This booklet is not intended to be a comprehensive dictionary of all the
Latin words likely to be found in record of interest to family historian. It
does, however, aim to include most of the more common words which occur in
parish registers, wills, and the simpler types of title deeds and manorial
records, and to be helpful to beginners as well as those with some knowledge of
Latin.
Likewise the definitions are only a guide: the meaning of many Latin words
varies in English, according to the context, and some meanings especially the
rarer ones, may well have been omitted.
Apart from knowing what the word mean, the erratic spelling of many Latin
documents and the frequent use of abbreviations both present further obstacles
to understanding what you are trying to read. The use of abbreviations is beyond
the scope of this word-list, though a few very common ones have been included.
First published in 1989, and now in its sixth printing, this book has become one of the 'must have' guides when getting into Latin documents with your research.
