count
of a Mark, a Mark-Count, later became Marquis. The German equivalent is
Margrave (female equivalent Margravine).
- MARRIAGE BANNS
- see BANNS
- MARRIAGE BOND
- ancestors of our modern marriage licenses, were required in colonial
America at least as early as the 1660s. They were supposed to guard
against illegal marriages (if one party were already married or under age, for
instance) by making people personally known to the man and woman libel for
payment of a large amount of money if they failed to disclose an objection to
a legal marriage before it took place. The bond was executed to guarantee that
no legal or moral impediments existed to an intended marriage. A payment was
made which would be forfeited, usually to State, should the marriage not take
place.
- MARRIAGE CONTRACT
- a civil contract between two individuals dealing with lands,
inheritance, dower, etc. It could be executed at any age, and perhaps
many years prior to the ceremony. It preceded the marriage marriage
ceremony, but otherwise was for the most part was unrelated to it.
- MARRIAGE SETTLEMENT
- the date on which the father or guardian of the bride transferred the
agreed upon dower
money or land
- MARSHAL
- originally an official who had charge of horses, as a groom, or farrier.
But it became the title of various high military and civil officers. The term
was also used for a kind of guardian of etiquette; in the British royal
household there is an official in the lord chamberlain's department called the
marshal of the ceremonies. The marshal of the king's bench was judge of the
Marshalsea court. A grand jury is sworn in by the judge's marshal. etc. See
also Earl
Marshal.
- MARTINMAS
- the religious holiday occurring on the 11th of November
- MARTLET
- [Heraldry] a representation of a bird without feet, used as a crest or
bearing
- MASTER
- (1) relative to a ship, he today would be called the Captain, but in American colonial times was
called the Master
(2) magister (q.v)
- (3) younger sons of
a nobleman
- MATERTERA
- [Latin] usually a maternal aunt, although in Medieval times, it is
occasionally used as the paternal aunt
- MATINS
- part of the monastic timetable for liturgy, called
horarium. This worship service
typically occured between 2am-3am in winter and 1am-2am in summer
- MATRONYM
- a surname based on a maternal
ancestor. In medieval times, a
younger son or son-in-law would occasionally take the mother's name in
association with the property that may have come with it.
- MAWLA
- [Arabic] a freed slave
- MEDALE
- the drinking festival after a lord's fields were mowed
- MEDIATIZATION
- The practice of allowing formerly ruling houses to maintain their dynastic
rights even when they lost sovereignty over territory. It meant that even if
they no longer ruled, they were still "equal" in dynastic dignity to the
luckier families that did retain sovereignty over lands and would remain equal
provided their members married equally. This practice was in use primarily
after 1815 in the German states which were absorbed into a lager German state.
- MEDIMNUM
- [Greek] a measure equivalent to six pecks
- MEDKNICHE
- a haymaker's fee, equivalent to as much hay the haymaker could lift with
his middle finger to his knees
- MEIRRÉ
- see POTENT
- MELUNGEON
- Louise Littleton Davis in "The Mystery of the Melungeons" refers to them
as a "mystery race tucked away between the ridges of East Tennessee mountains
long before Daniel Boone and the long hunters arrived." These are a number of
theories about their origins:
- Louise Littleton Davis suggests that they were descendants of Portuguese
sailors shipwrecked off Cape Hatteras in the mid-1500s. "Melungo" means
"shipmate" in Portuguese.
- Mary Sue Going suggests that they are descendants of deserters from an
expedition of 100 Spanish soldiers who were once camped at the present-day
location of Newport, Tennessee. This theory is plausible because Emperor
Charles V of Spain had made a star-crossed decision to attach the
Netherlands to the Spanish monarchy and consequently involved himself and
his successor son in a rebellion that they were unable to quell despite 54
years of continuous warfare. A Dutch revolt against the Spanish monarch
began in 1555 and continued until its successful conclusion in 1609. The
nation could not field enough soldiers to protect its empire, and as a
consequence, Spain subjected neighboring Portugal and impressed Portuguese
men into Spanish regiments throughout the empire. It is more than credible
that conscripted Portuguese soldiers would desert in Tennessee if the
opportunity presented itself. As a sidelight, a genealogical anomaly
resulted from this war. A new race was created in the southern part of
Holland during the six decades that Spanish and Portuguese soldiers were
stationed there. Their "fraternization" with the Dutch girls produced
dark-skinned children which were the beginning of the "Black
Dutch."
- Henry R. Price in "Melungeons: The Vanishing Colony of Newman's Ridge"
offers a theory that the mysterious people were descendants of Sir Walter
Raleigh's lost colony of Roanoke, Virginia (now Roanoke Island, North
Carolina) established July 23, 1587. Another expedition arriving three years
later found no trace of the vanished colonists.
- John Fetterman in "The Melungeons" suggests that they are descendants of
Carthagenian sailors who fled to Portugal when Carthage fell to the Arabs in
A.D. 698.
- English historian David Beers Quinn postulates that in 1586 Sir Francis
Drake deposited several hundred Turkish and Moorish sailors, liberated from
the Spanish in present-day Central America, on the coast of North Carolina
at Roanoke Island. No trace was found of these people when later English
vessels dropped anchor for re-resupplying. It is possible, if not likely,
that many of them survived and were absorbed into the surrounding Native
American tribes. This is particularly intriguing when one considers that
most sixteenth-century Turkish sailors were themselves of central Asian
heritage, thus making them literal cousins to the Native Americans they
would have encountered, if the purported Bering Strait-migration thesis is
to be believed.-- from the Melungeon.org website
- "Melungeon" is itself pronounced identically to the Arabic and Turkish
terms "Melun jinn" and "Melun can" meaning "cursed soul." This term was in
common usage among sixteenth-century Ottoman Turks, Arabs, and Muslim
Conversos in Spain and Portugal, and is still understood by modern Arabs and
Turks as a self-deprecating term by a Mulsim who feels abandoned by God. A
recently initiated linguistics study involving American and Turkish/Arabic
linguists is now underway to take a truly qualified look at such evidence in
order to rule out coincidence. -- from the Melungeon.org website.
- MEMORIAL
- a legal document, which represents the
facts of the owners right and title to the property. South Carolina had an
entire series of Memorials, because the legislature ordered everyone to file
one, explaining how they came by their land. There was no such law in
Virginia, so they are scattered in deed and court books. They generally are of
two types in Virginia. First, they are used like a caveat, or warning, that
there was some kind of problem with the title. ["This is a memorial to
announce that a previous deed was judged invalid."] Memorials can be
used if someone defaults on payments of a sale, and the land reverts to a
previous owner. The owner makes it clear what happened and why he is the true
owner again. The second type might just be making clear how someone obtained
title, usually for the purpose of a sale. Details of previous ownership
are usually given. This type might give a line of descent in a family, proving
how the land was passed from grandfather to father, to son. This is done when
the land passed by operation of law, [as in intestate succession] without a
deed being filed. Sometimes they just state previous sales. This might be done
if a buyer wanted proof that the seller had a right to sell, and not
necessarily because there was problem with the title. Memorials are informal,
much like a deposition concerning title. They are filed in addition to any
deeds, in order to make the chain of title clear. -- Langdon Hagen-Long,
GEN-MEDIEVAL, 23 Nov 2004
- MENNONITE:
- a Swiss Protestant group formed in 1525 who were followers of Menno
Simons, which migrated to America by way of Alsace, England and Russia. They
settled primarily in Kansas, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.
- MENSIS
- [Latin] month
- MERCH
- [Welsh] girl, daughter. Also as verch.
-
MERCHET
- a sum paid by a villein to his lord to
give his daughter in marriage
- MERLETTE
- [French] See martlet
- MERLON
- the high segment of alternating high and low segments of a battlement of a
castle
- MEROVINGIANS
- [medieval] the dynasty of Frankish rulers of central Europe. The dynasty
is named after Merovch [Merovee], King of the Franks. There were certainly a
number of Frankish kings before him, but they tend to by mythical, and the
exact relationships are speculative. This dynasty prospered until the 7th C.,
when their authority was taken over by the Carolingians,
who were their Mayors of the Palace. The genealogical connection between the Carolingians
and the Merovingians is probable, although actual relationship is at present
uncertain.
- MESE [MECE]
- a piece of land with a dwelling on it
- MESNE CONVEYANCE
- an intermediate conveyance,
one occupying an intermediate position in the chain of title between the
first grantee and the present holder
- MESNIE
- military personnel of a castle
- MESSER, MESSOR
- custodian of the manor's harvest
- MESSUAGE
- [English] a small homestead with garden average 90x120 feet in size,
usually with a right to farm several strips in a communal field and to pasture
animals in an open common field
- METAL
- [heraldry] There are two metals: or
and argent
- METHEL
- council, meeting
- METROPOLITAN
- in the eastern orthodox church, the bishop of a large metropolis,
overseeing a provincial area.
- METES AND BOUNDS
- A description of the boundaries of a piece of land that uses landmarks
such as stones, hills, and trees. A "mete" is where two property lines
meet (intersect)
- MICHAELMAS
- a religious holiday celebrating St. Michael, and occurring annually on
September 29th. Annual rents, the most common form in medieval times, were generally due on this day.
With Hock Day, these two dates divided the
year into a summer and winter season.
- MILENUM
- 1000
- MILITARY DEATH INDEX
- database of 100,000 men and women who died in the Korean and Vietnam wars.
- MILITIA
- armed forces raised locally to protect the citizenry, and may be called
upon to serve in a wider conflict as happened in the American Revolution and
Civil War.
- MILLEROLE
- a dry measure in Provence
- MILREIS
- a coin used in the western Mediterranean
- MINIM
- [paleography] a description of the problem of medieval manuscripts, in
which the script appears as a series of vertical letters. This word
becomes the example, for "minim" appears to look like "iiiiiiiiii".
- MISPRISON
- when one hides one's knowledge of an intended treasonable act
- MISSI
- a royal agent under the Carolingians
- MISSUS DOMINICUS
- [Latin: envoy of the lord] an official sent by some Frankish
kings and emperors to supervise provincial administration. Used sporadically
by Merovingian and early Carolingian rulers, the missi became a normal part of
the administrative machinery under Charlemagne (reigned 768-814). From about
802 onward almost all of his empire was periodically divided into missatica,
or inspection circuits; these were visited--in theory for four months out of
every year but often in practice less regularly--by at least two missi, one a
bishop or abbot, the other a layman, probably a count. The missi were powerful
men protected with a wergild
equal to that of a member of the sovereign's family. They had full
investigatory powers and were to rectify all error and injustice. Missi
administered the oath of allegiance exacted from all freemen on the occasion
of a new sovereign, informed local communities of the content of imperial
decrees, and reported back on local conditions and needs. The difficulties
that beset the Carolingian empire after about 830 paralyzed and finally
virtually destroyed the system of missi dominici by the end of the 9th
century.
- MITTIMUS
- an order by the court of jurisdiction to the sheriff to arrest and convey
an individual to jail as a prisoner, subsequent to further order by the court
- MODIFIED REGISTER
- a book of one's descendants
- MOEL
- [Welsh bald] Also as foel.
- MOIETY
- an undivided part or share, usually used in conjunction of a split of area, such as a
medieval Honour.
Moities generally develop either where a person dies
intestate, and the property must be
dividing between several heirs, especially if
their are no male heirs, and it must be divided between co-heiresses.
- MOLET
- [Heraldry] a five-pointed star
- MOLINE
- [Heraldry] a cross each arm of which is divided at the end into two
rounded branches or divisions
- MONEYER
- an individual licensed to mint coins. Traditionally he was allowed
to keep 1/240 for himself as payment for the effort.
- MORGANATIC
- an unequal marriage in social status, which meant (and still often does mean) that any
child of such a marriage will be denied succession rights and will have a
lesser status
- MORAVIAN:
-
- immigrants from an area now part of the present day Czech Republic.
- the United Brethren is a Protestant group formed in Bohemia about 1415
which spread to Poland, Prussia, Germany and England.
- MORGANGIFU
- a gift from a husband to his wife the morning after the
wedding
- MORMAER:
- [Scot.] a medieval territorial ruler usually considered equivalent to an
earl/jarl/count,
but really more a sub-king. Literal translation meant "greater man" and in
early medieval times functioned as Great Steward; later although subject to
the king, he acted fairly independent with almost kingly powers. There
were seven mormaers in the 9th C., when it began to be absorbed into the
English feudal system.
- MORMONS
- Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS), more commonly known as the
Mormons. This church is very active in collecting genealogical information for
religious purposes. Their huge collection of data is available to the general
public as well
- MORT D'ANCESTOR
- a court pleading regarding claims of an heir the another individual has
usurped his property
- MORTALITY SCHEDULE
- the enumeration (census counting) of deaths during the 12 months preceding
census day. The U.S. Census
included Mortality Schedules from 1850 through 1900, although the 1890 and
1900 schedules have been destroyed
- MORTH
- murder
- MORTHERAS
- murderers
- MORTMAIN
- [French dead hand] a medieval feudal principle, later common law,
that property could not be sold or given to a entity other than a person,
specifically to a corporation or religious entity, except by permission of the
king. During that period, most all was owned by the king, and by grant to his
lords. The property was subject to fees, including military service. To allow
property to be owned by an alienated entity deprived the lords, and
subsequently the king, of their their income and military support.
Mortmain was not in effect in the U.S., with the possible exception of
Pennsylvania.
- MORTIS
- [Latin] death
- MORTUARY
- a gift to the church upon one's death
- MOURNING RING
- Mourning jewelry and mourning gifts often borne the name or initial of the
deceased, the date of death and sometimes the age of the dead person, such
rings, bracelets, pins, gloves, scarves and pendants were given to mourners as
remembrances of the deceased.
- MOYN
- [Welsh tender, sweet-natured]
- MR.
- a title that could only precede the names of gentlemen, clergymen or
government officials.
- MRS.
- a feminine equivalent of Mr., it did not denote marital status but social
position (women of the aristocracy). An unmarried woman of social status might
be referred to as "Mrs."
- MULATTO
- an individual with both black and white heritage
- MULIEREM
- [Latin woman]
- MULLET
- [Heraldric] star
- MULTURE
- payment of a portion of grain to the miller for his effort
- MUND
- [Old English] the King's Peace
- MUNDBRECH
- [Old English] breach of the King's
Peace
- MUNDBYRD
- [Old English] guardianship
- MUSTER
- an early colonial census
where inhabitants were called out to appear to be counted
-
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
Sources:
{A}The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third
Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
{B} Black's Law Dictionary, 6th Edition
{D} Dictionary.com
{E} Evans, Barbara Jean. The New A to Zax
{F}The Dictionary of Genealogy by Terrick V H Fitzhugh
{H} History of the Later Roman Empire, Vol.1, J.B. Bury,
1958.
{O}The Oxford English Dictionary
{P} Pepys' diary
{R} Random House Unabridged Dictionary (2006)
{Q} Hinshaw, William Wade, "Encyclopedia of America Quaker Genealogy," (1938,
Rpt., Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1994)
{W} Webster's Collegiate Dictionary; Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA,
Inc.
Return to Genealogy
Home Page
Send your comments to Randy
Jones