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”
letters under the signet seal charging the heir of someone who had died infeft in lands, to enter as heir to them. The word ‘special’ is there because the ancestor of the heir had been infeft in the lands, as in a ‘special service’, which was the process by which the heir of someone who had been infeft acquired right to his estate.