cadroun, caudron
Scots for a cauldron; large cooking pot.
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”
Cain
see Kain.
Candlemas
2 February. One of the quarter days (with Martinmas, Whitsunday and Lammas) when bills were settled.
caption
“letters of caption” are an authority to arrest a debtor, or someone who has not fulfilled a promised obligation
casualties
“feudal casualties” were payments which fell due to a feudal superior when certain events happened, usually to an heir to property held from the superior; the usual casualties were marriage, non-entry, relief and wardship
catalogue
the means of making archives discoverable by users, consisting of descriptions linked to reference codes enabling users to find relevant items and request sight of these items. Catalogues usually contain additional information to support management of the collections, including information about the provenance, custodial history, rights management, preservation and legal status, some of which may be confidential to the archive service.
caution, cautioner
security; bail; one who stands surety for another. (Caution is pronounced to rhyme with nation).
cess
a land tax.
cessio bonorum
action of surrender of a debtor’s goods in favour of his/her creditors, to avoid imprisonment for those debts.
chain
a Scots measure of distance and area; also known as cheiynie.
chalder
a Scots measure of capacity, which varied from place to place and depending on what thing was being measured. When applied to grain, it was about 16 bolls.
chalfe
Scots for chaff, used for stuffing mattresses.
Chancery
the royal writing office which created brieves, charters and other royal documents.
chapman, chopman
shopkeeper; ‘chapman traviler’ was a travelling salesman.
charge
a command in the king’s name to do something; usually to enter a person as heir; i.e. have him accepted as heir to landed property.
charter
document granting rights, powers or privileges.
cheinyie
a Scots measure; see chain
chopeine, chopin
a Scots measure of liquid capacity; container of this capacity.
circuit court
an itinerant court held by the judges of the High Court of Justiciary.
clait, claith
Scots term for cloth; clothing