The Scottish Archive Network (SCAN) 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. Since the SCAN project ended, the Dictionary of the Scots Language has gone online at http://www.dsl.ac.uk/, and this should be consulted for Scots words and phrases (including legal terms).
The top half of the Great Seal ( which was
used to authenticate royal charters). The quarter
seal was used for more routine royal administrative
documents.
is how Scots represented the sound represented
in English by the letter 'w'; for example, quha
is "who", and quilk is "which",
though it doesn't always work precisely thus
- quhill (while) is "until"
the twentieth part of the moveable
estate of a deceased person, which was originally
the due of the bishop in whose diocese he had
resided; it continued to be paid after the Reformation,
but to the commissaries
