SCA Life

Ghulam Cavalryman

Words of all kinds have been my constant companions, my comfort and my career since I was six years old. I can never get enough of them and I revel in learning new words. So, today I present you with a list of some additional medieval words beginning with the letters G. There were so many truly fascinating words for G, that I decided to present it all by its lonesome. The source for all spellings and definitions is “The Orb: On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies.” To read the previous selection of words, click here.

GAENGGANG: Pregnant.

GAFOL: Rent.

GAIRTHINX: Donation, gift.

GEBUR: A dependent cultivator of the soil.

GEMOT: A meeting.

GESITH: Companion or personal follower of the king. Later became the thegn.

GESITHCUND MAN: One who belongs by birth to the class of gesiths; in the West Saxon laws appears to be of the same dignity as the eorlcund man of the Kentish laws.

GHAZI: Arabic term meaning “one who took part in a ghazwa,”; later used to designate those who took part in the jihad against the unbelievers. The name was also adopted by associations of warriors, notably in Anatolia.

GHIYAR: The compulsory mark or sign worn by the dhimmis to distinguish them from Muslims. It usually consisted of a patch of cloth of a prescribed color and sometimes also of other items of clothing.

GHULAM: A young, male slave. The term is variously used of a servant or bodyguard, a palace guard or attendant, a young mamluk, or an artisan bound to a master.

GRANGE: (1) A farm estate of a monastery, worked by hired labor and supervised by lay brethren; (2) a system of farming, created by the Cistercians and followed by other orders, which existed outside the manorial system.

GREYFRIARS: See: “Mendicant Orders.”

GRITH: Peace, protection

GRITHBRECH: Breaking of the peace.

GYNAECEA: Women’s quarters.

SCA, Society for Creative Anachronism, medieval, middle ages, history, renaissance, castles, castle, gardens, demesne, words, medieval words, word history

Award winning gardens of the Birr Castle Demesne.

I love words. I’ve said it before and I say it again. I iterate and reiterate. I LOVE words. So, today I present you with a list of some additional medieval words beginning with the letters D, E & F. The source for all spellings and definitions is “The Orb: On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies.” To read the previous selection of words, click here.

DANEGELD: Tribute originally paid to the Danes (Dane Gold); later the system of personal taxation used to finance the king’s activities.

DEMESNE: The part of the lord’s manorial lands reserved for his own use and not allocated to his serfs or free tenants. Serfs work the demesne for a specified numbers of days per week. The demesne may either be scattered among the serfs’ land, or a separate area, the latter being more common for meadow and orchard lands.

DEVSHIRME: The Ottoman Turkish term for the periodic levy of Christian boys, collected for training and recruitment into the Janissaries, the Imperial Household, and the administration

DIGIT: A measure of length equal to 10.48 mm.

DILATURA: Damages; a plea designed to create delay, generally founded upon some matter not connected with the merits of a case.

DOUBLE MONASTERY: Peculiar to England, a combined monastery for men and women, with separate sleeping quarters for them. Sometimes this took the form of two foundations side by side having their own buildings and cloisters but with a church in common. In either form both would be ruled in common by an abbot or abbess.

DUN: Scottish single family hill fort.

EDOR: Homestead, farmhouse.

EREMITICISM: The religious life as lived by hermits, individually or in groups (cf. “cenobiticism”).

ESCHEAT: The right of a lord to confiscate property held by a free tenant found guilty of a felony.

ESNE-WORKMAN: Laborer, servant.

EYRE (Latin Iter): The right of the king (or justices acting in his name) to visit and inspect the holdings of any vassal. This was done periodically, usually at irregular intervals of a few years. These were all-inclusive, comprehensive affairs, during which the powers of local officials such as sheriffs and coroners were suspended (and required to render account subject to heavy amercement). Large numbers of people would attend, to make account or to seek justice, and the justices would inquire into all manner of things–crimes and unexplained deaths, misconduct and negligence by officials, irregularities and shortcomings of all kinds, the feudal and fiscal rights of the Crown, and private disputes. Such eyres were known to provoke utter terror among the populace, many boroughs and counties preferring to pay heavily to ensure the eyre would not visit them (the 1233 Eyre of Cornwall caused most of the populace to flee to the woods to escape the eyre).

FAEHTH: Feud.

FAQIH: The doctors of the law in Islam are called faqih.

FEAXFANG: Seizing by the hair.

FIEF-RENT: Money paid by a lord to his vassal annually in return for homage, fealty, and military service (usually knight service), or perhaps a butt of wine, a wheel of cheese, an animal, or a cord of timber. This became more common in the later middle ages, under the system known as Bastard Feudalism.

FLYMANFYRMTH: Harboring a fugitive.

FOLKES-MOTE: Meeting of the folk or people in the shiremoot.

FORESPECA, FORSPRECA: Advocate.

FORFENGUS: Rescuing of stolen or strayed cattle.

FRAELLUS: A rush basket; also the quantity of figs or raisins in such a basket.

FRITH: Peace.

FRUMTYHTLE: First accusation.

SCA, Society for Creative Anachronism, medieval, middle ages, history, renaissance, castles, castle, Birr Castle, gardens, demesne, words, medieval words, word history

Over time words fall out use. They become unusual, making people smile or widen their eyes. Then they become archaic, known only to enthusiasts or scholars. Finally, they may vanish altogether. I’ve always been a fan of unusual, archaic and just plain bizarre words. So, today I present you with a list of some interesting medieval words beginning with the letters A, B & C. The source for all spellings and definitions is “The Orb: On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies.”

ADSCRIPTICIUS: A type of serf. One who is bound to the soil.

ADULTERINE CASTLE: A castle built with out one’s lord’s approval.

AMBER: A measure of four bushels.

ANGYLDE: The money compensation which a wronged person is entitled to receive.

ASSART: To turn woodlands into pasture or cropland. To assart lands within a forest without license is a grave offence.

BARID: From the Latin “veredus”, Greek “beredos”, a post-horse (cf. German “Pferd”), the term commonly applied to the post and intelligence services of Islamic states and also to the couriers, mounts, and stages. The head of the organization was called Sahib al-Barid, or “postmaster.”

BIRELE: Cup-bearer.

BLODWITE: The fine for drawing blood.

BONDES: Heads of families; freemen serving as vassals.

BOVATE: Amount of land which could be worked by a team of oxen in a year.

BYRBAN: Beer money.

CAMERA: A workshop for men, a term mostly used in Italy.

CAN, CANNE: Clearance, averment.

CARUCATE: A measurement of land, equal to a hide (used in the Danelaw), fixed at 100 acres in England in the year 1194.

CAVAGIUM: Head tax.

CEORL: In Anglo-Saxon England, the free tenantry. Occasionally, if these could acquire enough land, they might move up to become thegns.

CHANTRY: The endowment, either in perpetuity or for a term of years, of a priest to celebrate mass for the soul of the founder.

CHARTULARIUS: An officer who drew up documents; a serf freed by charter.

CISTA: A chest.

CORRODY: A pension, in the form of lodging at a monastery, or an allowance of food, clothing, etc., granted to a lay person.

CUVELLA: A bucket, pail, or tub.

CYNE: Kin.

Finally, for more word fun, check out my post on SCA jargon here.

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