ROOTS Genealogical Dictionary
ROOTS
Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms
[G]
Last Update:
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
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.
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- GADARN
- [Welsh strong] see also cadarn.
- GAEL
- [Celtic] the name given by the Celts to their inhabitants of Britain and
Ireland and the Isle of Man
- GAENGANG
- pregnant
- GAFOL
- rent
- GAFOLLAND
- rented land
- GAIRTHINX
- gift
- GALLOWS
- (1) a platform upon which an individual was hanged
(2) a medieval jurisdictional authority which has the right to try and execute
capital crimes
- GAON
- [Hebrew] ancient Jewish religious teacher and leader, whose key role was
to provide interpretation of the Talmud
- GARD
- an acronym for Gateway Ancestor of Royal Descent
- GARDEROBE
- a toilet built into a castle wall and projecting out over the moat
- GATEWAY ANCESTOR
- a ancestor which provides a link from
one culture or time period to another
- GAVELKIND
- in medieval England, land which descended equally to the male heirs,
rather through the rules of primogeniture
- GAZETTEER
- a book which alphabetically names and describes the places in a specific
area. For example, a gazetteer of a county would name and describe all of the
towns, lakes, rivers, and mountains in the county.
- GEBUR
- a dependent cultivator of the soil
- GEDCOM
- GEnealogy Data COMmunications - GEDCOM is a specific file format invented
to allow sharing of data between two potentially dissimilar computers. All
vital information on each individual in the database is collected and put in a
format the receiving computer may understand.
- GEMELLES
- [Heraldic] thin bars usually in pairs
- GEMOT
- a meeting
- GEN-ANCIENT
- the Internet mail list/discussion group dedicated to ancient genealogy,
roughly the period before the fall of Rome (453), although many genealogist
prefer to use GEN-MEDIEVAL
for the same purpose, especially in the absence of an active pre-medieval
group. To subscribe, send an email to mailto:[email protected],
with no subject, and only the word "subscribe" in the body text.
- GEN-MEDIEVAL
- the Internet mail list/discussion group dedicated to medieval genealogy,
roughly the period after the fall of Rome (453) and the colonization of
America (1607), although participants regularly test those boundaries,
especially in the absence of an active pre-medieval group (although GEN-ANCIENT
does exist). To subscribe, send an email to [email protected],
with no subject, and only the word "subscribe" in the body text.
- GENEROUS
- [archaic] referring to a person as a member of the
gentry
- GENOGRAM
- a family tree designed to show the medical history of a family to show
genetically inherited health patterns
- GENTILE
- a person who is not Jewish
- GENTILICUM
- [Roman] the middle Roman name (prænomen,
gentilicum, cognomen) signifying the
family, or gens, to which a person belonged. It served as what we
today would call a surname. Example: In Gaius Julius Cæsar, the famous
dictator belonged to the Julian family. Females took the feminine form
of the gentilicum as their common name. Thus all of Cæsar's sisters
would have been known as Julia.
- GENTLEMAN
- In medieval times, the word 'gentile' meant noble, but gentleman' came
into use in the fifteenth century to signify a condition between baron and
yeoman, or sometimes between knight and yeoman, after a statute of 1413 had
laid down that in certain legal documents the 'estate, degree or mystery' of
the defendant must be stated. In 1429 the term 'les gentils' was used in an
Act of Parliament, of men having freehold property worth 40 pounds per year or
more. From the sixteenth century onward, the distinction between gentlemen and
yeomen lay more in their way of life than in their relative prosperity. A
gentlemen did not work with his hands, so his household included personal
servants; whereas the servants of a yeoman were his assistants on the land and
in the dairy. A gentleman's son was often described as a yeoman while he was
working his holding, pending inheritance of his father's lands. Members of the
professions, i.e. army and naval officers and barristers, were regarded as
gentlemen, some of them being entitled to the description 'Esquire'. For
apprenticing a son to a London citizen a property qualification was required,
so many gentlemen's sons entered the more profitable trades of the City. When
a man, who during his working life was designated by his occupation (for
example, tailor), retired, he would often then describe himself as 'Gentleman'
as he was no longer gainfully employed. {F}
- GENTRY
- the landed people. The gentry lacked hereditary titles, but exercised
extensive political influence at the local level.
Sheriffs and
Justices of the Peace were usually chosen from among the gentry, for instance. The gentry were
regarded as gentlemen,
that is to say men of sufficient landholdings that they could live on the
rents and not themselves do manual labor. In England, they numbered about
16,000 men who, together with their families, constituted about 3-4 percent of
the English population at the end of Elizabeth's reign. -- John Steel Gordon
(edited)
- GEOGU
- young, unmarried Anglo-Saxon warriors, often the sons of dugu , who,
having as yet no land of their own, resided with their lord, attending and
accompanying him as he progressed through his estates, much as the companions'
of Tacitus' day had done. When a gesi of this sort had proved himself to his
lord's satisfaction, he received from him a suitable endowment of land,
perhaps even the land his father had held from the lord. This made him into a
dugu.
- GERMAN COUSINS
- see COUSINS GERMAN
- GERSUMA
- a fine paid to a lord upon entering a holding
- GESI AS
- [late Saxon] a group of professional warriors in the direct service of the
king, living in his hall and receiving gifts from the king in return for their
service. They accompanied the king on journeys, served as ministers in
peacetime and formed his bodyguard and the backbone of his royal host in times
of war. Although often seen as mercenaries, because they received payment from
the king, their service arose from the obligation to serve their lord rather
than just a cash inducement.
- GESITH
- [Anglo-Saxon] a follower of the king
- GESTUM
- (1) a guest's portion
- (2) a allowance for meat and drink
- GHULAM
- a young male slave
- GIVEN NAMES
- the names given to an individual by his/her parents.
- GLEBE
- still used in some traditional churches, e.g., Presbyterian, for the land
on which the manse (minister's residence) stands. Also, land belonging or
yielding revenue to a parish church or ecclesiastical benefice.
- GLAN
- [Welsh pure, sacred, clean, handsome]
- GLORIOSI
- [Latin] the rank of administrative official instituted in the 6th C., to
be the highest rank of civil service, even high that the former rank of the
illustres. {H}
- GOCH
- [Welsh red-haired] See also coch.
- GODFATHER/GODMOTHER
- a man or woman who sponsors a child at baptism, also called a Godparent
- GONFALON
- an medieval ensign, standard or banner used, and formed after the fashion
of the 'vexillum', or standard of the Roman cavalry. It consisted of a flag
attached to a cross-bar and suspended by cords at right angles to the pole.
Though at first a war banner, it subsequently became peculiar to the Church. A
gonfalonier is one who carries the standard. In Italy today, a gonfalonier is
a magistrate.
- GOODMAN
- a solid member of the community who ranked above a freeman but below a
gentleman on the social scale. In Scotland, he could be of landed status not
directly held from the crown.
- GOODS AND CHATTELS
- personal property, as distinguished from real property
- GOODWIFE
- originally, a woman married to a "gentleman".
Often the title was shortened to "Goody". If you come across names such as
Goody Cook or Goody Whitten, they are not first names but the abbreviation of
a title In colonial America, the term was more closely associated with
Puritam New England than the South. It took on the connotation of a
woman of humble origins, slightly below the status of 'Mrs.'
- GRAF
- [Ger.] the German equivalent of an English earl
or continental count.
- GRAND UNCLE/AUNT
- an uncle/aunt of one's father or mother. In U.S. frequently seen as
"great-uncle" which is equivalent. Grand uncle is the older form, and is
preferred.
- GRANGE
- (1) a farm estate of a monastery
- (2) a system of farming created by the
Cistercians
- GRANT
- to transfer property by a deed
- GRANTEE
- one to whom a grant is made
- GRANTEE INDEX
- index to grantees of deeds recorded in a deed book
- GRANTOR
- one from who a grant is made
- GRASS WIDOW
- 1. [German Stroh Witwer Straw Widow] an unmarried woman who has
cohabited with one or more men, a discarded mistress. Akin to the artificial
"Straw Man" of debate or corn field. . . and "Straw Witness" (who advertised
his willingness to perjure himself by displaying a 'straw' in his shoe when
appearing near the court.)
2. A wife who has been put aside/away/retired
or just plain "Left". . . much as one puts an animal "to grass." just as
business puts old and faithful employee "out to pasture". . . . It can also
mean a woman whose husband is 'absent' from her (for whatever period of time)
husband.
- GREGORIAN CALENDAR
- the calendar in use today. Pope Gregory XIII ordered the replacement of
the previous Julian
Calendar in 1582, although it was not adopted by England and the American
Colonies until 1752. See also Old
Style Date.
- GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGE
- after a village of southern Scotland on the English border. It was famous
as a place for runaway marriages from 1754 until 1856, when the Scottish law
was changed to require a 21-day residence period for one of the parties before
issuance of a license.
{A}
- GREY FRIARS
- see FRANCISCANS
- GRIDBREGE [GRITBRECHE]
- the right to hold an inquisition on the breach of peace
- GRIFFIN
- [heraldric] a fabled monster, usually having the head and wings of an
eagle and the body of a lion
- GRIFFON
- [heraldric]
- (1) a vulture living in southeastern Europe
(2) a medium-sized wire-haired Belgian dog
(3) medieval slang for "Greek"
(4) a variation on "griffin"
- GRITH
- peace, protection
- GRITHBRECH
- breaking of the peace
- GUARDIAN
- an appointee of the court who cares for the property and rights of a minor
or someone incapable of handling his or her own affairs.
- GUILD
- a medieval trade association
- GULES
- (1) [Heraldric] one of the seven allowed colors
-- red, or represented in greyscale as or a shading of vertical lines
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(2) the first day of a month
- GUTTE
- gutter or drain pipe.
- GWAS
- [Welsh boy, servant]
- GWLLT
- [Welsh wild]
- GWYN
- [Welsh white] See also wynn.
- GYNÆCEA
- women's quarters
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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.
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