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| Village Talk
This page is intended to be a collection of words, old and new, that are either unfamiliar to many of us today, or, alternatively, familiar words whose meanings have changed considerably over the years. I also hope to include 'regional dialect' words and phrases that you may wish to compare, contrast and perhaps speculate on possible origins for yourself.
| In many cases the words chosen are neither specifically nor exclusively 'village' words so wherever possible I have tried to show my source and indicated the context in which they were used. If you would like to contribute to this page, make corrections or suggest possible alternative meanings for any of the words shown please e-mail me at admin@eng-villages.co.uk
A
| ALMERYE: cupboard TCS ANDIRONS: pair of iron bars with hooked brackets for supporting roasting spit TCS AUNGELL: angel, gold coin worth about 10/-; bore the image of St Michael TCS
B | BAYLE: a ladle for beer. TCS BERE: pillow-bere, a pillow case TCS BORDAR: Villager; differing from the villein in that the latter held little land, the bordar still less. It would be convenient if one could say that the villein farmed 30 acres and the bordar 15, or 18 acres and 9 acres respectively, but it just does not work out like that. At later date it does become clear that 9, 18 and 36 acres were standard holdings. TCS BROCKFIELD: the field which was ploughed in the spring, having been left fallow all the previous year. TCS BUSHEL: measure of volume of corn: 8 gallons: a quarter of a coomb. TCS BUHRSILVER: medieval tax on whole village for upkeep of manorial hall or 'bury' TCS BUTTERY: room where ale was brewed and kept TCS
C | CAPON: castrated cockerel intended for eating. TCS CAWDERN: cauldron, large vessel for heating water, same as 'copper' TCS CHAFER: dish with a lid, for keeping food hot TCS CHALDRON: measure of volume of coal; equal to 52cwt. TCS CHARGER: large flat dish for serving meat TCS CLUNCH: chalk, usually soft chalk for making floors. TCS COBIRONS: pair of iron supports for roasting-spit, simpler than andirons. TCS COLEFAYER DAY: either (a) a certain day on which coal-fires started for the winter, probably Michaelmas, or (b) 'coal-fair', at which coal was bought from itinerant merchants, in which case it would be August. TCS COMBE: corn measure; four bushels; one sack. The weight of a coomb or sack varied according to variety of corn; oats, 12 stone; barley 16 stone; wheat 18 stone; beans, peas, tares 19 stone. TCS COPPER: large cauldron TCS COUTTOLYNE: covering for a bed TCS COVERLEAD: coverlet, cover for a bed. French 'couvre-lit' TCS CUMPAS: compost, manure TCS CURTAIN: hanging round a bed; not used for windows until eighteenth century. TCS
D | DAUBING: mixture of clay or clunch, cow-hair and lime to make walls TCS DEMESNE: that part of the manor not held by tenants, but kept for use and profit of the lord of the manor; later farmed out to one man. TCS DIAP: linen with diamond pattern TCS DIGHTE: prepared, 'dressed'; i.e. husks, chaff and rubbish removed TCS DISTRAINT: seizure of goods or animals for debt or other reason TCS DOUBLET: sort of sleeveless jacket TCS DOWNECKE: fine down from neck and breast of goose TCS DRYPING PAN: placed beneath roasting meat on spit to catch the fat. TCS
E | ESSOINED: excused absence from manor-court, being represented by another TCS EXECUTOR: person charged with duty of carrying out the terms of a will. TCS
F | FARM: block letting for fixed payment for a number of years: applied not only to land, but to tithes, rents, fines, etc. First used in connection with the manorial demesne let to a 'farmer' TCS FEE: the area of jurisdiction of a lord of the manor TCS FEALTY: loyalty: the tenant on taking a holding had to swear an oath of fealty, i.e. promise to conform to the customary practice of services and payments; continued in use long after the feudal system dissolved. TCS FIFTEENTH: occasional tax levied by soverereign for special purpose, e.g. waging war, or royal marriage; one fifteenth of annual income. TCS FINE: sum of money payable on admission to a holding; so called because it was 'final', only had to be paid once by that person. TCS FLAXEN: made of flax; linen TCS FLITCH: one side of a pig, when killed, minus legs, thighs and ribs i.e. bacon TCS FLOCK BED: bed stuffed with wool, bits of cloth etc. TCS FURNITURE: the various items needed to go with a bed; mattress, bolster, pillows, sheets, blankets, coverlet. TCS FUSTIAN: thick coarse woollen cloth dyed dark TCS
G | GARNER: small barn for storing corn TCS GARNESS: set of pewter dishes, plates, bowls, etc. TCS GELDING: castrated horse TCS GERSUMA: fee paid on inheritance of freehold land by daughter TCS GIRDLE: chain worn round the waist, knotted or buckled, with the ends left hanging almost to the ground; often very elaborate and decorated; mostly with links of precious metal TCS GRIDIRON: grid placed on or near the fire, suspended on andirons or supported on legs, for roasting and toasting. TCS
H | HERIOT: payment made when a holding was inherited on death of previous holder; usually the best animal, later such things as a feather bed, a silver cup, etc.; usually bought back by the inheritor, for cash TCS HECKFERTH: heifer; cow before it has first calf. TCS HEYWARD: one of the constables with special responsibility for boundaries and encroachments. (Nothing to do with hay.) TCS HIDE: measure of land; varied according to region; here 120 acres. Used for purposes of taxation only TCS HOGGE: pig TCS HOGGET: sheep one year old TCS HOGGSHEAD: medium-sized barrel holding 54 gallons of ale TCS HOLDING: a tenant did not own land, he 'held' it TCS HOMAGE: the jury at the manor-court, usually twelve tenants who were sworn TCS HOSE (HUSSEN): long stockings, thigh length, usually of wool, worn by men. TCS HUE AND CRY: when it was 'raised' by the constable or injured party, it was the duty of everyone to help catch the offender. The actual cry was probably 'Hue! Hue!' - hence modern 'hoot' and 'hooray!' TCS HUTCH: a large wooden box with a lid, for storing clothes, or anything. TCS
I | IMPRIMIS: firstly, in the first place. Latin TCS
J | JOINED: made by a 'joiner'; used of a table, stool or bedstead with legs joined to the top, not trestles. TCS
K | KERCHER: square scarf worn over the head, with or without a hat. French 'couvre-chef' Survives in modern 'handkerchief'. TCS KETTLE: deep vessel for cooking food TCS KING'S EVIL: scrofula; glandular swellings; thought to be cured by the touch of the monarch until about 1700 TCS KIRTELL: short gown or petticoat. TCS KYMNELL: wooden trough for kneading dough before baking TCS
L | LATTEN: yellow metal like brass; mostly copper mixed with zinc. French 'laiton'. TCS LAVER: bowl for washing TCS LIENTALL: number of masses said of sung for the soul of the departed; I think it is fifty. TCS LIVERY CUPBOARD: cupboard for keeping clothes TCS LUMBER: odds and ends; discarded things TCS LYNTELLES: lentils; like peas, only smaller and yellow. TCS
M | MASLIN: mixed corn, usually wheat and rye TCS MESSUAGE: a house with land attached TCS MORTUARY: payment made to the priest on death; usually the second-best animal; often not made because there was no second animal. TCS
N | NOBLE: gold coin worth 6/8 TCS NUNCUPATIVE: used of a will not written but spoken. TCS
O | OBIT: service of remembrance for one dead, usually kept annually, sometimes monthly. Also called a 'yeremind'. TCS OFFAL: bran or mixed corn, undressed TCS
P | PAINTED CLOTHS: sheets of canvas with pictures painted on them; hung on walls as decoration TCS PECK: a quarter of a bushel; 2 gallons TCS PINNER: the constable with special duty of impounding stray animals TCS PIPE: large barrel holding 126 gallons of wine or ale TCS PORINGER: porridge-bowl TCS POSNET: small iron pot for use inside larger vessel e.g. for cooking porridge TCS POT-HOOKS: hooks for suspending pots over the fire, variable in length. TCS POTYNGER: (1) porringer, porridge-bowl (2) pot-hanger TCS POUND: small fenced enclosure for keeping animals found straying TCS PRESS CUBORD: cupboard with shelves, for clothes generally. TCS
Q | QUARTER: two coombs; two sacks; eight bushels; five quarters made a 'load', i.e. a ton, more or less. TCS QUERN: two circular stones, one rotated on top of the other, for grinding corn. TCS
R | REEKE: rick, stack of corn in sheaves TCS RELIEF: payment by freeholder on inheritance of land; usually one year's rent; corresponded to heriot paid by copyholder TCS ROOD: (1) one quarter of an acre TCS (2) cross of Christ, or crucifix TCS ROOD-LOFT: gallery on top of rood-screen, accessible by stairs at one side. TCS ROOD-SCREEN: screen of open woodwork or stone dividing chancel from nave in church; th erood was fixed on top of it. TCS
S | SALLE: salt-container, often of silver TCS SCUMER: skimmer, for removing cream from the top of milk in a shallow pan TCS SESTERNE: cistern, pond TCS SEISIN: possession; the right to hold TCS SEVERAL: private, not held in common; applied especially to pasture TCS SHOTT: (1) part of an open field, usually about 30 acres, with all strips or lands going the same way, and a headland at each end. (2) a young pig TCS SKELLET: originally 'solar', a room where a lady could be alone; later simply an upstairs room. TCS SPIT: iron contraption to hold meat, game, poultry, etc., in front of fire for roasting; turned by hand, or by a dog in a wheel-cage, or mechanically TCS SPLENTING: thin strips of wood nailed across upright beams to form base on which plaster or daubing could be spread.TCS STOCK: (1) bees in a hive or skepp (2) animal kept for breeding TCS STRYNER: strainer; flat ladle with fine holes in it, for removing scum from beer. TCS
T | TALLAGE: tax levied annually by manor-court on all the tenants, for no specific reason, except that they were there. TCS TAPER: rush or string dipped in wax, to give light in houses, and used in churches as part of ritual. TCS TILTH: land which had been ploughed in previous autumn and was ready for sowing in early spring TCS TENEMENT: a holding, consisting of house and land TCS TITHE: one tenth of all produce payable to the Church. The great tithes of corn, wool and hay were due to the Rector. The small tithes of fruit, eggs, honey, saffron, etc., were due to the vicar. TCS TITHING: originally a group of ten men all mutually responsible for the good behaviour of the group TCS TITHINGMAN: a member of the group. A boy had to join the tithing at the age of twelve. Obsolete by sixteenth century, but pretence still kept up. TCS TORCHES: skeins of rope dipped in pitch, etc., carried at funerals as part of ritual. The dead person made provision in his will for the torches at his own funeral. TCS TOWE: hemp fibre, much coarser than flax; used for canvas and rope, also sheets. TCS TUMBRELL: two-wheeled cart, which could be tipped backwards to empty load TCS
V | VALLENCE: curtain around a bed, completely enclosing the bed; later, simply a curtain round the bottom of the bed. TCS VILL: village or town TCS VILLEIN: Villager, see Bordar TCS VIRGINTALL: twenty masses said or sung for the soul of a dead person TCS
W | WARMING-PAN: pan of brass or copper, with lid and long handle, for inserting between the sheets to warm a bed. (It was removed when the occupant got in.) TCS WAINSCOTT: panelled oak boards lining the walls of a room, usually very decorated TCS WEATHER: one-year-old castrated ram sheep TCS
Y | YEOMAN: name given to farmer in fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries. Origin not known TCS YIELDING TUB: wooden trough for brewing beer. Lead was also used. TCS
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"Note on currency: I have used the old style of £ - s - d - pounds, shillings and pence - throughout the book for reasons which, I hope, are obvious. To have converted shillings and pence to New Pence would have been not only difficult but silly. However, it occurs to me that there may be amongst future readers, some who have never heard of 'shillings' and 'pence'. For their benefit, then, there were twelve pence to the shilling, and twenty shillings to the pound. It also occurs to me that some readers may be curious to know what a shilling or a penny was worth at a given time in terms of modern currency. That is a very difficult question indeed, and any answer I give now may be hopelessly wrong in say ten years from now. As a very rough guide, I would say that the 'penny' of the mid-thirteenth century was about equivalent in purchasing power to the pound of today, i.e. multiply by about 200; penny of the mid-sixteenth century was equivalent to the modern 40p., i.e. multiply by about 100; and the penny of the mid nineteenth century was equivalent to 20p., i.e. multiply by about 50. But it all depends what service or commodity you are considering - and it depends on a good many other things besides."
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