ROOTS Genealogical Dictionary
ROOTS
Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms
[V]
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.
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- VAIN
- [Welsh narrow, thin] Also as main.
- VAIR
- [Heraldry] originally indicating squirrel fur,
it is represented by a series of small shields, resembling bells, placed
close together, and alternately white and blue. Counter vair is a fur
resembling vair, except in the arrangement of the patches or figures.
- VALCH
- [Welsh fine, proud, splendid]. Also as balch
- VAS
- vessel
- VASSAL
- a freeman who holds a fief from a lord,
to whom he pays homage and swears to be faithful. in return, he may owe
various specified services, especially military.
- VAUGHN
- [Welsh young, junior] See also fychan.
- VAVASOR
- an inferior baron or
vassal, holding of a baron
- VENALITII
- [Latin] slave dealers
- VENTER
- wife, mother
- VERCH
- [Welsh daughter of] Properly as 'ferch'.
"Verch"/"ferch" comes from the word "merch" meaning "daughter". It also
developed forms without the "v" or "f" in the late Middle Ages - "ach",
"arch", "erch" - but they don't seem to have been as widely used. Verch is the
English corruption of ferch, since the Welsh 'f' is pronounced as 'v' in
English.
- VERO
- [Latin] certainly - to be sure
- VESPERS
- part of the monastic timetable for liturgy, called
horarium. This worship service
typically occurred between 4pm-5pm in winter and 6pm-7pm in summer
- VERT
- [Heraldry] green, or represented in black-and-white as diagonal lines from
dexter chief
corner
- VESTRY
- The vestry is an elected body of people, usually around 10 people, to make
decisions necessary for an Episcopal church's continued function. Terms of
office vary from time frame to time frame, and parish
to parish.
- VICAR
- [Latin, vicarius]
- [English]
(1) an administrative deputy
(2) a minister of
a church who serves under the authority of another minister
- [Roman] -- in late Roman
times, the provincial governor over one of the
dioceses
- VIDAME
- [Latin vice-dominus] One of a class of temporal medieval European
officers who originally represented the bishops, but later erected their
offices into fiefs, and became feudal nobles.
- VIEW OF FRANKPLEDGE
- a medieval jurisdictional authority which allowed the owner to control the
militia to enforce the law. See also
FRANKPLEDGE.
- VIGIL
- the day before
- VILL
- village, equivalent to a civil parish. Seen in old English documents.
- VILLEIN
- a member of a feudal class of partially freemen, who were
serfs with
respect to their lord, but otherwise had some of the rights and privileges of
freemen, was subject to the manorial
court and bound to the land. He typically was a tenant of 20-40
acres. {R}
- VIRCA
- tenure by delivery of a wand
- VINCINITATE
- neighboring area
- VIRGATE
- also know as a yardland,
it was a medieval English unit of area equal to about a quarter of a hide,
or about 30 acres
- VIRGINAL
- in the 1700's, a small keyed instrument, sort of a miniature harpsichord,
generally played by unmarried daughters to entertain suitors and guests, thus
the name "virginal"
- VISITATION
- a visit for the purpose of making an official inspection or examination.
This term was used to describe:
(1) census activities.
(2) In order to
determine whether individuals were illegally using coats
of arms to which they were not entitled, and to establish descent and
maintain clear title to lands, the English Crown sent heralds across the
countryside to make record of the families using arms, and their pedigrees,
to assist in determining their right to that coat. The records of such
visitations provide contemporary and reliable information on the families
involved (and also less contemporary and less reliable information as one
moves back the pedigrees provided). -- Todd Allen Faramerie, GEN-MEDIEVAL
- VITAL RECORDS
- document the major events in a person's life: birth, marriage, divorce,
death. (i.e: birth certificates, death certificates, etc.)
- VIZ
- [Latin, from videlicet] Namely
- VIZIER, WAZIR
- [Arabic] high civilian officer of state, generally head of the bureaucracy
and the day-to-day conduct of government
- VOGT
- [Ger.] steward, usually of an abbey or convent, not a priest or nun, and
usually with other titles
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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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