• Search tip: for exact phrase use "quotation marks" or for all words use +
  • More search tips here

                  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

                  pendicle

                  a small piece of ground, usually attached to a building or separated from the rest of a property in some way.

                  Pentecost

                  more often used than the alternative name, Whitsun or Whitsunday – the seventh Sunday after Easter, but fixed in 1693 for term purposes as 15 May; it was one of the two terms of the year on which rents fell due and when contracts, leases and tacks began and ended. The other term was Martinmas.