Randy's Genealogical Dictionary
ROOTS
Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms
[D]
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
-
- DAME
- 1. A female ruler or head = lady, as feminine of lord.
2. [arch.] The
mistress of a household.
3. The mistress of a children's school. Obs. 1640
4. At Eton: A matron (also a man) who keeps a boarding house. 1737
5.
A form of address: = My lady, Madam: now left to women of lower rank, ME
6. A title given to a woman of rank = Lady, Mistress, Miss; spec. the
legal title of the wife of a knight or baronet. Also, fig. as in Dame Nature,
etc. ME
- 7. A woman of rank, a lady. Now hist or poet. 1530 b. spec. The wife of a
knight, squire, citizen, yeoman (arch or dial) 1574 {O}
- DAMSELLE
- young lady
- DANCETTY
- [Heraldric] a zig-zagged bend
- DANEGELD
- An English tax, first levied in 991 by Ethelred the Unready in order to
buy off the Danish invaders of his kingdom. The tax continued to be imposed
long after the Danish invasions had come to an end. Under Edward the Confessor
it was temporarily abolished, to be revived by William the Conqueror in 1084
and thenceforward regularly levied on all lands except the royal manors. The
usual rate was six shillings on every hide (120 acres) of land. The Danegeld
was levied for the last time in 1162. -- E. R. Adair: Danegeld, in: Collier's
Encyclopedia; New York, London 1989; vol. 7, p. 701.
- DANELAW
- The Danelaw
was the area of medieval England subject to Danish rather than Mercian or West
Saxon law. Broadly speaking, the Danelaw was the area conquered by the
Vikings in the ninth century. A treaty between King Alfred the Great and
the Danish leader, Guthrum, defined a boundary which is roughly the line of
the modern A5 between London and Chester, with King Alfred's territories to
the south and west, and Guthrum's to the north and east. This boundary,
however, was not stable, and some areas were only briefly under Viking control
and show modest signs of their culture. The Danelaw was a cultural, not
a political unit; and its culture was far from uniform. -- Spencer Hines,
GEN-MEDIEVAL, 28 Nov 2004
-
DANIQ
- a coin or weight 1/6 of a dirham or
dinar
- DAUB
- mud and clay applied over wattle to
seal and strengthen it
- DEATH CERTIFICATE
- Documentation of one's death
- DE
- [Latin, from] Surnames
with "de", for example "de Beauchamp", meant that the family was "of the place
called Beauchamp". The Beauchamp concerned in this family, was in Normandy,
though there are many places in England today, named after the family, not the
other way round. The name itself was not a surname, but an identifier name,
but it later developed into a surname. -- Renia Simmons (edited)
- DEACON
- a church official of rank below priest. Deacons assist the parish in
non-worship responsibilities, including care of the sick and poor,
administration of church property, and enforcement of Canon law. A
Deacon generally served as the judge during
ecclesiastical court hearings.
- DE BONIS NON
- [Latin, of the goods not administered] the distribution of
property not completed by the first administrator.
- DECEDENT
- the deceased
- DECEM
- [Latin] ten
- DECENNARIES
- groups of ten individuals. See also
frankpledge.
- DECLARATION OF INTENTION
- document filed by an alien in a court of record declaring his intention to
apply for citizenship after fulfillment of the residency requirement. It might
also be used to refer to an intent to marry, usually filed with the town
clerk.
- DECOLLATION
- beheading
- DDU
- [Welsh black]. Also as 'Dhu' and 'Dee'.
- DEED
- a document signed, sealed and delivered according to law and conveying
title to real estate. See also POLLED
DEED, WARRANTY DEED.
- DEED OF LEASE & RELEASE
- a method of selling property. This was the most popular way of conveying
land in medieval England, to get around certain requirements imposed on other
methods. In Virginia, those requirements did not apply, but old habits die
hard. Land in England was originally conveyed by livery
of seizin, in which the owner and the purchaser went on or in sight of the
land, and the owner gave the purchaser some dirt, or a twig, nail, etc. from
the property, in front of witnesses. Originally these transactions were not
written down, and there was certainly no place to record them. The witnesses
were the proof of the transaction. If the transaction did not take place on
the land, the purchaser had to enter the land within a certain amount of time
to claim possession ("seizin").
There were many financial requirements associated with land ownership, and
many restrictions on its conveyance. A freehold
estate was an estate in fee
simple or fee tail. In other words, full ownership. An estate for years,
for example, was not a freehold
estate. To get around some of the problems relating the the ownership of land
with a freehold
estate, people came up with "uses" in about the 14th century. Before that, A
sold to B, and thenceforth B was "seized" with (or had seisin in) the
property. He owned it and had possession of it, with all rights to and
enjoyment of the property. But with uses, which worked somewhat like trusts, A
conveyed to B for the use of C. In this scenario, B had legal title but not
the use of the property, while C had equitable title and the use of the land,
but not the legal title. This meant that neither B nor C had to pay many of
the expenses associated with having seizin
in the property. And who lost this money? The Crown. So in addition to other
problems that arose with uses, the crown was losing income. Henry VIII caused
Parliament to pass the Statute of Uses in 1536, destroying uses (for a while;
clever people soon found other avenues, fear not). The statute said that a use
was automatically transformed to full legal title, so that if A conveyed to B
for the use of C, then by statute B's legal title was destroyed and
transmitted to C, who now had legal and equitable title. Before this, people
had also been turning to conveyancing by Bargain and Sale. In simple terms,
this was a bargain with a PROMISE to sell, and the transaction would be
complete when the terms of the bargain were met. You could have an agreement
on one date, with actual transfer of payment and property at a later date. In
the meantime, the owner had legal title, and the buyer had equitable title.
Under the provisions of the Statute of Uses, once the conditions of the
bargain were met (in other words, once payment was made) then by statute full
title was conveyed to the purchaser, without livery
of seizin before witnesses. This would lend itself to secret conveyances.
To prevent this, Parliament also passed in 1536 the Statute of Enrollment,
which stated that all deeds of Bargain and Sale which involved inheritance or
conveyance of freeholds had to be enrolled, or they were ineffective.
Agreements regarding non-freehold estates, such as for a term of years, did
not have to be enrolled. Many times people did not want to convey by common
law (livery
of seizin), and did not want to take the trouble to enroll their deeds of
Bargain and Sale. So another type of conveyance evolved. Again, this is
oversimplified. If A gives B something less than a freehold
estate (like a lease for a term of years), then when the term is up,
possession will revert to the owner reversion). The lessor (A) could give the
reversion to the lessee (B), in an instrument called a release, which means
that when B's lease is up, he gets the reversion and is still in possession
and owns the property. The important thing about a release was that it could
only be given by the person out of possession TO THE PERSON IN POSSESSION, and
was an instrument in writing, under seal. Usually when people were making
these agreements, they were somewhere other than on the property, and they did
not enter the property, which is what was necessary to transfer possession
under the common law. So here is how it all tied together after the 1536
Statute of Uses and Statute of Enrolment. The parties signed a Bargain and
Sale for a term of years (like a lease for one year), followed by the common
law release of the reversion. These are your deeds of lease and release. The
lease set up an agreement, in a bargain and sale, for a non-freehold estate.
Under the Statute of Uses, B no longer had to actually enter the property to
obtain possession (the Statute of Uses would "transfer use into possession").
Now the buyer/lessee was in possession and could receive the reversion from
the seller, in the Release, in order to make him the owner of an inheritable
estate. He was then the owner, in fee
simple, of the propery. -- Thena Jones
- DEGREES OF CONSANGUINITY
- In the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church contintually contended with
aristocratic marriage practices that tended toward endogamy. Roman civil law
[which was the code adopted by the early Church] had forbidden marriages
within 'four degrees' and had computed degrees by counting from one
prospective spouse up to the common ancestor and then down to the other
partner. Marriages of first cousins, those between pepople related within four
degrees, were therefore forbidden. But in the first half of the ninth century,
both the number of forbidden degrees was increased--from four to seven--and
the method of calculating degrees was changed. Now, rather than counting up
from one spouse to the common ancestor and down to the other, one computed
degrees by counting generations back only to the common
ancestor. A Christian was supposed to marry outside seven degrees. This could
be very difficult because these degrees included not only children, siblings,
and cousins, but also in-laws. Besides the natural consanguinity (cognatio
naturalis), marriage was also prohibited because of the spiritual one
(cognatio spiritualis), ie. that between the baptised and his/her
godparents, and because of legal one, ie. that between the adoptee and
descendants of the adopters. Relationship via marriage (affinitas)
was treated in the same way as consanguinitas
and dispensation was never granted in the direct line, eg. father-in-law and
daughter-in-law. The barrier of 4th degree set in 1215 remained in force until
1917 when it was changed to 3rd. However, dispensations where seldom refused
for 3rd and 4th degree, and it was also possible to obtain it for 2nd degree,
eg. uncle and his niece.
- DE JURE
- [Latin by law]
- DEMESNE
- land possessed by a lord and used by himself (or his direct employees) instead of rented out to tenants.
Also known as "in-land".
- DEMIMONDE
- a polite 19th Century term for "mistress". it referred to a class
of women on the edge of respectable society who were supported by their
wealthy lovers
- DEMOGRAPHY
- the study of the characteristics of human populations, as size, growth,
density, distribution and vital statistics.
- DENARIUS
- a silver penny, abbreviated by the English "d", first issued by the Romans
during the Punic Wars, replacing the drachma. Originally a denarius was
worth 10 asses.
- DENIZEN
- a foreigner permitted certain rights of citizenship. In England, they
could purchase and own land, but it could not be inherited without a grant
from the crown. A denizen also could hold no public or civil office, or be in
the military. This policy was carried over into colonial America.
- DENIZATION
- Denization is/was akin to modern naturalization. An individual born
outside England could not claim certain rights under the Common Law unless
denizened: a foreign-born woman married to an English-born subject, for
example, could not automatically claim the right to dower from her husband's
properties unless denizened. Property tenure could also be difficult for
a male because, if born outside England, he would have found it extremely
difficult to prove his age according to the requirements of English
law--meaning that witnesses from his local community had to be produced and
sworn to give evidence that he had been born at a certain date. --John
Carmi Parsons
- DEVSHIRME
- [Turkish] a levy of Christian boys, who were recruited and trained to be
in the Janissaries, the imperial guard
- DEPOSITION
- a written testimony by a witness for use in court in his or her absence.
- DERBFINE
- [Celtic] a family group descended from a common great-grandfather.
Land was owned collectively
- DESCENDANT
- an immediate or remote offspring. See also, direct
descendent, lineal
descendent, collateral
descendent, collateral
ancestor
- DESCENDANT CHART
- report or chart that shows a person and all of their descendants in a
graphical format. As opposed to the Modified
Register which is more of a narrative report.
- DESPOT
- a middle eastern ruler
- DEVISE
- to transmit property by will
- DHIRA
- 1/24 of a cubit
- DEVISEE
- one to whom a devise is made
- DEW
- [Welsh, fat]
- DEXTER
- [Heraldry] Left as seen from the shield's front, but right as seen by the
wearer
- DIAERESIS
- In linguistics, a diaeresis or dieresis (AE) (from Greek
διαιρειν (diaerein), to divide) is the modification of a syllable by
distinctly pronouncing one of its vowels. The diacritic mark is composed of
two small dots ( ¨ ) placed over a vowel to indicate this
modification is also called a diaeresis. In the case of an "i", it
replaces the original dot.
- DIE
- [Latin, day]
- DINAR
- [Latin, denarius] the unit of currency under the Caliphate until
the 12th Century
- DIOCESE
- In medieval and current times, a unit of Christian church government
consisting of a number of parishes, and
headed by a bishop. Formerly, in Roman times, it was a unit of civil
government equivalent to a province, within one of the four prefectures,
governed by a Prætorian
Præfect. Each of the Roman dioceses
governors held the title of vicar.
- DIRECT HEIR
- one who is in an individual's direct line of ascent or descent
- DIRECT DESCENDENT
- We use the adjective "direct" when we
need, because of context, to emphasize that the descent is NOT collateral,
otherwise, we use "descendant"
unmodified to mean lineal descendant. -- John Stewart Gordon, GEN-MEDIEVAL,
19 Mar 2005 This is synonymous with lineal
descendent.
- DIRHAM
- [Greek, drachma] the unit of currency in the Islamic world
from the Mongol conquest
- DISSEIZIN
- forcible dispossession of real property
- DISTRAIN
- [Legal] to seize goods esp. for debt, including non-payment of rent/rates
- DISTRIBUTEE
- one entitled to a share in the estate of a person who died intestate
(without a will). In 1705 colonial Virginia, division of property amoung
children: real property: eldest received all (common law not statute);
personal property - equal shares among children. The widow received a share if
there were children: real property - 1/3 for life (common law); personal 1/3.
If there were no children, the widow received: real property - 1/3 for life
(common law); personal - 1/2. In 1705 Virginia passed a statute making it
impossible to break an entail without obtaining a special act of the assembly.
- DIT NAME
- an alias given to a family name. Compared to other alias or a.k.a. that
are given to one specific person, the dit names are be given to many persons.
It seems the usage exists almost only in France, New France and in Scotland
where we find clans or septs.
- DIURESIS
- The double-dot over a letter, replacing a
double letter combination called an umlaut,
German way of writing the word; the ue, oe or ae letter combinations are a way
of representing the umlaut in non-Germanic alphabets which lack the
umlauts.
- DOGE
- [Latin dux - duke] medieval ruler of Venice. The position was
elected by the Venetian nobility, although it stayed within a few families.
- DOLIUM
- a cask of 208 gallons
- DOM
- [Latin dominus - lord]
(1) a Portuguese lord, a very restricted title reserved for relatives of
the royal house and the highest rank nobility. Dom is the only
Portuguese title which is inherited by all legitimate children of a male
titular. The female form is Dona.
(2) a Scottish lord, lords in the territorial sense, or else priests.
Usually in charters the Doms were first then the knights, then the others,
unless there were clerics with precedence, who went before all. Clerics
without precedence, often the lawyer for the deed, went last, but were still
Doms. If the Latin word "domini/dominus" PRECEDES a man's name in a medieval
English or Scottish record, the word should be rendered in English as "Sir"
not "lord." -- Alex Findlater, GEN-MEDIEVAL, 6 Oct 2006 - DOMESDAY BOOK
- the Grand or Great Inquest of Survey of lands in England, by William the
Conqueror. It gave a census-like description of the realm, with the names of
the proprietors and the nature, extent, value, liabilities, etc. of their
properties.
- DOMHERR
- a canon or prebendary (literally "cathedral gentleman") -- Peter Stewart
- DOMINA
- [Latin, lady] the mistress of the family; lady; wife
- DOMINE
- [Latin, lord] lord or master; used as a form of address when
speaking to clergy or educated professionals
- DOMINUS
- [Latin, lord]
- DOMINICANS
- an order of friars founded by St. Dominic. The order emphasized
learning and intellectual activity, and thus founded many universities.
Also known as black friars for the color of their habit
- DOMO
- [Latin] to master, subdue; home, residence, family
- DON
- [Latin dominus - lord] A Spanish lord,
a Don/Doņa is a social distinction suitable for all nobility but also to army
officers, bachelors, rich merchants, etc.
- DONA
- [Latin dominus - lord] a Portuguese lady, a very restricted title reserved for relatives of the
royal house and the highest rank nobility. Dona (without tilde)
is the only Portuguese title which is inherited by all legitimate children of
a male titular. The male form is Dom.
- DOŅA
- [Latin dominus - lord] A Spanish lady,
a Don/Doņa is a social distinction suitable for all nobility but also to army
officers, bachelors, rich merchants, etc.
- DONZEL
- [archaic] young lord, the male equivalent of
damselle
- DOOMS
- judgments of a manorial court
- DOUBLE COUSIN
- cousins by virtue that both sets of grandparents are cousins
- DOXY
- an unmarried mistress of a beggar or rogue.
- DOWAGER
- a widow who holds title or property derived from her dead husband
- DOWER
- the part of interest of a deceased man's real estate allotted by law to
his widow. If unspecified, typically the widow was entitled at least to a
third of the estate, and perhaps even a life interest in the rest of the
estate. Since the wife received this entitlement under common law, she was
required to approve any sale of property purchased during the marriage under
her right of dower, although this was frequently overlooked during colonial
times. Do not confuse this with DOWRY (q.v.).
- DOWRY
- a pre-mortem inheritance, either full or partial, given to a daughter at
the time of marriage, and is a direct expression of a family's honor, where
practiced. Do not confuse this with DOWER (q.v.)
- DRACHMA
- the principle coin of ancient Greece
- DRAPER
- one who bought and sold cloth of all kinds, and may even have
participated in the dyeing of the clothe.
- DRAW
- [Old English taken] as part of an execution, to be dragged to the
hanging behind horsetail, a very low form of corporeal punishment. Chief
Justice Edward Coke described it as: "To be drawn to the place of execution
from his prison, as being not worthy any more to tread upon the face of earth
whereof he was made. Also, for that he hath been retrograde to nature,
therefore is he drawn backward at a horse-tail. And whereas God hath made the
head of man the highest and most supreme part, as being his chief grace and
ornament, he must be drawn with his head declining downward and lying so near
the ground as may be, being thought unfit to take benefit of the common air. "
-- Catherine Drinker Bowen, The Lion and the Throne, The Life and Times of
Sir Edward Coke. (1552-1634) (Boston, 1956), 258-259.
- DRAWN AND QUARTERED
- The capital punishment until 1870 in Britain was to be drawn, or dragged,
on a hurdle at horsetail to his place of execution and hanged on a gibbet, but
not till dead. He was then suspended on a hook, disemboweled while still
alive, beheaded and quartered. Until 1790 when they too were hanged, women
were burnt after being drawn. Again, as described by Chief Justice Edward
Coke: "For which cause also he shall be strangled, being hanged up by the neck
between heaven and earth as deemed unworthy of both or either; as likewise,
that the eyes of men may behold and their hearts contemn him. Then he to be
cut down alive, and have his privy parts cut off and burnt before his face as
being unworthily begotten and unfit to leave any generation after him. His
bowels and inlay'd parts taken out and burnt, who inwardly had conceived and
harbored such horrible treason. After, to have his head cut off, which had
imagined the mischief. And lastly, his body to be quartered and the quarters
set up in some high and eminent place, to the view and detestation of men, and
to become a prey for the fowls of the air." -- Catherine Drinker Bowen,
The Lion And The Throne, The Life And Times Of Sir Edward Coke (1552-1634)
(Boston, 1956), 258-259.
- DRENG
- a peasant tenant of Northumberland, York, or Lancaster, England, whose land is
held for military service
- DRINCLEAN
- payment due to a lord from his tenant for ale
- DROPSY
- congestive heart failure
- DROVER
- one who drives sheep, cattle or horses on foot to market
- DRUMMER
- a commercial traveler or salesman who sometimes used a drum to attract
attention to his wares.
- DRYHTEN
- [Anglo-Saxon] warlord
- DSP
- [Latin dessus sine prole] died without offspring
- DUCHY
- the territory ruled by a duke (see below, and also DUKEDOM). In
England, there currently are only two duchies -- Lancaster and Cornwall.
- DUGU
- [Anglo-Saxon] a proven warrior
- DUKE
- [Latin dux, duxoris] a title dating to Roman times, where for the
Latins and the Byzantines, a duke was the principal military administrator of a
provincial area. There were 12 dukes in the West and 13 in the East. Later, the only dukes in the Empire before the 12th century
were the "Stamme" dukes, the tribal leaders who were Christian stand-ins for
pre-Christian or pre-Imperial Kings. There were very few of them: Bavaria,
Saxony, Carinthia (occasionally), Franconia, Swabia, and Upper and Lower
Lotharingia. All these places except Carinthia were understood to have been
kingdoms at one time; their deity-descended royal families had died out (or
been conquered and replaced), and so the ruler was called duke, which in both
Latin and Germanic forms signifies "war-leader". New dukedoms could not be
created by the Emperor, though rival claimants could be appointed -- thus the
Zharingens were appointed Dukes of Swabia and, on losing their claim, began to
call themselves Dukes of Zahringen instead, though this was never a created
title. In time, it was more or less recognized until the line died out. (Their
cousins of Baden never claimed a higher title than Margrave until Napoleon
made them Grand Dukes.) This was also true in France, where Burgundy, Brittany
(intermittently), Gascony-Guienne and Aquitaine were the only ducal titles,
because they were former kingdoms. Normandy only very slowly became a dukedom,
as its Counts asserted greater and greater independent authority over a Norman
"tribe" in the region. Before William II (the Conqueror), no Count of Rouen
was invariably called a duke. Insecure, perhaps, due to the experiences of his
youth, William insisted on Duke until he became a King. No French King
"created" a Dukedom until John II did so for his younger sons and a cousin. No
non-royal Dukedom was created until Francois I did so for his mistress, the
Duchess d'Etampes. (Unless you count Cesare Borgia, Duc de Valentinois.)
Edward III of England followed John's fashion and created the first English
Dukes, but only for three of his sons. His grandson Richard II was generally
ridiculed for expanding the number. The Scots imitated the English. The
various Spanish Kings also imitated France, at the same time. No Emperor in
Germany ever created a dukedom until Frederick I's "Privilegium Minus" granted
the title to his uncle, Henry Jasomirgott of Austria. Henry had been Duke of
Bavaria and had given that up at Frederick's behest, to make peace with its
old heirs, the Welfs. He did not care to give up the title duke once he had
held it for mere Margrave of Austria and Count of Babenberg, so Frederick had
him promoted. His cousins of Styria followed suit. The next dukedoms were
Brunswick and Luneburg, promoted from mere Counties by Frederick II to make
peace with the Guelfs, who had been deprived of Saxony and Bavaria by
Frederick I. dukes were under-kings and magnates. Dukes always outranked
counts when ranks were in existence, but there were always certain Counts (the
great ones were Counts of a March, or Margraves) who outranked certain dukes
until the rankings were standardized. -- Jean Coeur de Lapin (edited)
- DUKEDOM
- the honor of a Duke, conferring privilege, rank and prestige, but
necessarily signifying a territory, as does a Duchy (q.v.).
- DUN
- [Scottish] hill fort
- DUO
- [Latin] two
- DUTY
- imposed taxes on an item when passed through a port of entry
- DUX
- [Latin] duke, originally in late Roman and medieval times, a war leader or
general. See DUKE.
- DYKKER
- bundle
-
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 HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language, Third
Edition copyright Š 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, Š 1996, 1998 MICRA,
Inc.
-
Return to Genealogy
Home Page
Send your comments to Randy
Jones