Genealogical Glossary              

List of Words Used in Genealogical Records


Click on each letter to see the list of genealogical terms.

A - B - CD - E F G H - I - J - L - M - N - O - P - Q - R - S - T - U - V -  X 

Online Dictionaries

Language is constantly changing, and many words used in old records could have a different meaning from the common meaning used today; therefore, dictionaries from earlier years or centuries are an excellent resource for researchers. Below is a list of common words that are found in Portuguese records to help you get started.

 

Letter A​

 

Abade: abbot; rector of a parish (in some provinces)
 
Abadengo: abbey
 
Abadia: monastery headed by abbot or abbess
 
Abscesso: abscess
 
Ação judicial: lawsuit
 
Aceitante: accepting
 
Aceite: an act whereby the person, by stating the date and signature, is bound by an obligation in a security against him/her.
 
Aceptilação: debt settlement given to a debtor, with effect extended to other covered by the delivery of the unpaid security to the debtor. Remission of unpaid debt. 
 
Acre: acre
 
Adjacente: ajacent
 
Administrador: administrator
Adoção: adoption
 
Advento: advent, the four week period that comes before Christmas
 
Afastamento: the act or effect of seperating
 
Afinidade: affinity; the relationship between one spouse and relatives of the other
 
Alabardeiro: Spanish Royal Guard
 
Albino: someone who suffers from albinism, an organic anomaly characterized by the absence or great lack of pigment in the skin, eyes, and hair
 
Alcaide: mayor; magistrate; offical to whom the maybor delegates his power in a certain section of a city
 
Alcaide-mor: justice of the peace; the administrative and judical magistrate of a province or district; local magistrate
 
Alferes: the least graduated of junior officers.
 
Alma: soul
 
Alqueire: bushel
 
Alteza: an honorary title given to the kings, princes, and officals of the high court and to some of the royal councils
 
Aluguel: rent
 
Amparo: the act of protection of the Indian by the Spaniard, specifically teaching him the trade, bringing him up
 
Anata: traditional tax paid to the Apostolic Chamber
 
Anexo: annex; a church rependent upon another one; rural district joined to a borough
 
Anteiglesia: atrium or portico (of a church); parish church; parish or district
 
Apeamento: surveying; shoring up of a building
 
Aprendiz: apprentice
 
Aprovação: Aprovement
 
Arcebispado ou Arquidiocese: archbishopric, ecclesiatical territory under the jurisdiction of an archbishop
 
Arcebispo: archbishop, the bishop of a metropolitan church to which other bishops are subordinate
 
Arciprestado: land under jurusdiction of an archpriest composed of several parishes
 
Arcipreste: archpriest, a parish priest who also presides over several other parish priests
 
Arquivo: archives, place where records are kept; (office) files, file
 
Arrendamento: to rent
 
Arroba: weight measure equivalent to 25 lbs. of 16 oz. each; liquid measurement equivalent to about 3 gallons; the fourth part of a quintal
 
Árvore genealógica: Family tree
 
Ascendência: ascendency, a series of ancestors
 
Asilo Político: asylum, shelter
 
Assinatura hológrafa: holographic signature
 
Assinatura sinalática: signal signature
 
Assinatura: signature
 
Audiência: regional high court; civil tribunal that dealt with the civil and criminal actions of the last resort
 
Auto: judicial sentence; warrant; edict; various legal documents both judical and administrative, not including wills or inventories
 
Auto-da-fé: a public procedure in which those accused by the Inquistition were sentenced 
 
Avaliador: Evaluator
 
 

Letter B
Bacharel: holder of a bachelor's degree
 
Bairro: city ward
 
Basco: person who is from/ lives in the country of Basco.
 
Bastardo: bastard
 
Beneficiário: beneficence, charity; welfare organization or institution, charity organization, public welfare office
 
Benefício de Inventário: (law) benefit of inventory, right granted to heir to accept inheritance without being obligated to pay debts amounting to more than the inheritance
 
Benefício: benefit, profit
 
Bens de Raiz: property, goods, fee
 
Bispado: bishopric
 
Bispo: bishop
 
Braça: length measure, length formed by having both arms of a person open and extended, which commonly is taken to be 6 feet of width
 
Bula: papal bull or proclamation

Letter C
c.c.: Casado com-- Married with
 
c.m.c.: Contrato matrimonial com-- Marriage contract with
 
Cabido: chapter of a cathedral or collegiate church
 
Cabildo colonial: name given to municipal corporations instituted in Latin American during the colonial period that were in charge of the general administration of colonial cities
 
Cabo: Corporal; military graduate who, in the hierachy of our Armed Forces, is above the solder, in the Army; above a first-class sailor in the navy; and above a first-class soldier in aeronautics
 
Caboclo ou Curiboca: mestizo individual; child of white with indigenous
 
Cabra: mestizo indivual; mix of black with native or native with white 
 
Caçador: hunter
 
Cacique: the chief or ruler of some Indian tribes; local ruler
 
Cadastro: register
 
Cadeira: chair; position or place of honor of an authority or dignity
 
Cafuz (Cafuzo): regarding black or indigenous mestizos
 
Câmara municipal: city council; city hall
 
Canônico: canonical; canonry (canons collectively)
 
Capelania: benefice or foundation subject to certain obligations; lay foundation without ecclesiastical intervention
 
Capelão: a priest who has a chaplaincy, or says mass in a private chapel and who is paid by a trust fund or private individual to administer the affirs of said fund or indivudal
 
Capitania-geral: general captain; territorial demarcation governed by a General Captain during the colonial era
 
Capitulação: the act of contract making
 
Capítulo conventual: conventual chapter; collegiate body of a monastery or a religious house with consultative and deliberative functions of varying frequency
 
Capítulo geral: general chapter; collegiate body, representative of a religious institute, which has the supreme authority
 
Capítulo: chapter; collegiate body that brings together representatives of members of a religious institute at different levels
 
Cardeal: cardinal, member of the Pope's electoral college
 
Carisma: charisma
 
Carta de alforria: freedom letter; document given to slave by its owner
 
Casa: house
 
Casta: caste; racial lineage
 
Catalão: native of Catalonia; romance language spoken in Catalonia and other Spanish regions of Spain that were part of the old Crown of Aragon
 
Catedral: cathedral
 
Catelhano: native of Castille; Castillian Spanish; Spanish
 
Catequese: Sunday school; a school attended by children on Sundays for religious instruction
 
Catequista: catechist; someone who teaches precepts or religious doctrine in catechism classes
 
Cavalaria: cavalry; troop of soldiers serving on horseback
 
Cavaleiro: knight
 
Censo: census of population, etc.
 
Certificado: certificate
 
Clérigo: clergy; the individual belonging to the social body of the Church
 
Codicilo: codicil; amendment to a will
 
Colegiada: collegiate church
 
Coletor: collector of taxes, or of collection for the church
 
Comadre: midwife; godmother
 
Comarca: region or district
 
Comparecer: to appear officially
 
Compromisso: pledge, commitment, promise
 
Conceder: grant; give permission or consent for something to happen
 
Concerto: agreement; contract; arrangement
 
Cunhado: brother-in-law
 
Cunhada: sister-in-law
 
Condado: earldom; courtship; county
 
Conde: count; eral; overseer
 
Cónego: canon; one who observes and follows a canon
 
Confirmação: confirmation
 
Confrade: brother or member of a brotherhood
 
Confraria: brotherhood; voluntary association in which the brothers are grouped together for mutual assistance both in material and spiritual terms
 
Consanguinidade: consanguinity; kinship; blood relationship
 
Conselho da Índia: royal council that governed the colonies
 
Conselho de Portugal: council of Portugal
 
Conselho Provincial: provincial council; organization that brings together the advisors of the Provincial Superior
 
Conselho: council
 
Consignação: consignment; deposit (of money)
 
Consorte: spouse; partner associate
 
Corregedor: Portuguese magistrate; mayor appointed by the King
 
Cortesão: courtier; individual who attends the court of a sovereign
 
Crioulo: Creole; Latin-American colonial born of European parents
 
Crisma: Chrism, concecrated oil
 
Cúria: set of ecclesiastical organizations and entities that cooperate with the bishop
 
Cursivo: cursive
 
Curtidor: tanner; one who does tanning
 
Curtimento: tanning; treatment of animal skin with chemical organic substance such as tannin


Letter D
Datar: typing or putting something in a database
 
Deão: dean
 
Decanato: deanship, deanery
 
Defunctus sine prole: deceased without offspring
 
Delação: reporting
 
Dentição: dentition; formation, natural appearance and growth of teeth
 
Departamento: department
 
Dia de Reis: Day of the Kings, Twlfth Night, Janurary 6th
 
Dicionário corográfico: geographical dictionary
 
Diocese: diocese, unit of the Catholic Church presided over by a bishop
 
Direito canônico/canónico: canon law; the set of laws and regulations made or adopted by the leaders of the Church
 
Disenteria: dysentery
 
Divisão: division
 
Dízimo: tithing; monetary contributions to the church
 
Dom (título): don; title of respect prefixed to Christian names
 
Dona: respectful title for women
 
Dote: dowry; that property which a womn takes into marriage
 
Ducado: the coin of gold or silver that the Catholic manarches created
 
Duque: duke; title of honor which follows that of prince


Letter E
Eclesiástico: ecclesiastical
 
Ecônomo: priest temporarily in charge of a parish
 
Emancipação: emancipation; the act of rfeeing from servitude
 
Empréstimo: Loan
 
Encomendeiro: one who had Indians assigned to him in a trust
 
Enteado: step-child
 
Entrambos: both
 
Episcopal: of the bishop
 
Escalduno: native to the Basque County, which includes a Spanish part and a French part
 
Escarlatina: Scarlet fever
 
Escravo de aluguel: slaves for hire
 
Escravo de campo: slaves who worked in rural areas
 
Escravo de ganho: a slave who is offered several types of service, such as cargo transportation, baber shop, washing clothes, or even manufacturing some medicines
 
Escravo de lida: slaves of heavy toil with little rest
 
Escravo doméstico: domestic slave
 
Escravo:  slave
 
Escravos do engenho de cana: slaves of the sugarcane mill
 
Escrevente: scribe
 
Escriba: scribe
 
Escritura: scripture
 
Escudo português: Portuguese Escudo; the currency used after te Real and before the Euro was adopted as the official currency
 
Esmola: alms; given out of charity; cash reward to the church where mass was celebrated by someone
 
Espírito: spirit
 
Estalagem: inn
 
Estalajadeiro: innkeeper
 
Executor: executor


Letter F
 
Fábrica: factory
 
Fânega: Measure for cereals, equivalent to 100 kilograms, in current use at the borders of Rio Grande do Sul
 
Fé: faith
 
Febre tifóide: typhoid fever
 
Feminino: feminine
 
Ferrajaria: Hardware industry
 
Feudo: feud; in the Middle Ages, land or sometimes; right granted by the feudal lord (overlord) to the vassal in exchange for certain services and mutual loyalty
 
Fiança: guarantee; responsibility assumed by a third party (guarantor), in order to guarantee the payment of an obligation assumed by another person (debtor), according to the conditions established in the contract
 
Fidalgo: word used in Portugal that means "son-of-something", who had something in goods or in noble condition
 
Filho adotivo: adoptive son
 
Filha adotivo: adoptive daughter
 
Filho bastardo: bastard child; child born out of the bounds of matrimony
 
Filho ilegítimo: illegitimate child; a child whose parents are not married
 
Filho legítimo: legitimate child
 
Filho natural: natural child
 
Filho póstumo: posthumous son; one who is born after the death of the father
 
Filho(a) exposto(a): child abondoned by biological parents
 
Filiação legítima: legitimate affliation; one that results from parents legally married to each other
 
Filiação: affliation
 
Finado: dead
 
Floresta: forest
 
Folha: page (typically page of paper); leaf
 
Foro: forum; right, privileges in general that the law grants to someone
 
Fórum: forum; building where the Judiciary Power functions and where legal issues are debated and judged
 
Fossário: Person in charge of a grave
 
Fraternidade: fraternity
 
Frei: Abbreviation for Freire
 
Freguesia: parish
 
Freire: religious; term used to designate members of Military Orders


Letter G
Gêmeo: twin
 
Gêmeos fraternos: fraternal twins
 
Gêmeos idênticos: identical twins
 
Genro: son-in-law
 
Gota: gout, grop
 
Governo do Rio da Prata e do Paraguai: Government of the River Plate and Paraguay; the territorial division of the Spanish Empire in the area of the River Plate basin in South America and whose capital was Asunción
 
Grávida: pregnant
 
Grêmio: guild, society, association, brotherhood
 
Gripe: flu or cold
 
Guarda: guard


Letter H

 

Habilitação de casamento: marriage qualification
 
Heráldica: heraldry
 
Herança vacante: vacant inheritance; the heirs are not known
 
Herança: inheritance
 
Hóstia: circular blade of unleavened wheat dough that the priest consecrates and offers to the faithful during communion on the occasion of the Mass
 
Hostiário: box to store the circular blades of unleavened wheat dough that are not yet consecrated
 


Letter I

i.: illegitamate
 
ill.: illegitamate
 
Imóvel: fixed property
 
Impedimento matrimonial: marital impediment; absense of legal conditions or the existence of a reason presented by the deceived contractor, which prevent the marriage celebration
 
Impedimento: imprediment; act or effect of preventing
 
Imposto de Passagem: tax for passage; term used in the Order of Malta to designate the fee paid to the Order by candidates to the religious professon, with a view to efinitive entry into it as professed nuns or knights, corresponding to a symbolic form of remission of the obligation to stay in the central convent in Malta
 
Incógnito: incognito; unknown
 
Indenização: indemnity; security or protection against a loss or other financial burden
 
Indias: Indies; the American continent, including the Caribbean, Mexico, Central American, and South America
 
Índio: indian; a person living with the Indians who adopts their customs, a social designation
 
Indulgência: indulgence
 
Infantil: childish, or relative to childhood
 
Intendente: quartermaster
 
Inumação: burial
 
Item: used to introduce a new fact or statement, or, more frequently, each new article or particular in an enumeration, especially in a formal list or document, as an inventory, or will
 

Letter J
 
Jesuíta: Jesuit; a member of the Society of Jesus, a religious order founded by Santo Inácio de Loyola in 1534
 
Jornaleiro: journeyman, day laborer
 
Jovem: youth
 
Judeu: jewish
 
Juiz de primeira instância: judge of first instance; magistrate who knows and judges common causes, since he has original competence and whose decisions are appealed to the immediately superior instance
 
Juro: interest


Letter L
 
Latifúndio: large landed estate typical of Andalucia and large parts of Latin America
 
Lavrador: farmer
 
Legítimo: legitimate, lawful
 
Légua: league (3.5 miles); lenght--land measurement which varies depending on the nation, equivalent to approximately 5.572m
 
Leilão: auction
 
Leste: east
 
Liberto: freedom, liberty; privelge, right
 
Licença: license
 
Licenciado: licensed 
 
Lícito: lawful
 
Liquidação: liquidation
 
Livros paroquiais: Parish books
 
Loja: store
 
Lugarejo: village

Letter M

 

Madrasta: stepmother
 
Madrinha: godmother
 
Magistratura: judiciary; magistrate
 
Mameluco: child of Indian with white
 
Mancipação: mancipation; voluntary transfer, in the presence of witnesses, of a property
 
Manda: bequest
 
Mar do Norte: Atlantic Ocean; North Sea
 
Mar do Sul: Pacific Ocean; South Sea
 
Marquês: marquis; in ancient times, a lord over the lands situtated on the frontiers of a kingdom; in later times, a noble title between that of count and duke
 
Matrícula: register, list, roster, roll census
 
Meio-irmão: half-brother
 
Meia-irmã: half-sister
 
Mendigo: beggar
 
Mercado: market
 
Mestiço: mestizo; an indivual born to a father and mother of different races
 
Missa: celebration of the Eucharist, Mass
 
Missão: mission; parish under control of one of the religious orders
 
Monsenhor: monsignor; title used in many countries to designate Bishops
 
Morador: resident
 
Moreno(a): one who has a skin tone between white and brown or between brown and black
 
Morgado: linked patrimony that could not be solid or divided and that was passed on to the eldest son, due to the death of the one who owned it
 
Mourisco: Moorish, those baptized Moors that lived in Spain and the colonies; Mexico, mixture of Spanish and mulatto blood
 
Mulato(a): one who is a mixed race of the white and black races
 
Município: municipality; the territorial jurisdiction which includes the inhabitants governed by a town council
 


Letter N
nas. : born
 
Natural: native of, born in a given locality; born outside of the marriage contract
 
Naturalizado: naturalized; when a foreiger has aquired the rights of a natural citizen
 
Natureza: nature
 
Navio negreiro: slave ship
 
Navio: ship
 
Negro: negro, black or dark-skinned, native of various tribes of Africa
 
Nobiliário: nobiliary, peerage list; pertaining to the nobility
 
Nobre: noble
 
Nomeação: appointment, election, nomination, commission
 
Nomear: to elect or appoint; to name, to mention by name
 
Nono: ninth
 
Notário: notary; authorized official for preparing and certifying public actions, contracts, deeds, bonds, wills, etc. 
 
Nubente: one who is about to get married
 
Num. : number
 
Núpcias: marriage, wedding, nuptials

Letter O

 

Óbito: death
 
Obituário: obituary
 
Oblato: oblate; from the Latin oblatus, passive past participle of the verb offerre (to offer). The term designates a person who offers himself to God, or a child who is offerred by his parents. This designation included mainly children who, in this way, were entrusted to the care and a religious community, a habit that has been documented since the orgins of monasticism and which would be officially suppressed only with the Council of Trent (1545-1563). It also designates a person linked to the spirituality of a religious order or institute.
 
Oferenda: one who gives offers
 
Oferta: offering
 
Ofício: occupation, job, work, craft, trade; office, post, position; function
 
Oleiro: potter
 
Onça: English weight measurement equivalent to 28.35 grams
 
Onomástica: onomastics; study and linguistic investigation of proper names
 
Oração pelas almas do Purgatório: prayer for souls in Purgatory
 
Ordem militar: religious order of knights, such as Santiago, Calatrava, Alcántara, Malta, San Juan de Jerusalem 
 
Órfão: orfan
 
Ouvidor: ombudsman; an offical appointed to investigate individuals' complaints against maladministration, especially that of public authorities
 
Ouvidoria: ecclesiastical structure similar to the Arciprestado that brings together several parishes, under the coordination of the Ombudsman priest


Letter P

 

Pacto antenupcial ou convenção antenupcial: prenuptial agreement
 
Padrasto: stepfather
 
Padrinho: godfather
 
Pag.: page
 
Pai incógnito: unknown father
 
Paleografia: palaeography; study of ancient writing, its forms, and variations over the centuries, including its deciphering and interpretation
 
Panteão: pantheon; building dedicated to the memory of illustrious men who made their homeland great and where their ashes are kept
 
Pardo: mixture of one part of Spanish blood, two parts of Indian blood, and one part of Negro blood; dark, mulatto
 
Pároco: parish priest
 
Paróquia: parish, territory covered by the spiritual jurisdiction of a parish priest
 
Paroquiano: parishioner
 
Pastor: shepherd
 
Patriarcado: patriarchate; ecclesiastical circumscription with a certain legal autonomy, equivalent to a Metropolis of Metropolises and attributed to episcopal headquarters highly venerable for their antiquity and apostolic roots
 
Patrimônio: inheritance
 
Pé: foot; unit of length that corresponds, in the metric decimal system, to 12 inches
 
Peninsular: penisular, born in Spain or Portugal
 
Permutar: to exchange; usually of two public or ecclesiastical offices or benefices
 
Plebeu: commoner
 
Poder: ability; power 
 
Polegada: inch 
 
Prado: land covered with herbaceous plants suitable for pasture or forage for cattle
 
Prefeito: ecclesiatical who governs an apostolic prefecture, or Cardinal who presides over a congregation of the Roman Curia
 
Prelado: prelate, ecclesiastical dignitary, superior of a convent
 
Presbítero: priest; one who receives the second degree of the Sacrament of Order
 
Presídio: prison
 
Pretendente: claimant, seeker, petitioner
 
Primeira instância: first instance; the first hierachical jurisdiction, the first body of Justice to which the citizen must address a conflict resolution request
 
Primo coirmão ou primo carnal ou primo primeiro ou primo em primeiro grau: cousin
 
Primo cruzado bilateral: bilateral cross-cousin; he who is both the son of the father's sister and the son of the mother's brother
 
Primo cruzado: son of a mother's brother or son of a father's brother
 
Primo em segundo grau: second cousin
 
Primo em terceiro grau: third cousin
 
Primo paralelo ou primo direito ou primo direto: parallel cousin or right cousin or direct cousin; son of a brother of the father or son of a sister of the mother of an individual
 
Priorado: priory; religious community in which the prior or prioress performs his/her duties
 
Privilégio: privelge
 
Proclama: marriage notice, reading in the church by the priest and/or published by the civil registry officer
 
Procurador: attorney
 
Prole: offspring
 
Propriedade: property
 
Prorrogação: extension, postponement, delay
 
Protesto: protest
 
Protocolo: protocol
 
Prova: proof
 
Província: province
 
Pureza de sangue: blood purity; people who were not descendants of Moors, Jews, mulattos, Indians, and blacks
 
Letter Q
 
Quaresma: Lent, 40-day period between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday
 
Quarto voto: Fourth vote, particular and extraordinary vote of some religious institutes issued according to their own tradition 
 
Quinta: country house, manor, villa
 
Quintal: weight measurement, equivalent to 100 pounds or four arrobas or 58,758 kilograms
 
Quitação: settlement, declaration releasing a debtor from a certain amount of credit


Letter R

 

Ração: ration
 
Rancho: ranch
 
Real Cédula: Royal Decree-- reasonable order issued by the King of Spain between the 15th and 19th centuries. Its cntent resolved some conflict of legal relevance. It established some guidelines for legal conduct, created an institution, appointed a royal position, granted a personal or collective right or ordered some concrete action
 
Real(Réis): real, form of currency from 1430 to 1911 in Portugal
 
Recibo: recepit (document acknowledging payment)
 
Reclamação: claim, demand, objection, protest, complain
 
Redibição: redefinition, means of canceling a purchase and sale of a movable or semi-movable item that has hidden defects, discovered by the buyer
 
Regimento: regiment
 
Registro: register
 
Regular: regular-- monk or priest who is a member of a religious order that takes vowes
 
Religioso: religious
 
Repartição: distributions of lands after reconquest
 
Requerimento: request, requistition, demand, summons
 
Revocação ou revogação: revocation, annulment
 



Letter S

 

Sacristão: sacristan, sexton, the individual who took care of the ecclesiastical cemeteries
 
Sangria: bleeding, for therapeutic purposes
 
Santa Sé: Episcopal Headquarters of Rome
 
Secretário: secretary
 
Seguro: safe, secure; insurance policy
 
Seleiro: saddler; one who manufactures saddles
 
Senhoril: belonging to a lord, lady, or noble person
 
Serviço: service
 
Setentrional: northern
 
Sigla: paleographic term, abbreviation by use of initial letters to represent entire words
 
Sineiro: one who commands the ringing of church bells
 
Sínodo: sinode, ancient name given to ecclesistical councils of a diocese
 
Sobrinho-neto: grand-nephew (niece)
 
Solar: manor house  
 
Soldada: salary, wages; soldier's pay
 
Sub-rogação: subrogation, substitution or change of thing or person, by something who follows in your duties and acts in your place
 
Sufragâneo: suffragan, one who is under the jurisdiction or authority of another
 
Sumo pontífice: Pope



Letter T

 

Tanoeiro: one who makes barrels
 
Tarifa: tariff, catalog of goods with current prices per unit or type
 
Tataraneto ou trineto: great-great-grandson (granddaughter) or great-grandson (granddaughter)
 
Tataravô ou trisavô: grea-great-grandfather (grandmother) or great-grandfather (grandmother)
 
Tenente: lieutenant
 
Terceira Ordem Regular de São Francisco: Third Regular Order of San Francisco, an order of the Franciscan family, of the Catholic Church, founded by Francisco de Assis in 1221
 
Término: the end, to end
 
Testador: tastator, one who makes a will
 
Testamenteiro: testamentary
 
Testamento cerrado: a will that is written in secret and then sealed before a notary and witnesses to be opened after the death of the testator
 
Testamento público: a will that is prepared in a public notary, requiring two witnesses who must attend to everything, which reveals his/her willingness to dispose of assets after his/her death
 
Testamento: testament
 
Tia: aunt
 
Tio: uncle
 
Tio-avô: great-uncle (aunt)
 
Tio-bisavô: great-great-uncle
 
Título: title; document with legal value that validates any right
 
Transferência: transfer
 
Tribunal: court
 
Tributável: taxable
 
Tributo: tax, compulsory tax that the population pays to the state for services and goods
 
Trigo: wheat
 
Trisavô(ó): great-great-grandfather (grandmother)
 
Troca: trade
 
Tutela: guardianship
 
Tutelado: guardian



Letter U
Unção dos enfermos (extrema-unção): anointing of the sick, Catholic sacrament dedicated to the sick, performed with oil 
 
Usufruto: usufruct. That is to say, the right and privilege to the use and profits of something, usually a property, that originally belonged to another. A formal word that is often used in Notarial documents to refer to inheritances.
 
Ut supra: (Lat.) as above


Letter V

 

Varão: male
 
Varíola: smallpox
 
Viático: viaticum, sacrament of the Euacharist administered to the sick in danger of death
 
Vicariato: vicariate, territory or area of jurisdiction under the responsibilty of a vicar
 
Vice-rei: viceroy, what governs a state subordinate to a kingdom
 
Vice-reinado: area governed by a viceroy
 
Vigário: vicar, the religious functionary who, as an assistant, takes full charge when his superior is gone, the functionary in charge of a parish times
 
Vigília: vigil, evening celebration on the eve of a religious fast
 
Vila: village
 
Visconde: viscount, title of nobilty, inferior to that of count and superior to that of baron
 
Visita pastoral: pastoral visit, obligation imposed on Cathlic bishops to visit the entire diocese, at least every five years
 
Vizinho: neighbor
 
Votos perpétuos: perpetual vows, public vows issued by a religious person, with a perpetual character, whose nature and effects are sanctioned by canonical norms
 
Votos privados: private votes
 
Votos públicos: public votes
 
Votos religiosos: religious votes
 
Votos simples: simple votes
 
Votos solenes: solemn votes, issued by members of religious orders and recognized by the Church as such
 
Votos temporários: temporary votes, cast by members of religious institutes



 
Letter X
Xerife: sheriff

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