In scanning and (marginally) editing the reports from the
Canterbury Archaeological Trust I have come up against some words
that are not explained in the text.
I know (or think I know) some of the words, I can use my
local dictionaries to find the meaning of others. Some I
will leave with a question mark. Please feel free to email me
and correct my interpretation.
fenestration
I am unsure on the precise meaning of this term. The latin
for window is fenestra so this has something to do
with windows.
insulae
The Latin word for `island', also used to mean a block of houses.
machicolations
Holes in the overhang of a parapet used to drop stones on
attackers. The dictionary defines this as the gaps between the
corbels, and defines a corbel as a projection from a wall
to support a weight.
Pounds, shillings and pence
British currency was done using the duo-decimal system. There were
twelve pennies in a shilling and twenty shillings to the pound. This
meant that there were 240 pennies in a pound, a hugely sensible number,
integrally divisible by 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12, 16, 20, 24 etc.
Money was written as pounds, shillings and pence: £867 14s 4d, the `d'
coming from the latin denarius. If the sum was in shillings and
pence, a stroke was often used: 10/- was 10 shillings (or half a pound).
The hat of the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland was 10/6d.
M. S. C
The Manpower Services Commission was an organisation set up
by the Government in an attempt to reduce the unemployment
statistics. The Commission funded training to allow the
unemployed to gain new skills.
tessera
These are the small tiles that the Romans used to create mosaic
floors (the plural is tesserae).
ungentaria
Well, the latin word for perfume was unguentum, so I
guess `small pottery ungentaria' are perfume containers.