ROOTS Genealogical Dictionary
ROOTS
Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms
[S]
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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- SABLE
- [Heraldry] black, or represented in black-and-white as horizontal and
vertical lines crossing
- SAC
- jurisdiction in matters of dispute
- SACKLESS/SACKELESE
- [Leg.] blameless
- SACRIST
- a religious official charged with ensuring the security and cleanliness of
a church. he was also the keeper of the altar vessels
- SAKE AND SOKE
- a right of jurisdiction claimed by a lord of a manor
- SALANDRA
- a ship of Alexandria
- SALIC LAW
- The rule by which royal succession could only pass through sons, derived
from an old law of the Franks about land inheritance. It was used by the
French Royal House to justify the exclusion of daughters from succession but
is wrongly believed to be the legal basis on which women were excluded from
succession. It did not apply in England and was only introduced in Spain in
1713. The LEX SALICA (in Latin) was set down by Clovis, the founder of the
Merovingian dynasty in Western Europe, around the end of the 5th century. It
is a code of laws covering many matters, but the clause governing questions of
inheritance stated that daughters could not inherit land and that all land
should go to sons. This prohibition on land inheritance by a daughter had
nothing to say about royal inheritance, per se, and was modified very early to
allow daughters to inherit land if there were no sons. The law was forgotten
and "rediscovered" in the 14th and 15th centuries. It was subsequently adapted
to justify the exclusion of a daughter from inheriting the throne of France
and of those whose descent from a previous sovereign is traced only through a
woman. -- Matthew Harley, GEN-MEDIEVAL, 27 Mar 1002
- SALTIRE
- [Heraldry] one of the primary ordinaries
on a shield, comprising a large X across the body of the shield
- SANTAE MARIAE
- [Latin] St. Mary
- SATRAP
- In ancient Middle East, a provincial ruler, with virtual unlimited power,
under Ptolemaic and Persian empires
- SCEAT, SCÆT
- four sceats equal one penny
- SCHEPEL
- a bushel
- SCIPPOND
- a Baltic measure equaling 300-400 pounds
- SCOT AND LOT
- the rights and duties of a citizen
- SCOTS-IRISH:
- The descendants of the Presbyterian Scots who had been placed in the
northern counties of Ireland by British rulers in the early part of the 17th
Century. Most came to America from 1718 until the Revolution. They settled
first in PA, then moved south and then westward to the frontier.
- SCRIPTORIUM
- the room or building in a monastery where a the monks copied books and
documents
- SCUTAGE
- a shield tax in place of required military service
- SECONDARY RECORD
- or secondary source; a record created some time after the event
- SEIGNEUR
- [French] indicate a fief's
owner (noble
or not), and sometimes a noble
person (owning fief
or not). See also sieur,
sire.
- SEIZE QUARTIERS
- [French] sixteen quarters. To be of true nobility in medieval times, one
had to show the lineage (noble, of course) back 4 generations, where one would
have 16 great-great-grandparents. This led during this period to the frquent
creation of fictitious genealogies.
- SEIZIN
- possession of real property under claim of freehold estate. Possession
with an intent on the part of him who holds it to claim a freehold interest.
Right to immediate possession according to the nature of the estate.{B}
- SELECTMAN
- a town official, as in New England, USA
- SELION
- a narrow strip of land between two furrows dividing an open field
- SEMY
- [Heraldic] a bunch of
- SENESCHAL
- An official in a medieval noble household in charge of domestic
arrangements and the administration of servants; a steward or major-domo. From
Middle English, from Old French, of Germanic origin
- SENNIGHT
- aweek; seven days
- SEPTEM
- [Latin] 7
- SEPULCHERED
- buried
- SERF
- a semi-free peasant who works the lord's
demesne, and pays dues for the use of the land, the possession (but not
ownership) is inheritable. Also known as
villeins, churls, boors, and naifs.
- SERVI
- serfs or slaves
- SERVUS/A SERVARUM
- [Latin] servant/servants
- SESTER
- 4 gallons
- SETIER
- 3-1/4 liters
- SEWER
- someone who superintended the formalities of a banquet i.e. arrangement of
seating, serving of dishes
- SEWERY
- a store room for provisions, linen or furniture
- SEX
- [Latin, French] 6
- SEXTON
- A church official in charge of keeping the churchyard, cemetery
- SHAMBLES
- an area of town where the butchers threw out their waste
- SHERIFF
- a magistrative office dating to medieval England. The term
derives from "shire's reeve",
of the King's representative in the shore (county), charged with enforcing the
King's law's and orders. In colonial America, "the office of sheriff
rotated approximately at two-year intervals among justices of the county
court, who were planters, farmers, craftsmen-businessmen, or members of the
professions. The sheriff received a salary along with a richer source of
income: fees for specific duties he performed and portions of the funds he
collected. Together with their other duties, deputy sheriffs kept records of
tax delinquents and conducted "sheriff's sales" of goods forfeited by people
who could not pay court-ordered judgments. These deputies, like the sheriffs
they served, were not necessarily chosen for any particular aptitude as
crime-stoppers. Rather, they joined together to "farm the sheriffalty"---meaning,
in the utterly frank language of the time, that the deputy sheriffs split both
the "labour" and the "profits" attending the functions of the sheriff's
office." (Melvin Patrick Ely, Israel on the Appomattox, 2004, pp.
245-246. Vintage Books, New York)
- SHERIFF'S PLEAS
- a medieval jurisdictional authority which allowed the authority to hear
any case that would be heard in court.
- SHILLING
- a unit of British currency, used only for accounting purposes, equaling 12
pence
- SHIRE
- [Britain] county
- SIBLING
- a brother or sister
- SIC
- [Latin] thus
- SILIQUA
- [Visgothic] 1-1/3 silver solidi
- SILIQUE
- 1/24 of a solidus
- SEIGNEUR
- [French] lord
- SIEUR [French]
- 1. lord of a "place". Very often "place" is only residence and "sieur"
evokes prominence, and designates land-holding, without right of lordship,
thus non-noble
2. an honorific address of formality or politeness,
especially after the 16th C., equivalent to the colonial English use of
Mister. Sieur is often found associated with a person's name in legal
documents in New France, and it does not necessary mean the person was
socially prominent. There is no noble title such as "sieur", it is used as an
honorific, although a titled nobleman is sometimes called a "sieur" or "sieur
de". See also seigneur,
sire.
- SIMONY
- the buying and selling of spiritual things, such as church offices and
benefices
- SINISTER
- [Heraldry] Right as seen from the shield's front, but left as seen by the
wearer.
- SIR
- [fr French sire]
father
- 1. the current modern honorific address of formality or politeness,
especially after the 16th C., equivalent to the colonial English use of
Mister.
2. the medieval title associate with knights. Not all "sirs" were
knights. In the medieval period, clergymen were titled "Sir", as are the
Baronets created since "invented" by James VI. Barons were not "Sirs", they
were "Lords". -- Renia Simmons (edited)
- SIRE {D}
- [fr French seigneur,
fr Latin senus, senor]
-
- A father.
- The male parent of an animal, especially a domesticated mammal such as a
horse.
- Archaic. A male ancestor; a forefather.
- Archaic. A gentleman of rank.
- Archaic. Used as a form of address for a superior,
especially a king.
- SISTER
- has definitions comparable to "brother"
- SITULAE
- a measure containing 8 setiers
- SKALD
- [Old Norse] a medieval Scandanavian poet
- SLAVE SCHEDULE
- completed questionnaire for the enumeration of slaves in 1850 and 1860
censuses
- SMOCK WEDDING
- one of the more unusual customs that came to America. Under English common
law if a widow remarried and brought any of her late husband's property to the
marriage, the new husband became liable for any and all the debts of the
previous husband. Women owned nothing in their own right, and this included
their clothing. So it became the custom for indebted widows to get married in
their underwear, or smocks. The smock wedding was tripple-fold. It was a
bankruptcy proceeding; it was a marriage ceremony; it was an investiture
because the bride then got a new wardrobe from her new husband. In theory the
ceremony was held for all to see, on a public highway. But in practice many
smock weddings were indoors. When Major Moses JOY married Widow Hannah WARD of
Newfame, Vermont, in 1789, she was stark naked. She was in a closet, her hand
extended through a hole cut in the door. Then she put on a fine set of clothes
and emerged from her closet in style, to the general admiration of the
assembled. --Harold Oliver from "Ancestors of Lewis Ross Freeman", by Patty
Myers
- SOBRINA/SOBRINO
- [Spanish] niece/nephew
- SOKEMAN
- a free peasant
- SOC
- jurisdiction granted by the king to an individual
- SOCAGE
- feudal tenure of land by a tenant, in return for agricultural or other
nonmilitary services or for payment of rent in money. The holder was not a
villein, but a free man. His obligations included the duty of attendance at
the manor court held by the lord of the manor. After the decay of feudalism,
socage tenure became freehold.
- SOCIAL SECURITY DEATH INDEX (SSDI)
- index of Social Security Death Benefit records which document how much the
government has paid to an individual (spouse, child, etc.) as a result of a
relative's death. An individual will appear in the Social Security Death
Benefits Index if he or she died between 1937 and 1993 and had applied for
Social Security during their lifetime, and someone must have applied for their
Social Security death benefits at the time of death.
See SSDI.
- SOCN
- sanctuary
- SOCRUS
- [Latin, mother-in-law]
- SOKEMAN
- free tenant
- SOLIDUS
- [Latin] the gold coin which was the standard of the Roman monetary system
from Constantine c.500 AD, and used as the standard of currency until the 13th
Century
- SON-IN-LAW
- in addition to the current meaning as the husband of one's daughter, in
colonial and medieval times, it could also carry the meaning of stepson
- SORPENNY
- payment for pasturage
- SORORATE
- the marriage of one man to two or more sisters
usually successively and after the first wife has been found to be barren or
after her death
- SORORIS
- [Latin, sister] referring to one's relatives, it includes a
sister's husband, a wife's brother, or a sister's son
- SOUNDEX
- a filing system, usually for recording.
- SPECTIBLES
- [Latin] the second of three ranks of the high officials of Imperial Roman
service, all of whom were senators. This rank included
proconsuls,
vicars, and military governors, among others. The other ranks were the
illustres and the
clarissimi.
{H}
- SPINSTER
- a woman who has never been married
- SPORTA
- a basket
- SQUIRE
- a member of the knightly class, and an assistant to a
knight, and part of the
gentry
- STABILITAS
- the right of a lord to force a vassal to live on his land
- STALLAGE
- payment for a stall at a market or fair
- STALLER
- (1) in medieval England, a high ranking official equivalent to a
constable
(2) A small trader holding a stall and not in a
guild
(3) a confederate to a pickpocket
(4) a deputy to a vicar
- STANNERY
- tin-mining district of Devon and Cornwall, under the jurisdiction of
special courts
- STATANT
- [Heraldry] standing
- STATEGOS
- a title in the ancient Near East with a variety of meanings:
(1)
in Asia Minor: general, leader, commander
(2) in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt:
military & civil governor
(3) in Jerusalem: officer with custody of the
Temple
(4) in Alexandria: superintendent of police
- STATUTE MERCHANT AND STATUTE STAPLE
- a British medieval authority, now repealed, for an individual, originally
a merchant, to seize and hold a merchant's goods and hold them for non-payment
of debt.
- STATER
- [Visgothic] a gold coin worth three solidi
- STICA
- a bundle of 20 eels
- STINTING
- limiting, especially in the rights of pasturage
- SUCCENTOR
- a religious official responsible for the music and the library of the
church
- SUIT OF MILL
- the obligation of tenants to use aa specified mill
- SULTAN
- a Muslim ruler equivalent to a king
- SULUNG, SULONG
- a measure of land equal to two
hides, in co.Kent, England
- SURNAME
- the family name that is passed down directly through generations or
created. It is usually based on a name, title, or epithet added to a person's
name or names, esp. one derived from his birthplace or from some quality or
achievement. {O}
- SURETY
- as relates to marriage, someone who is bonded to guarantee a groom will
marry the bride. This is done to keep a groom from promising or proposing
marriage, then backing out. The surety puts up a bond of an amount of money,
which he would lose if the groom does not marry. See also Magna
Carta Surety.
- SURSISSE
- penalty for contempt of court
- SUTTLER
- a peddler of various sundries to an army in the field, used during the
Civil War
- SYXHYNDEMAN
- wergeld of 600 schillings
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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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