Your Scottish Archives Glossary

The Your Scottish Archives Glossary defines archaic words and phrases, mostly Scots law terminology, commonly found in documents and records in Scotland’s archives. If you think a word or phrase should be added to the glossary, or an existing entry could be defined better, please contact us at your@scottisharchives.org.uk.

You can also use the Dictionary of the Scots Language as a further resource at https://dsl.ac.uk/ for Scots words and phrases (including legal terminology).

To find a term within the glossary, click on the initial letter of the word you are looking for, then select the relevant syllable segment displayed below.

Example: to find the term “roup” select section “R” then sub-section “Ro”

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y

Ab Ac Ad Ag Ai Al Am An Ap Ar As At Au Av Aw

Acc Acq Acr Act

access

enabling users to find information by: (1) providing physical access so that archives can be read in person, with appropriate assistance for people with visual impairment or physical disabilities; and/or (2) providing intellectual access through catalogues, finding aids or other resources so that relevant archives can be identified and requested by users; and/or (3) providing clear information about access restrictions and the reasons for those restrictions (such as data protection legislation or the fragility of the original)

access copy (or surrogate copy)

a reproduction of an original item produced for users, which (1) protects the original from damage or loss; and/or (2) provides a lower-quality, smaller version of a digital item which is easier to send across networks.

accession

a unit of records received from one source at one time, which are formally accepted into the holdings of an archive service. Typically, this provides initial control before records are processed and catalogued.

accession register

a summary list of accessions, recorded at the time they are accepted.

accrual

records added to an existing series or collection in an archive service, such as regular annual additions of a series of minutes or irregular additions of photographs, programmes and designs for a collection from an amateur drama club.

acquisition

the process of accepting records into an archive service by donation, deposit, purchase or transfer.

acre

a Scottish unit of area, corresponding to the size of a ploughed field (probably from the Anglo-Saxon word acer or aecer, meaning a ‘field’). See also the unit of area rood.

The Scottish units of area were abolished in 1824 and replaced by imperial measures based on the yard.

acta and decreta

Latin for ‘acts and decreets’ (laws and decisions), but also used in the National Records of Scotland as specifically the acts and decreets of the Privy Council.