ROOTS Genealogical Dictionary
ROOTS
Dictionary of Genealogy & Archaic Terms
[W]
Updated:
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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- WALLOON:
- From southern Belgium, the language of the Walloons is a dialect of
French. Cornelis May of Flanders, Holland and about 30 to 40 families came to
America in 1624 and established Fort Orange. This town is now known as Albany,
NY.
- WALREAF
- despoiling the dead
- WAPENTAKE
- [Anglo-Saxon wapen-getaec, weapon-taking] a name given
subdivisions in the formerly Danish areas of shires of York, Lincoln,
Leicester, Nottingham, Derby and Rutland, although in some of these the word
hundred is also used, similar to the hundreds
of southern counties and the wards of more northerly counties, so called from
the inhabitants being formerly taught the use of arms. The theory is that
wapentake is the Danish equivalent for the hundred, as the word is only found
in parts settled by this people. It was used for a meeting before it became
the name of a district, and originated in the ceremony of touching the chief's
spear as a sign of homage. Like the hundreds, the wapentakes vary in size, and
in early times had their own courts of justice.
- WAQF
- a form of endowment or trust, or income-producing land
- WARD
- a political subdivision of a city, typically represented by an
alderman. in medieval times, the ward had
its own court called the Ward-Moots Court
- WARDEN
- a keeper, head officer, or guardian. This term is used in the
Anglican church, as well as for other purposes.
- WARDSHIP
- the right of a lord to income of a fief
during the minority of its heir, ostensibly
to support the minor, but most frequently just to enrich the lord. The
lord was theoretically required to maintain the fief, and return it to the
minor was he was of age.
- WARRANT:
- a commission or document giving authority to do something; especially : a
writing that authorizes a person to pay or deliver to another and the other to
receive money or other consideration. See also Treasury
Warrant
- WARRANTY DEED
- a deed guaranteeing from the seller to
the buyer that it is a clear title to the property
- WÄS/WAES
- [German (Volgan)] aunt
- WATTLE
- a mat of woven sticks and weeds
- WAVY
- [Heraldic] curved in waves
- WAY OFFICE
- a way station; a station intermediate between two principal stations, such
as on a railroad
- WED
- pledge
- WERGILD
- [Saxon] price paid to a slain man's relatives
- WEY
- a measure of weight equal to a pondus
- WHIPCORDER
- maker of whips
- WHITEFRIARS
- see CARMELITES
- WHITE MONKS
- see CISTERCIANS
- WIC, WICH, WYCH
- town
- WIDOW
- a woman whose husband has died
- WIDOWER
- a man whose wife has died
- WILL
- the legal document containing the statement of a person's wishes regarding
the disposal of his or her property after death. Prior to 1786, a will in VA
did not have to name the wife or eldest son. A widow received her 1/3 dower
and eldest son received remaining 2/3, unless otherwise specified in the
father's will. Eldest son also received his mother's share if she died. If
eldest son had died, eldest grandson of the whole blood became the
heir-at-law, not the second son. If a man were unmarried, his heir-at-law was
his eldest brother, never his father or uncle. See also Birthright.
- Variarions:
- (1) unsolemn will -- a will in which the executor is unnamed
- (2) non-culpatory
will -- a verbal will
- (3) holographic will -- a handwritten will
- WITAN
- [Anglo-Saxon] a council which advised the king, who was elected by it
- WITE
- payment for punishment
- WITHIN AGE
- in medieval times, a male or female being
above the age of seven, and below the age of majority, that is fourteen for
males, and twelve to fourteen for females, depending upon the onset of
puberty. [RT, Winter 2001 TPC, pg. 229]
- WITNESS
- an individual present at an event such as a marriage or the signing of a
document who can vouch that the event took place.
- WOODWARD
- a forester
- WRIT
- a court, king's or parliamentary order. Types of writs:
- (1) Writ of attachment -- a court order authorizing seizure of property sufficient to satisfy the
debt and court costs
- (2) Writ of Capias
- (3) Pone
- (4) Writ of diem
clausit extremium (Lat. He as closed his final day) -- the writ served by
the king upon the death of one of his
tenants-in-chief
- WUDE
- wood
- WUDEHEWET
- cutting of wood
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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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