This week it’s all about words and phrases found in genealogy, family and house history research beginning with the letter O.
obitus – death
OBLIGATIO – bond
obolus/I (abrev ob) – halfpenny(ies)
Occidens – west
OCCUPO – to seize, occupy
OECONPMUS – Steward, Churchwarden
omnia bene – all is well
onus – burden, load; force, effect; charge(s) [in accounts]
OPELLA – shop, workshop
OPEN FIELDS – the major divisions, normally two or three, of the cultivated arable area of a medieval village outside the Highland Zone of England and Wales, in which one field each year in succession was left in rotation-fallow, the other one or two being communally ploughed and sown with winter and spring grains.
OPPORTUNUS – seasonal
AD OPUS – for the use of (a person)
ORBUS – orphan
ORREUM – barn, granary
Orrientem – east
OUTFANGTHIEF – right of a Lord of the Manor to pursue a thief beyond his own jurisdiction to bring him back for trial and if convicted to keep any forfeited goods
OVERSEER (OF THE POOR) – parich officer concerned with the administration and enforcement of the Poor Law between 1601 and 1834
OWLER – Smuggler
I would love to hear what obscure words and phrases you have found in your research – sarah@spfhhistory.co.uk