Glossary & RP Terminology

When roleplaying it is beneficial to learn the lingo. Learning fantasy and medieval terminology will provide a rich RP experience for all involved.​

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Glossary

Acre - The area of land that can be ploughed by one ox team in a day

Allure - A walkway on a wall, also known as a wall walk.

Amercement - Monetary penalty imposed by the monarch or royal justices for various minor offences. The word comes from the fact that the offender is said to be ‘in mercy’.

Arrow Loop Narrow - A small opening built in a wall that was used by archers to fire arrows at incoming enemies while offering great protection. These were later modified to accommodate small cannons.

Bailey - Defensive courtyard.

Barbican - Towers defending a gateway.

Baron - Tenants in Chief – vassals who held land directly from the crown and served as a member of the King’s great council. This isn’t a title so much as a description. All Barons would be called Lord or something grander; not all Lords would be a Baron. The Magnates were the few greatest Barons – those with over £1000 a year by and large.

Batter - Additional support structures situated at the base of walls and towers.

Battlement - Defensive structures that consist of portions of the wall cut at regular intervals to provide additional defense for archers and a disadvantage for invaders.

Breastwork - Improvised structure used to protect gunners or artillery. Both defenders and attackers made use of this.

Charter - of Franchise A Document granting liberty to a serf. This could be granted by his lord or the king.

Chivalry - A knight's code of conduct. 

Coat of Arms - The symbol knights used to show their family line.

Commoner - Lowest class of people, just above slaves.

Curtain Wall - The first line of defense, also known as the Outer Wall. It often had towers at regular intervals and was able to accommodate numerous archers and sometimes siege engines on top.

Daub - A mud or clay mixture applied over wattle in order to strengthen it.

Donjon - The keep. Prisoners were usually kept at the tallest tower - the word "dungeon" comes from "donjon".

Drawbridge - Wooden platforms built to connect a gate house to the surrounding land bypassing the moat. The drawbridge's could be lifted with a complex system of chains when required. This was usually done at night.

Dowager - The widow of a peer, e.g., the Dowager Countess of Somewhere. The term is not added to a woman’s title unless and until the new (male) holder married. For example, if the new Earl of Somewhere, the son of the late earl, is a young man when he inherits the title and has no wife, his mother continues to be styled Countess of Somewhere. His wife takes that title when he marries, and his mother becomes the Dowager Countess. The term is also sometimes used informally and disparagingly to refer to an older woman of the upper classes.

Dungeon - The prisoners were kept and sometimes tortured here. Contrary to popular belief, the dungeon was more often located in a tower and rarely in an underground compartment.

Enclosure - Practice of enclosing common land and converting it to pasture, usually for sheep. The practice was designed to maximize the profits of landlords at a time of falling rents for agricultural land and rising demand for wool.

Embrasure - The lower segment of the alternate high and low parts of a Battlement. This portion was used to attack while the archer retreated to the high segment of the wall to rest or take cover.

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Faction (noun) - political entity, association or clan/guild; usually either role-played by an individual, or populated by a group of (mostly) player characters who align with it

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Fealty Oath - Oath by which a vassal swore loyalty to the lord or lady.

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Fair - Market held at regular intervals, usually once or twice a year. Fairs tended to offer a wider range of goods than normal markets. They were generally licensed by either the monarch, a local lord, or a chartered town, hence the “Charter Fairs” still held in Britain.

Feudalism - System of govern that ruled most of the Middle Ages.

Fief - Land held by a vassal of a lord in return for his services, mainly military.

Forebuilding - Additional building against a Keep containing the stair to the doorway, and sometimes a chapel.

Garderobe - Small latrine or toilet either built into the thickness of the wall or projected out from it. It is said that garments were stored in the Garderobe in the belief that the smell and draughts would deter clothes-moths.

Gate House - The complex set of towers, wall and bridges that protected each entrance of the castle.

Gentry - In the later Middle Ages, substantial landowners who might bear
coats of arms but did not belong to the peerage.

Great Hall - Main dining area for the lord and the nobility.

Hall - The main room of a medieval house, used for eating.

Hauberk - Coat of mail used for protective purposes. It was very heavy and expensive; hence only for nobility.

Heraldry - One of the most interesting ways that knights and other nobles sought to define their individual identities—and that of their families—was through the practice of heraldry. The practice of painting one’s shield with a particular image or color arose for practical reasons: On the battlefield, one fully armed and helmeted knight looks very much like another. Over time, these images came to be associated with a particular family and came to be referred to as coats of arms.

Homage - Ceremony in which a vassal pledged his fealty to the lord or lady and acknowledged his feudal obligations.

Inner Curtain - The high wall which surrounds the Inner Ward of a castle. This was usually the second line of defense.

Inner Ward - The place where festivities occurred - this was the open area in the middle of a castle. Some castles had wells and trees in this area.

Keep - Main tower, also the last line of defense and final defensive fortification. Its fall meant the fall of the castle.

Knight - The warrior who owed military service to his lord in exchange for fief (land). Knights also aspired to the ideals of loyalty, generosity and courtesy, known as Chivalry.

Livery - The special uniform worn by the servants and officials.

Lance - A long wooden shaft used by knights in tournaments. They were also used during the High and Late Middle Ages for regular warfare.

Living Quarters - The place where the knight, lady and other nobility lived inside a castle.

Manor - Small holding with its own court and hall. Generally held by a knight. It had some defensive structures to withstand a small siege.

Merlon - The higher part of alternating high and low segments of a battlement. Archers used the Merlon to cover from incoming arrows.

Missive – A written message; letter. In the middle ages there was no official postal service, therefore, messengers were common. Late medieval letter-writers were concerned with many of the same topics that move us today. Men and women nurtured long-distance love affairs, lawyers debated legal disputes, and buyers of property discussed houses. Letter-writers ranged from high-ranking servants to royalty.

Moat - A deep trench filled with water dug around a castle to impede an enemy's advance.

Mortar - A strong mixture of water, sand and lime used to bind stones together permanently. It was used for construction purposes.

Motte - Man-made or natural spot on which a keep or donjon was built. They were chosen based on many factors, its defensive advantage being the most important.

Murder Holes - Openings in walls of the gate house, used for attacking the invaders.

Newel - Secret dungeon that had only one door at the top. Prisoners were simply thrown in it and left to die next to the other dead bodies.

Nobleman/Noblewoman - A wealthy individual who often lived in castles and were sometimes educated.

Oubliette - Concealed dungeon having a trap door in its ceiling as its only opening, where prisoners were often left to starve to death.

Palisade - The palisade was a wooden wall that enclosed an area. It was generally used as a temporary defense while a stronger stone wall was built.

Postern Gate - Mostly used for escape, the postern gate was a hidden castle's exit.

Rampart - Defensive stone or earth wall that surrounded the castle. This structure slowed down the attackers.

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Retinue - A retinue is a body of persons "retained" in the service of a noble, royal personage, or dignitary, a suite (literal French meaning: what follows) of "retainers". A group of people who travel with an important person to provide help and support.

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Scribe - An official or public secretary or clerk. A copier of manuscripts

Sap - The undermining of a wall by attackers.

Scaffolding - Temporary wooden platform constructed next to a wall or tower in order to support workers and provide room for building materials.

Serf - Semi-free peasant who worked his lord's land.

Arrow-slit - Narrow opening in a wall for firing arrows. It was also used to illuminate the castle.

Spiral Staircase - Compact staircase often built into the walls of castles. They were built in a way to provide defenders every possible advantage, such as allowing them to fight with their right hand while the attackers were forced to use their left.

Turret - A small tower, used as a look-out point, that rose above every other tower. The guards on top could often see the whole castle and much of the surrounding landscape and detect suspicious behavior.

Undercroft - Cellar or basement under a building. These were very rare and expensive, big castles often had secret compartments.

Usury - The practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans intended to unfairly enrich the lender.

Vassal - A free individual who held a lord's land and to whom he paid homage and swore loyalty.

Vintenar - Man in charge of twenty soldiers.

Wall Walk - The area atop of a wall that archers and other infantry used to defend against the invaders.

Ward - Enclosed Defensive structure usually around the courtyard.

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Similes and metaphors:

While both similes and metaphors are used to make comparisons, the difference between similes and metaphors comes down to a word. Similes use the words like or as to compare things—“Life is like a box of chocolates.” In contrast, metaphors directly state a comparison—“Love is a battlefield.”

(Simile) Life is like a box of chocolates. 

(Metaphor) My life is an open book. 

(Simile) That baby is as cute as a button!

(Metaphor) Baby, you’re a firework.

"Fog thick as a dwarf's beard."
"A story tangled as the forest of Evertree."
"Wit sharper than a dragon's tooth."
"Playful as Elven Wine."

"She is as strong as an ox."

"You were as brave as a lion."

"The calm lake was a mirror of what was to come."

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Expletives:

"Bloody hellfire"

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Insult Examples:

"Beslumbering clay-brained scoundrel"

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When did Old English end and Middle English begin?
When plans for what became known as the Oxford English Dictionary were being drawn up in the late 1850s, it was a commonly held view that the borderline between Old English and later forms of English should be regarded as 1250, rather than 1150. In the scholarship of the time this earliest stage of English was in fact usually considered to be a wholly different language from later English—and therefore not properly within the remit of an English dictionary.

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These early views are evident in the Proposal for the Publication of a New Dictionary by the Philological Society (1859) which envisages a starting point for the dictionary of 1250 (the date of the ‘rise’ of ‘our language’), very much in accordance with the thinking of Herbert Coleridge (the first editor of the proposed dictionary), whose own Dictionary of the first, or Oldest Words in the English Language (1863) covers the period 1250-1300. - Oxford University Press

The Dictionary of Old English (DOE) defines the vocabulary of the first six centuries (C.E. 600-1150) of the English language. It complements the Middle English Dictionary (which covers the period C.E. 1100-1500 and is part of the online Middle English Compendium) and the Oxford English Dictionary. At present the DOE includes words beginning with the letters A through I. - Princeton University