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”
the report of any inquest which had been held to determine who was next heir to the property of a dead feuar who had held his lands of the Crown; it was in effect the reply to a brieve of inquisition. Once the inquest had made up their minds, the retour would be ‘retoured’ (returned) to the king’s Chancery. A ‘special retour’ established the heir’s right to succeed to particular lands.
a re-conveyance of any right by a person to whom it had been assigned, back to the person from whom he got it.