ROOTS

Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms

[K]

Last Updated: December 30, 2007

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

KAGAN: title of head of state among the turkic peoples -- Avars, Pechenegs, Khazars, etc. from the 7th Century CE
KALEND: the first day of the month under the Roman calendar
KEELER: a cooler, broad shallow wooden vessel, where milk was set to cream or wart to cool.
KEEPER OF THE PEACE: see JUSTICE OF THE PEACE
KERMES: red dye
KHADIM: [Arabic] a servant
KHAN: [Turkish] a contraction of 'khaqan', it is a title of sovereignty over a group of tribes or territories. The title was used by the Turks in Central Asia from the 10th Century onward, and later used by the Genghis Khan and his descendants, including the Mongol rulers of Persia and India
KHARAJ: [Arabic] taxes or tribute
KILDERKIN: a small vessel - the eighth part of a tun or vat, amounting to between 16-18 gallons
KINDRED: a group of blood-related persons
KING'S PEACE: originally a zone around the king within which any offense was a felony and tried before the the king. Later the zone was extended to the full realm of the kingdom, and criminal offenses were tried in the king's court.
KITH AND KIN: friends and neighbors
KNIGHT: originally a warrior who could afford to fully equip himself, and who was recognized by the king as suitable to fight on his behalf. His status was below a baron, but higher than a peasant of otherwise freemaen. After 1400, the honor became hereditary and evolved into three knightly classes: knights, squires and gentlemen, who as a whole became known as the gentry.
KNIGHT HOSPITALLER: an order of knights charged with caring for the sick and protecting holy places during the Crusades
KNIGHT TEMPLAR: an order of knights originally created to protect Jerusalem, and specifically the Temple there, as well as to protect the pilgrims in transit there. The order was suppressed beginning 1316, when the King of France feared their growing power and desired to seize their wealth
KNIGHTS FEE: Basically, the king owned all the land. He allowed the nobles to use it in exchange for a service they were to perform for the king, usually supplying soldiers in time of war for a specified period of time. Likewise, these big nobles sub-granted portions of their land to lesser gentry in exchange for a share of the military service owed. The number of knights (not actual single knights on horseback, but originally the knights, their retainers, servants, and serfs of military age, later simply a company of foot knights, soldiers, and/or archers) was determined (more or less) by the value of the territory infeudated. Thus, it was not the knights' fee that was valued per se, but the land with which the fee was associated. In the time of Edward I, the value of a knight's fee was worth 20£ per year, or up to 40 days service, if called upon. See French HAUBERT.
KREIS: See Landkreis.

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:

{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)

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