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Glossary of Terms realating to the Domesday Survey

Many words meaning measurements have to be transliterated. But translation may not dodge other problems by the use of obsolete or made-up words which do not exist in modern English. The translations here used are given in italics. They cannot be exact; they aim at the nearest modern equivalent.

B. Marginal abbreviation for berewic; an outlying place, attached to a manor. outlier.

BORDARIUS. Cultivator of inferior status, usually with a little land. smallholder.

BOVATA. One eighth of a carucate. b.

CARUCA. A plough, with the oxen who pulled it, usually reckoned as 8. pIough

CARUCATA. The unit of land measurement in Danish areas. c

CENSORES. tributaries

DOMINIUM. The mastery or dominion of a lord (dominus); including ploughs, land, men, villages, etc reserved for the lord's use; often concentrated in a home farm or demesne, a 'Manor Farm' or 'Lordship Farm', lordship

FRANKUS HOMO. Equivalent of liber homo (free man). freeman

GELDUM. The principal royal tax. originally levied during the Danish wars, normally at an equal number of pence on each hide of land. tax

HIDA. The English unit of land measurement or assessment, often reckoned at 120 acres. hide'

HUNDRED. In English Shires a district within a shire, whose assembly of notables and village representatives usually met about once a month. Hundred

LEUGA. A measure of length, usually about a mile and a half. league.

M. Marginal abbreviation for manerium, manor. M.

SACA. German Sache, English sake, Latin causa, affair, lawsuit; the fullest authority normally exercised by a lord. full jurisdiction.

SOCA. "Soke", from socn, to seek comparable with Latin quaestio. Jurisdiction with the right to receive fines and a multiplicity of other dues. District in which such soca is exercised; a place in a soca. jurisdiction

SOCHEMANNUS. 'Soke man', exercising or subject to jurisdiction; free from many villagers' burdens; before 1066 often with more land and higher status than villagers; bracketed in the Commissioners' brief with the liber homo (free man). freeman

TAINUS TEGNUS. Person holding land from the King by special grant; formerly used of the King's ministers and military companions. Thane

T.R.E. tempore regis Edwardi, in King Edward's time. before 1066

VILLA. Translating Old English tun, town. The later distinction between a small village and a large town was not yet in use in 1086. village or town

VILLANUS. Member of a villa, usually with more land than a bordarius. villager

VIRGATA. A quarter of a hide reckoned at 30 acres. virgate

WAPENTAC. Equivalent of the English Hundred in Danish areas. wapentake.