chain
a Scots measure of distance and area; also known as cheiynie.
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”
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.