ROOTS Genealogical Dictionary
ROOTS
Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms
[U]
Last Edited:
Tuesday, 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.
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- UA
- [Gaelic] the surname prefix which constitutes a surname or parentage. This
later was transliterated into "O'", as in O'Toole.
- UDAL
- freehold tenure in absolute ownership
- UÍ
- [Gaelic] the surname prefix which denotes the sept or dynasty of an
individual
- ULAMA
- [Arabic] scholar
- ULEMA
- [Turkish] scholar
- ULTIMO
- [Latin] last, often abbreviated as "ult." in older
obituaries, indicating
a previous month or year
- UMLAUT
- A "double dot over a letter". The
double-dot (called a diuresis;
the letter-symbol combination is called an umlaut) is the correct, 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.
- UMM
- [Arabic] mother of
- UNCIA
- [Visgothic] six solidi
- UNCUS
- Baltic measure of land
- UNPROBATED
- the will and the
estate not submitted for
probate
- UNSOLEMN WILL
- a will in which the
executor is not named
- UMQUHILE
- [Scottish] former, late, deceased
- UNGENTLE
- not befitting of a gentleman
- UNUS
- [Latin] Numeral one (1)
- URADEL
- [Ger.] the nobility whose titles were
created prior to 1350
- USURY
- interest charged on a loan, which is forbidden under Canon Law. This
was largely ignored either by having non-Christians, i.e., Jews, provide the
loans, or by giving the lender a share of the property income.
- UTERINE
- of the mother; this usually refers to two siblings who share a mother, but
have separate fathers
- UTFANGENTHEOF
- the right to chase and hold a thief from beyond the jurisdiction where the
crime occurred
- UTTAVES
- octave
- UTWARE
- service
- UXOR
- [Latin] wife - the married state, abbreviated as "ux"
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| I
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K
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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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