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The Alphabetary Heraldic

Genealogical Glossary

N

.Nt. : Noster : [Tironian note] our.  The periods were used to show this to be an abbreviation.  Here, the abbreviation happens to be partly a contraction, and partly a suspension.

N : [LDS] census event, enumeration, an LDS Event subject to the Ordinances.

N : [Ogham Q-Celtic] neiagadon.[1]

n. : nacido : [Sp] born.

n. : nacimiento : [Sp] birth.

n. : nació : [Sp] born.

n. : natus, nephew.

n. : nieto : [Sp] grandson.

n. : norte : [Sp] north.

n. : nueva : [Sp] new.

N. Dak. : ND : North Dakota.

N. Ire. : Northern Ireland, United Kingdom.

N. Mex. : NM : New Mexico.

N.A. : National Archives.

N.A.S.A. : NASA : National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

N.B. : NB : New Brunswick, Canada.

N.C. : NC : North Carolina.

n.c.n. : no copyright notice.

n.d. : no date.

N.E. : New England.

N.E.H. & G.R. : NEHGR : New England Historic and Genealogical Register.

N.H. : NH : New Hampshire.

N.J. : NJ : New Jersey.

n.p. : no place.

n.p. or d. : no place or date.

N.S. : New Style.

N.S. : NS : Nova Scotia, Canada.

N.T. : NT : New Testament.

N.W. Terr. : Northwest Territories, Canada.

N.X.N. : no Christian name.  The letter X represents the Greek letter Χ in Χριστος, meaning ‘Christ.’

N.Y. : NY : New York.

N.Y.G. & B.R. : NYGBR : New York Genealogical and Biographical Record.

N.Z. : New Zealand.

NA : National Archives.

NAB : New American Bible (1970).

nacido : nacio : [Sp] born.

nacimiento : [Sp] birth.

nació : [Sp] was born.

nadle : [Navajo] that which changes; a shaman male or female.  Having a nadle in one’s family was thought to bring wealth and success to the whole family, and therefore Navajo families encouraged initiations.  Cf. American shamans, Navajo creation story, Turquoise Boy.

nag : a small horse; a contemptuous name for a paramour.

nai : [We] SbSo; nephew.

Naiad : Naias [Lt] : Naiade [Fr] : a water nymph.

naimaton : [Fi] unmarried.

nain : [We] MoMo; grandmother.

nainen : [Fi] woman.

naitu : [Fi] married.

name :  Cf. Christian name, Buddhist name, Taoist name.

name avoidance : [En] the English custom of referring to sovereigns by their reign names or titles, rather than their surnames and given names.  The English often make reference to Edward VIII, or the Duke of Windsor, but seldom or never make mention of that monarch’s given names Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David, never call him by his nickname Dickie, and never refer to him by his surname Windsor.  Cf. surname avoidance.

name avoidance : [Jp] the Japanese custom of avoiding any mention of an emperor’s given name.  Western textbooks frequently identify the present Emperor of Japan by his given name Akihito; however, the Japanese themselves seldom mention this name Akihito, and prefer to use instead his regnal year-date name of Heisei, or the same, regnal name that will become the emperor’s posthumous name.  This disparity in reference arises mainly from cultural ignorance.  This Japanese practice, with respect to the names of its emperors, is actually similar and parallel to English conventions respecting its monarchs.  Cf. surname avoidance.

namer : one who calls or knows something by any name.

names : [Ch] the three names that usually constitute a Chinese personal name, specifically (1) shing, the surname, clan name, or family name, (2) pai-ming, the generation name, and (3) shih-ming, the given name.  Collectively the three names are called shingming in Chinese, or seimei in Japanese.[2]  A traditional Chinese name has only three characters, standing for the three names.  An adult Chinese male will sometimes opt to use another ‘social name’ or pseudonym.  Cf. pu-ming, registered name, social name.

names with foreign spellings : [1066] Saxon adoptions of Norman first and middle names.  During the assimilation that followed the Norman Conquest of 1066, the Anglo-Saxons found it fashionable to adopt Latin, French, or Norman-French forenames and surnames.

names with foreign spellings : [ante 1649] Prior to the Regicide of Charles I, the English found it fashionable to adopt French spellings, to flatter the monarchy, and to express allegiance to the House of Stuart.

names with foreign spellings : [ante 1814] German adoptions of French first and middle names.  During the Napoléonic conquests, it became popular in Germany to assign French names to German children.  After Waterloo, the practice disappeared.

namesake : one who has the same name as another.

namesake conventions : [1600 Old Gm] the German practices of naming all same-sex children identically, after their same-sex parent, and differentiating each child by its given name, which was actually its baptismal name, chosen to honor its baptismal sponsor.

namesake conventions : [1701-1870 En-We] the English and Welsh practices of naming sons and daughters after specific kindred.  The established rules were sometimes ignored, to avoid duplicating the same names.  The list of available names was predetermined by kinship, such that the eldest son through the fourth son would be named after their antecedents, respectively after their FaFa, MoFa, Fa, FaBr(e).  The eldest daughter through the fourth daughter were named similarly, respectively after their  MoMo, MoFaMo, Mo, MoSi(e).[3]  Some genealogists try to remember the naming rules for the first four sons and first three daughters, by reciting these dicta:  ‘The first son is named after his father's father, the second after his mother’s father, the third after his father, and the fourth after his father’s eldest brother.  The first daughter is named after her mother's mother, the second after her father’s mother, and the third after her mother.’[4]

namesake conventions : [1701-1900 Du] The first son through the third were named respectively after their grandfather (1), grandfather (2), and father.  The eldest son became the namesake of his PaFa(1), meaning either his FaFa or MoFa, and the second was named similarly after his grandfather, either paternal or materal, PaFa(2).  The third son was named after his father, Fa.  The eldest daughter was named after her maternal grandmother (MoMo), the second daughter after her paternal grandmother (FaMo), and the third daughter was named after her mother (Mo).  The Dutch naming system resembled the Scottish, but was never as strict as the Scottish.[5]

namesake conventions : [1701-1900 Sc]  Scottish naming practices.  In Scotland during the eighteen and nineteenth centuries, the eldest son through the third son were named respectively after their FaFa, MoFa, and Fa, and the fourth and younger sons could be named after any other of their kinsmen.  The eldest daughter through the third daughter were named respectively after their MoMo, FaMo, and Mo, but the fourth and younger daughters could be named after any of their remaining kinswomen.  These naming practices regularly linked the names of siblings to the names of lineal and collateral antecedents standing in the first or second generation prior to their own.  If the older and younger reciprocals belonged to families of radically different social class or wealth, the Scottish naming conventions might well be ignored or abandoned, for fear of confounding the high with the low.  When the Scots followed the prescribed naming patterns, they tended to strictly adhere to the rules, and therefore, we sometimes encounter siblings with identical names who were named after different antecedents.[6]

namesake conventions : [1801-1900 Ir] the Irish practices of assigning the names of specific antecedents to children, by sex, and by birth order.  The eldest son through the fifth son might be named for FaFa, MoFa, FaFaFa, Fa, FaBr(e).  The eldest daughter through the fifth might be named for FaMo, MoMo, FaFaMo, Mo, MoSi(e).  If a child died young, its Irish parents tended to chose the decedent’s name for another child of the same sex.[7]

namesake group : the custom of using four sections for same-sex naming of members belonging to alternating generations.  The ego shares names with his or her same-sex grandparent (PaPa) and his or her same-sex grandchildren (ChCh).  Cf. Cashinahua of Peru.

namesake groups : [Ir] namesakes in the second degree; an Irish naming convention wherein the ego shares his forename with his grandfather and eldest grandson, provided all three persons happen to be the eldest sons of a single patriliny.  Anthropologists believe that namesakes in the second degree may sometimes indicate segmentation for spousal exchange.  Segmentation is a typical practice among some Australian aborigines, such as the Kerala, who name generations by alternating names to prevent oblique unions, or marriages between members of different generations.

namesake, companionate : a first or middle name selected to honor one of the namer’s favorite relatives or friends.  Parents often lack genealogical knowledge, and seldom learn any rules for naming, so parents frequently chose names for their children by happenstance or familiarity, rather than design.  Genealogists should beware that the same name recurring in alternate generations does not always signify namesake groups.  If a father named his son John, his choice of names could have been based on friendship, partnership, patronage, parallel cousinage, and the like, rather than lineal kinship.  Even if the father’s father or grandfather had been named John (I), the father’s kinship with his ancestor John (I) might have had no significance whatsoever in the father’s election to name his son John (II).  Cf. maternal namesake, namesake, religious namesake.

namesake, Fa & So : [Old Gm] naming all sons identically after their father, and differentiating them only by their middle names.

namesake, Fa & So(3) : [1701-1870 En-We] naming the third son after his father.[8]

namesake, Fa & So(3) : [1701-1900 Sc] naming the third son after his father.[9]

namesake, Fa & So(4) : [1801-1900 Ir] naming the fourth or younger son after his father.[10]

namesake, FaBr(e) & Br(y)So(4) : [1701-1870 En-We] naming the fourth son after his father’s eldest brother.[11]

namesake, FaFa & SoSo(1) : [1701-1870 En-We] naming the eldest son after his paternal grandfather.[12]

namesake, FaFa & SoSo(1) : [1701-1900 Sc] naming the eldest son after his paternal grandfather.[13]

namesake, FaFa & SoSo(1) : [1801-1900 Ir] naming the eldest son after his paternal grandfather.[14]

namesake, FaFaFa & SoDaSo(3) : [1801-1900 Ir] naming a third or younger son after his paternal great-grandfather.[15]

namesake, FaFaMo & SoSoDa(3) : [1801-1900 Ir] naming a third or younger daughter after her paternal great-grandmother.[16]

namesake, FaMo & SoDa(1) : [1801-1900 Ir] naming the eldest daughter after her paternal grandmother.[17]

namesake, FaMo & SoDa(2) : [1701-1900 Sc] naming the second daughter after her paternal grandmother.[18]

namesake, kinsman & So(4) : [1701-1900 Sc] naming the fourth or younger son after one of his kinsmen.[19]

namesake, kinswoman & Da(4) : [1701-1900 Sc] naming the fourth and younger daughters after kinswomen.[20]

namesake, maternal : [1783 US] a middle name identical to the mother’s maiden name; the maternal surname or maiden name of the proband’s mother, that recurs as the middle name of the proband, as a mother-son or mother-daughter link.  Using maternal surnames as middle names became a popular custom among Protestant or Reformation families.  Some genealogists hold the opinion that a maiden surname recurring as the son’s middle name should indicate the son’s station as the eldest son, but sets of siblings often exhibit erratic naming, so the rule of primogeniture does not always ensure regularity.[21]

namesake, Mo & Da : [Old Gm] naming all daughters identically after their mother, and differentiating them only by their middle names.

namesake, Mo & Da(3) : [1701-1870 En-We] naming the third daughter after her mother.[22]

namesake, Mo & Da(3) : [1701-1900 Sc] naming the third daughter after her mother.[23]

namesake, Mo & Da(4) : [1801-1900 Ir] naming the fourth or younger daughter after her mother.[24]

namesake, MoFa & DaSo(2) : [1701-1900 Sc] naming the second son after his maternal grandfather.[25]

namesake, MoFa & SoSo(2) : [1701-1870 En-We] naming the second son after his maternal grandfather.[26]

namesake, MoFa & SoSo(2) : [1801-1900 Ir] naming the second son after his maternal grandfather.[27]

namesake, MoFaMo & SoDaDa(2) : [1701-1870 En-We] naming the second daughter after her maternal-paternal great-grandmother.[28]

namesake, MoMo & DaDa(1) : [1701-1900 Sc] naming the eldest daughter after her maternal grandmother.[29]

namesake, MoMo & DaDa(2) : [1701-1870 En-We] naming the eldest daughter after her maternal grandmother.[30]

namesake, MoMo & DaDa(2) : [1801-1900 Ir] naming the second daughter after her maternal grandmother.[31]

namesake, MoSi(e) & Si(y)Da(4) : [1701-1870 En-We] naming the fourth daughter after her mother’s eldest sister.[32]

namesake, PaSb(e) & SbCh(5) : [1801-1900 Ir] naming a son or daughter, counted as the fifth or younger son or daughter, after the child’s paternal or maternal uncle or aunt.[33]

namesake, political or military : a name adapted from the name of some celebrity; a series of two or three names denoting some politician or general.  Prior to the advent of radio and music distribution, movies, and television, celebrity names were usually confined to politicians, colonels, generals, and authors.  Popular political namesakes included George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, William Jennings Bryan, and many others.  Military namesakes included such names as Zachary Taylor, and Daniel Boone.

namesake, religious : the name of the child’s patron saint adopted at baptism.  Catholics and Frenchmen tended to reserve the middle name for the child’s baptismal name, which was usually the child’s patron saint.  The baptismal name had no restrictions as to gender, and therefore men could be named after female saints, and vice versa.  Furthermore, Europeans sometimes placed the religious namesake before the personal name, making it even more difficult for the casual reader to discern the sex of the individual. The name combinations Jean-Marie and Marie-Henri are common examples of seemingly feminine, religious namesakes used by men.  Thus, sacred namesakes can be ambisexual appellations.

namesake, sibling : Cf. Irish namesake conventions.

namesake, Sponsor & Godchild : [Old Gm] naming a child with the first name of its same-sex parent, but with a middle name matching the name of its same-sex baptismal sponsor.  The Germans tended to use a child’s middle name as its common name, familiar name, or given name, because all same-sex children were uniformly named after their same-sex parent, and could not be distinguished, except by reference to their middle name.

namesakes, Jewish : Cf. Jewish naming conventions.

naming systems : systems of kinship naming, including the patrilineal Iroquois naming system, and the matrilineal Navajo-Crow naming system.  Anthropologists have defined five major naming systems in the world.  Cf. teknonymy.

Nan : [Ch] a Chinese surname.  Ferdinand Verliest took Nan as his surname, and called himself Nan Huai Jen.[34]

Nancy : a nickname for a male homosexual.  The press dubbed the Vice President ‘Miss Nancy’ during the administration of President James Buchanan.  Cf. Mary, Nellie.

nanus : dwarf.[35]

NARA : National Archives and Records Administration.  Cf. Port of New York, U.S. records.

narce : narcotic sleep.

narcotic : a drug that dulls the senses and induces sleep.  The word once referred to opiates, or the class of drugs derived from the opium of a poppy plant, including heroin, codeine, and methadone.  Today, the word narcotic may refer to any synthetic drug that has opium-like effects.

narcotic : producing torpor, producing stupefaction.

Narraganset female chiefs : a matriarchy in Rhode Island.

narration : narratio : account, history, relations.

narrative : [Fr] narratif, storytelling, apt to relate things past; giving an account of the past.  Cf. definition, index entry.

narrator : teller, relater.

narratores : [1500] narrator, a term which had probably become coterminous with ‘sergeant’.  Narrators seldom appear in Plea Rolls, but they fre­quently appear in the Year Books.[36]

narratores : conteur [Fr], narrator; [ante 1275, temp Hen III] a pro­fessional lawyer hired to tell the tale of the plaintiff, whose acts were probably not binding on his principal, as would be the case for an attorney.

nasc- : nat- : to be born.

nascent : nascens : growing, increasing.

nasci : to give birth to, originate, start.

nascor : nasci, to be born.  Cf. natus.

naso : nose, rhino- [Gk].

nat- : nasc- : to be born.

nat. : nata, natus; born.

nata : [feminine] born.  Cf. natus, orta.

natal child : a biological child, as opposed to an adoptive or foster child.  Cf. natural child.

natal family : family of orientation.

Natalie Barney : Barney, Natalie.

natals : the time and place of nativity.  Cf. date of birth, horoscope, place of birth.

nati- : birth.

nati : Ch; children.

nati ex fornicatione : priests’ sons.[37]

nati in castro : were born in the castle.[38]

nation : natio : a people distinguished from another people.

National Archives and Records Administration : N.A. : NA : NARA : the U.S. federal authority in Washington, DC,[39] charged with the storage and care of state documents as well as old pension files, military service records, and bounty land warrants.  Most of the military records stored at NARA cover terms of service between 1775 and 1928, and include the extant records of the Confederacy.  Continuous federal collections of personnel records, commencing from various dates between 1864 and 1929, have been reposited at NPRC.  Postbellum pension claims may often be found at regional offices of the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Cf. U.S. military records.

National Archives, Southeast Region : a division of the National Archives, located in East Point, GA,[40] that superintends the U.S. draft registrations (1917-1918) dating from the Great War (1914-1918).

national economy : Volkswirtschaft [Gm].[41]

National Genealogical Society : NGS : a large organization based in Washington, DC,[42] which initiated the Record System of genealogical notation.

National Genealogical Society Quarterly : NGSQ.

national health care : universal health care provided by a government and supported by taxation.

National Personnel Records Center : NPRC : the U.S. federal authority in Saint Louis, MO, that serves as a centralized reposistory for the civilian and military personnel records of federal employees.  The NPRC has consolidated all of the fairly recent civilian, military, and quasi-military personnel records of the U.S. Army, Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard, which commence from various dates between 1864 and 1929.  Most of the older records may be found at NARA.  Postbellum pension claims were managed by special bureaucracies, so they have been separately consolidated at regional offices of the Department of Veterans Affairs.  Cf. U.S. military records.

National Right to Marry Day : [1998] a national, annual demonstration held on 12 February to demand the licensing of authentic civil marriages in the United States.  The objective is not only to secure the right to marry for many hundreds of thousands of Americans, but also to equalize or eliminate the 170 or more special rights and privileges that Christian heterosexuals now claim as their exclusive domain.  Cf. domestic partner, right to marry.

nation-state : society.  Opp. family.

native : [1400] innate, inborn; belonging to a particular place by birth; indigenous, endemic, aboriginal.  The word native generally pertains to places of birth and rearing, whereas the word natal is associated with specifically with births or nativities.  Cf. natal, natural.  agnation and affination.

native : nativus : natural, produced by nature; conferred by birth.

native : original inhabitant; offspring; one born in a place; indigenous person.

native child : Cf. natal child.

nativi : serfs.[43]

nativity and pro-sexualism : the matristic characteristics of a society, based on the organization of a group of living sibships belonging to the same generation.  Cf. agism and sexism.

nato : [It] born.

natolocal residence : living at the house or village of one’s birth.  The term must refer to only one spouse.  Cf. residence rules.

natrix : water snake, penis.

natu : by birth.  This is an ablative singular form of natus, used for expressing some comparative age.  Cf. grandis magnis, magnus natu, maior natu quam, maximus natu, older, young, youngest.

natu magnus : older in age.

natu minimus : younger in age.  Cf. youngest.

natural : [Sp] native.

natural : naturel : [Fr] illegitimate, not legal; born out of wedlock; produced or effected by nature; bestowed by nature; un-Christian.  Cf. natal.

natural child : bastard.

natural daughter : illegitimate daughter.

Natural philosophy : the great mother of sciences.[44]

natural son : illegitimate son.

naturales liberi : liberi naturales : children made legitimate, naturalized children.  Cf. legitimatio.

naturalia : the sexual parts of both sexes.

naturalization : the act of investing aliens with the privileges of native subjects.  Cf. indenization.

naturam expelles furca tamen usque recurret : drive out nature with a pitchfork, yet it will return.[45]

nature: According to Boethius (obiit 525), the word nature had four meanings. (1) Omnis vero natura est, all things are truly natural.  (2) Natura est vel quod facere, vel quod pati possit, nature is that which acts or that which is acted upon.  (3) Natura est motus principium, secundum se, non per accidens, nature is the principle of motion as  consequence, and not as accident.  (4) Natura est unamquamque rem informans specifica differentia, nature is the inherent quality of something.[46]

nature : natura : the native state or properties of anything; disposition, temper; the state or operation of the material world.

nature: ordo, order; an amoral force that supports both good and evil.[47]

nature and nurture : the natural world with its provision of methods for nutriment and fosterment.  Cf. matrism, matriarchy.  Opp. arts and sciences, law and order.

naturel : [Fr masculine] illegitimate.

naturelle : [Fr feminine] illegitimate.

Naturkunde : [Gm] science.  Cf. Völkerkunde.

natus : born, the term used on tombstones to complement the word obiit ‘died’.  Cf. ortus, non natus.

natus ante : born before.

natus est : he was born.

natus et statim baptizatus : born and immediately baptized.

natus extra matrimonium : extramarital birth, birth out of wedlock.

natus summo loco : born of a good family.

naunt : [1300-1700] PaSi; aunt.  Cf. nuncle.

naut- : [Gk] sailor.

Navajo : [AZ] a tribal name that loaned itself to Navajo Mountain, UT.

Navajo creation story : the story of the transvestite Turquoise Hermaphrodite who cross-dressed and lived in the east, near the Male Reed.  The hermaphrodite White Shell Girl resided in the west, near the Female Reed, and she paired herself as First Woman with the First Man.  When their son Turquoise Boy, or Ashon nutli’ the Nadle, once visited her, White Shell Girl explained to her husband that Turquoise Boy was ‘of her flesh and not his.’  The universe was divided into the First World, Second World, and Third World, and the Turquoise boy grew his Male Reed so tall that people could climb it to escape inundation by flood waters.  The big and earthly Male Reed served as a latter to the Fourth World in heaven, where the Turquoise people planted the Female Reed of White Shell Girl, and where the Female Reed became the roof of the Fourth World.[48]  Cf. gay gene.

Navajo shaman : nadle.

Navajo system : Cf. Crow system.

navies of Edward VI, Mary I, & Elizabeth I : [1558-1603 En +29 ships] Henry VIII’s three children built only 29 vessels of 100 tons and more at the dockyards near London, between 1558 and 1603.[49]

navigation : the act or practice of passing by water.

navigator : seaman, sailor, one who travels by water.

navy : navis : fleet, an assembly of ships.

navy of Elizabeth I : [1559-1560] The Virgin Queen had 3 ships built in 1559 and 1560.  They were rated between 800 and 1,000 tons each, and included the Victory I.  The designs had high waists and extravagant superstructures, and therefore Sir John Hawkins acted to streamline Elizabethan ships in the last part of her reign.  Cf. Sir John Hawkins, ship proportions.

navy of Henry V : [En +2260% and more] an expanded navy, later neglected.[50]

navy of Henry VII : 5 ships.[51]

navy of Henry VIII : [En +2260%] some 113 vessels, including 90 ships and more, as well as 13 or more row-barges.  During the 38 years of his reign, Henry VIII added at least 85 ships to his father’s navy of 5 ships.  He purchased 26 ships from guilds of the Hanseatic League, as well as from the Italians.  His navy captured 13 more ships.[52]  His expansion of the navy was dramatic, but the rate of growth did not match the rate of Henry V’s acquisitions.

navy of Ronald Reagan : the 600-ship navy.  Reagan’s Star Wars initiative was complemented with the largest naval escalation in human history.  Between 1981 and 1993, Reagan and Bush transformed the United States from the world’s largest creditor nation into the world’s largest debtor nation, by claiming that the Cold War had not yet ended.  The London Times and world historians in general declared in print that the Cold War (1947-1973) had ended in 1973, but Reagan ignored the historians and deliberately revived the concept of cold war for political purposes.  Thus, Reagan and Bush expanded the arms race to a ‘cold war’ era restored, 1981-1993, and claimed that the Soviets were advancing in armaments, when they were actually collapsing in military strength.  These U.S. presidents effectively created another era in history, the Quasicold War (1981-1993), during which Americans forgot the balance sheets, and increased the National Debt to $4 trillion.

Nazarene : one of Nazareth; an early Christian convert known by his adherence to Jesus of Nazareth.

Nbve : Nove : Noviembre : [Sp] November.

:  [Fr masculine] born; originally or formerly called.  This masculine form may be rare, but it is used for a man whose birth name differs from his customary or adult name.  It might indicate that the man became an adoptive son, or he adopted his stepfather’s surname, or he adopted his surname by patent or license, MoHu =Fa & WiSo =So; ego(A) =ego(B); ego(B)_ née ego(A).  It might indicate that the proband adopted his wife’s maiden name, especially if his father-in-law had no natal heirs male.  If a second or younger son changed his surname, it might indicate that he was recognized as the heir of his maternal grandfather, or that some estate with no heirs male had devolved to him through his mother.  Additional inheritances of this latter type were sometimes allowed to pass to younger brothers, especially if the estate required separate management.  Cf. née.

Ne: [anthropology] SbSo; nephew.  Cf. Ni.

ne- : [Gk] new, new and different form of.

ne: nombre : [Sp contraction] name.

Neanderthal man : [1856] Homo neanderthalensis; the skeleton discovered in the Neander Valley of northern Germany in 1856.  DNA tests made in 1997 revealed that this skeleton is far removed from homo sapiens, for the lines must have diverged as many as 600,000 years ago.[53]  The skeleton itself is more then 30,000 years old, and we have evidence showing that the new homo sapiens migrants from Africa must have coëxisted with Neanderthal man in primitive times.  Neanderthal man was a European evolution of homo erectus that flourished from 1,000,000 bc, until the arrival of homo sapiens about 35,000 bc.  This brutish yet sympathetic race survived the ice ages by hunting raindeer and musk oxen.  Harsh conditions perhaps decimated, and perhaps annihilated, tribes of Neanderthal men, and the survivors found refuge in the caves and valleys of southern France about 200,000 bc.  The new man homo sapiens arrived at Cromagnan, France, about 35,000 bc.  We believe that many thousands of years of contemporaneous and parallel living eventually brought an end to Neanderthal culture, but certain pockets of homini erecti survived in Britain, Germany, and southern Spain.  Cf. homo sapiens, Kennewick man, out-of-Africa theory.

neat : [Sx] black cattle, oxen.

neatherd : [Sx] a cowkeeper; one who cares for black cattle.

NEB : New English Bible:  New Testament (1961).

Nebr. : NE : Nebraska.

nebuchadnezzar : a large wine bottle twenty times (20x) the normal size.  Cf. bottle sizes.

Necessity : mother of invention.

necessity : necessitas : compulsion, cogency; the state of being necessary or indispensable.

neck bow : bowing one’s head from the neck as a sign of respect for the dead.  Cf. curtsy.

necr- : [Gk] the dead, corpse, dead tissue.

necro- : [Gk] dead body, corpse, cadaver.

necrology : [Gk] an account of deceased persons; a list of persons who died within a certain period.  A newspaper that publishes many obituaries customarily includes a concise necrology as a table of contents at the beginning of the obituary section.  Cf. obituary.

necromancer : [Gk] conjurer, enchanter, one who claims to communicate with the dead by charms.

necromancy : enchantment, conjuration, the art of foretelling the future through communication with the dead.

necrophilia : [1892] an erotic obsession with corpses.

nectary : [1759] a plant gland that secretes nectar.

nectus : put to a violent death, murdered.  Cf. enectus, interfectus, internectus.

née : [Fr feminine] born; originally or formerly called; a term preceding a woman’s maiden name; a participle postnominal to a woman’s married surname and pronominal to her surname at birth.  Cf. .

nee de bona gent : [she] of noble birth.[54]

need-fyr : the medieval office of fire-making.  If a household’s fire became extinguished during the winter, it was customary to summon the need-fyr to restart the fire.  Two naked men practicing pagan shamanism would create the needed fire by rubbing together two sticks.[55]  Cf. divination by rods, faggot.

neef : [Du] PaSbSo; male cousin.

neefje : [Du] SbSo; nephew.

nefasti dies : legal holidays

Neffe : [Gm] nephew.

neg- : to deny.

negative marriage rules : Cf. marriage rules.

negro : [Sp] a blackamoor, a black slave.  The Romans referred to a black African as Æthiops ‘Ethiopian,’ but the Spanish popularized the simpler Latin word negro, a backformation from niger ‘glossy black.’  Although American slavers perpetuated the use of negro, the word black was its popular and idiomatic equivalent.  From 1800 onward, most of the tax rolls and censuses routinely used black instead of negro.  The word negro endured, and was formally employed to label blacks the Negro race.  Blacks in pursuit of civil equality finally demanded a change in nomenclature in the 1960s, and demanded that negro no longer be used, due to its long association with slavery.  The campaign to change terminology was tremendously successful, because the words negro and nigger thereafter disappeared from the vocabularies of non-black Americans.  The word survives today mainly in derrogatory slang.

NEHGR : N.E.H. & G.R. : New England Historic and Genealogical Register.

nèi : nei : [Ch] inside, inner; wife; descendants of wife’s brother; wife’s brother’s paternal cousins.

nèi xiōngdì : [Ch] MoBrSo; mother’s brother’s sons; inside cousins; a term that suggests bilateral cross cousin marriage.  Cf. wài xiōngdì.

neighbor : [Sx] one who lives near another; one who lives in familiarity with another.

Nellie: an effeminate androphile.  Cf. tapette.

nemo malus felix : no bad man is happy; there is no peace unto the wicked.

neo- : [Gk] new, novus, recens, novellus.

neolocal residence : a marriage wherein husband and wife oc­cupy a new house, separate from their par­ents; the establishment of an independent household.  Cf. vivilocal, uxorilocal, residence.

neolocal residence : living at a new home, elsewhere than the home or village of the husband or wife.  Cf. residence rules.

neonatal : newborn.

neonaticide : the murder or murderer of a newborn infant.  Cf. -cide, infanticide, puericide.

neophyte : newly entered into employment.

neoplasia : abnormal cell growth which sometimes precedes cancer.

neoplasm : a tumor or abnormal growth.

nepes privigni : grandstepchildren.[56]

Nephesh : [Hb] the element created through the tribadism of Daath.

nephew : nepos : [obsolete] SoSo, BrSoSo; grandson, grandnephew; descendant.  The word nephew was anciently used as a catch-all, generic term for a younger family member in any descending or collateral degree lower than one’s son or nephew, such as one’s grandson or grandnephew.  Cf. newphew, niblings.

nephew : nepos [Lt] : neveu [Fr] : BrSo, SiSo, Ne; fraternal nephew, sororal nephew; the son of one’s brother or sister; marital nephew, uxorial nephew, nephew-in-law; grandson; a descendant or nephew of any degree; brodersøn [Dn]; brorson [Sw].

nephew : nepotis : [euphemism] So; natural son, the illegitimate son of a priest; illegitimate sons of the pope.  Cf. nepotism.

nephew-in-law : SbDaHu; niece’s husband.  Cf. newphew.

nephews and nieces : SbCh, BrSo=SiSo=Ne, BrDa=SiDa=Ni; niblings.  Cf. siblings.

nephr- : [Gk] kidney.

nepos : nephew.

nepos ex filia : DaSo; grandson, the son of one’s daugh­ter.

nepos ex filio : SoSo; grandson, the son of one’s son.

nepos ex fratre : BrSo; nephew, the son of one’s brother.

nepos ex sorore : SiSo; nephew, the son of one’s sister.

nepos fratris : BrSoSo; fraternal grandnephew.

nepos privignus : SbSoWiSo; grandstepson.

nepos sororis : SiSoSo; sororal grandnephew.

nepos suppositicius : supposititious grandson.

nepotic inheritance : the norm that permits a man to inherit his uncle’s wife or wives.  This kind of widow inheritance is fairly typical of a matrilineal descent featuring avunculocal residence.  However, the practice does not occur in all matrilineal systems, and it may sometimes appear in patrilineal groups.  In the most common type of matrilineal group, the son leaves his natal father’s house to reside with his maternal uncle, so his succession to his maternal uncle’s position logically fits the system.  Cf. filial widow inheritance.

nepotin : [NL] PaSbChSo; male first cousin once removed.

nepotine : [NL] PaSbChDa; female first cousin once removed.

nepotis : BrSo, SoSo; nephew; grandson, descendant.

nepotism : nepotisme : [Fr] fondness for nephews; favoritism based on kinship instead of merit.  Offices of public trust often prohibit kindred from serving together in order to prevent nepotism.  The term was originally the euphemism ‘nephews’ denoting the illegitimate sons of a pope.

nepotula : ChDa; granddaughter.  Cf. neptis.

nepotula privigna : grandstepdaughter.

Nepthys : the Basket, the goddess who rules the underworld of departed spirits.  Cf. Isis and Nepthys.

neptis : ChDa, ChChDa; granddaughter; great-granddaughter.  Cf. nephew.

neptis : SbDa; niece.

neptis fratris : BrChDa; fraternal grandniece.

neptis sororis : SiChDa; sororal grandniece.

neptulus : ChSo; little grandson.

Nereid : Nereis : a sea nymph.

Nero and Sporus : Ph & Er, the Roman emperor and his favorite.  Nero hugged Sporus in public, and Sporus remained with him until Nero died.[57]

neruos : sexual organ; a term used 35 times by Ovid.

neruus : sinew, tendon; penis.

nes- : [Gk] island.

nestling : [Sx] a young bird in the nest; newly hatched, new deposited in the nest.

nete : neat.

neteherd : neatherd.

Neth. : the Netherlands.

nettle : [1200 Sx] nettele, a coarse herb protected by stinging hairs; a plant belonging to the genus Urtica of the family Urticaceae; any prickly or stinging plant.  Cf. wages for mowing nettles.

neur- : [Gk] nerve.

neut. : neuter gender.

Nev. : NV : Nevada.

neveu : [Fr] SbSo; nephew.

nevø : [Dn, Nw] SbSo; nephew.

New Style, Gregorian : [1752 En, Sc] Great Britain suppressed the 11 days (13 September -3 September =10 days difference +1 day whole number) of 3 September 1752 through 13 September 1752, causing 2 September 1752 to be directly followed by 14 September 1752.  The British adjustment of 1752 included 11 days, whereas the Roman adjustment of 1582 had been merely 10 days.  The extra, eleventh day was required by the new Gregorian rule that 1700 did not qualify as a leap year.  The equivalence 3 September 1752 O.S. = 14 September 1752 N.S. represents the fictional date 3 September, which was suppressed or dropped by the British, and the actual date 14 September, which replaced 3 September.  The equivalence of between these two dates is helpful to know and remember, because it facilitates mathematical conversion.  The actual, calendar succession was:  2 September > 14 September 1752.

New Style, Gregorian : stile novo : Nuovo Stile [1582 It]; reckoning by the New Style Gregorian Calendar; Modern Style, Stile moderno.  The Roman church suppressed the 10 days of 5 October through 14 October, and thereby caused 4 October 1582 to be followed directly by 15 October 1582.  Cf. stile novo.

New Style, Scottish : [1600-1752 Sc] A quasi-Gregorian reckoning that accepted the Gregorian New Year, but rejected the adjustment of 11 days.  Great Britain commenced complete Gregorian reckoning from 14 September 1752.

New Style, Scottish : N.S. : ns : [1603-1752 Sc] reckoning by the Scottish New Style Julian Calendar; the Scottish reckoning of year-dates, according to the modern Gregorian calendar, from January to December, instead of March to February.  This did not represent a full adoption of Gregorian dates, because the Scots changed only their New Year, from March to January, in January 1600, and otherwise ignored the Gregorian adjustment in month-day dates.  The disparity between O.S. / N.S. year-dates only applied to English / Scottish reckoning, only between 1 January and 24 March each year, from 1600 through 1752.  This dualistic system of year-dating did not become mandatory until the accession of James I in 1603.  Cf. Gregorian New Style, stile novo.  Opp. English Old Style.

New Testament : NT.

New Year more Anglicano : [ad 700-1338 En] The ancient English New Year, as it commenced on Christmas, 25 December, in the Dark Ages.  Opp. New Year more Gallicano.

New Year more Gallicano : [1066-1453 Fr] The Gallican-style New Year, commencing on Easter.  This expression was English, but it referred to the French-style New Year, as it was observed throughout the English possessions in France.

New Year, civil : [1339-1752 En] 25 March.

New Year, ecclesiastical : [1339 En] Easter.

New Year, ecclesiastical : [ad 700-1338 En] 25 December.  Technically, acceptance of 25 December as the New Year requires Jesus the Christ to have been born in 1 bc, the year directly prior to ad 1.  Thus, historians sometime speak of this English ecclesiastical year as being ‘one year behind’ the Lady Day or Easter New Year.

New Year, legal : [1400 En] 25 December.  Although the English changed their civil New Year from 25 December to 25 March in 1339, starting with 25 March 1339, there were extant at that time many old charters and documents that recognized 25 December to be the New Year.  Therefore, common law courts tended to continue recognizing 25 December as a legal New Year in specific cases.

New Year, legal : [1753- TIME \@ "yyyy" 2004 En] 1 January.  With the adoption of the Gregorian calendar, the British New Year 25 March 1752 preceded the next New Year 1 January 1753.

New York Genealogical and Biographical Record : NYGBR : N.Y.G. & B.R.

newel : the central column of a circular or winding staircase.

newphew : SbDaHu; a word that perhaps denoted one’s nephew-in-law by substituting ‘new-’ in ‘nephew.’[58]  Cf. neophyte.

nex : violent death.

nexum : bound obligation, an arrangement between debtor and creditor by which the debtor pledged his liberty as security for his debt.  Literally every­thing transacted by cash and balance scale.

nexus : bondslave, a freeman whose labor is bound in slavery until he should pay what he owes.

nfi. : no further information.  Cf. non nemo.

nfk. : nothing further known.  Cf. non nemo.

Nfld. : Newfoundland, Canada.

Ng : [Ogham Q-Celtic] ngoimar.[59]

Ng the letter : Y.

NGk : New Greek.

NGS : National Genealogical Society.

NGSQ System : the Record System; the genealogical numbering system of the National Genealogical Society Quarterly.[60]  Cf. Record System, Register System.

Ni : [anthropology] SbDa; niece.  Cf. Ne.

ni : [Ir] Da, ChDa; daughter;[61] granddaughter of, descendant of.  This particle has been identified as a female prefix substituting for O’- when speaking of a woman belonging to an Irish sept, clan, or gens.  Cf. ferch, O’-, nic.

niblings : SbCh, BrSo=SiSo=Ne, BrDa=SiDa=Ni; nephews and nieces.  This is a new, sex-neutral term, devised by anthropologists to collectively denote the children of the ego’s siblings.[62]  Cf. siblings.

nic : [Sc] Da; the female patronymic prefix meaning nighean mhic ‘daughter of.’  The name Nic Ailpin means a daughter of Macalpine.[63]  Cf. daughter, ferch, girl, mac, ni, nighean.

nicht : [Du] PaSbDa; female cousin.

Nichte : [Gm] SbDa; niece.

nichtie : [Du] SbDa; niece.

nickel : [1883-1913 Am] Liberty nickel.

nickel : [1883-1913 Am] Racketeer nickel.

nickel : [1913-1938 Am] Buffalo nickel.

nickel : [1938 Am] Jefferson nickel.

nickel : [1942-1945 Am] Silver wartime nickel.

nickname : nom de níque : [Fr] a name given in contempt or scoff; a customary or familiar name substituted for the proper name of a person.  Examples include Dick for Richard, Bill for William, Betty for Elizabeth, et cetera.

nickname : to call by some opprobious appellation.

Nicolaus : Nicholas.

Nicole : Lincoln.

Nicomedes, King of Bithynia : Cf. Julius Caesar and Nicomedes.

nið : niðdikning : [Gm] ergi, a ceremonial insult voiced by a warrior, implying the sexual passivity of a younger man.  This disparagement has its roots in Germanic and Nordic literature,[64] but traces of the same custom may be detected in Greek and Latin literature.  Cf. berdache, ergi, fuck you.

niðdikning : a Nordic ceremonial insult.  Cf. fuck you, nið.

niece : broderdatter [Dn]; brorson [Sw].

niece : HuBrDa, HuSiDa; niece-in-law, marital niece, the fraternal or sororal niece of one’s husband.

niece : Ni, SbDa, BrDa, SiDa; daughter of one’s brother or sister, fraternal niece, sororal niece.

niece : WiBrDa, WiSiDa; niece-in-law, uxorial niece, the fraternal or sororal niece of one’s wife.

nieces and nephews : niblings.

niese : [Nw] SbDa, BrDa, SiDa; niece.

nieta : [Sp] ChDa, SoDa, DaDa; grandaughter.

nieto : [Sp] ChSo; grandson.

niger : black, shining black.  Cf. ater.  Opp. albus.

nigger: [AmEn slang] a derrogatory term for an Afro-American; a corruption of negro; the n-word.  After emancipation, white Americans adopted the permutation nigger as a racist term of contempt for a black person, so it quickly developed negative and unwholesome connotations.  Blacks deemed the word to be repugnant and offensive during the civil-rights movements of the 1960s, and therefore demanded that society at large completely renounce the word.  Although non-black Americans have entirely stopped uttering the word, its pejorative use has ironically increased among black youths.

nighean : [Sc] daughter, girl; ini [Middle Ir], ingen [Old Ir], enígenâ [Old Celtic].  Cf. daughter, girl, geneth [We], nic.

nightbrawler : one who causes disturbances at night.

nightcap : a cap worn to bed or when one is undressed.

nightdress : the dress worn at night.

nightfoundered : sleepwalking, being lost or distressed in the night.

nightman : honeydipper; one who carries away ordure, or human excrement, or dung, during the night.

nightwalker : one who roves and roams around with ill designs, during the night.

nightwanderer : one who wanders by night.

-nim : -im : [Hb] a plural suffix denoting a group or class of individuals.

nimbus : halo, the golden disk painted behind the head of a saint.

niña : [Sp] girl.

niña pequeña : [Sp] infant girl.

nine degrees of honor : Cf. degrees of honor.

ninesome : ennead [Gk].  The Greek word ennead is seldom used in English, but it is parallel to the words triad, pentad, et cetera.

niño : [Sp] boy.

niño pequeño : [Sp] infant boy.

nipote : [It feminine] SbDa; niece.

nipote : [It masculine] SbSo; nephew.

nipotina : [It] ChDa; granddaughter.

nipotino : [It] ChSo; grandson.

nipples : Cf. thilíbein titthón [Gk].

Nisus and Euryalus : Ph & Er; a Trojan and his younger lover.  Euryalus was “a youth distinguished above all in the army for graces of person and fine qualities.”  Euryalus captured a shiney helmet, and proudly wore it, but it proved to be fatal for the pair.  When Nisus and Euryalus ventured to infiltrate the enemy line, the shiney helmet gave them away, and the Rutulians killed them.[65]

nith : [We] SbDa; niece.

NL : New Latin.

nm. : name.

no : numero : [Sp contraction] number.

no papers : [NA] this notation on an envelope indicates that the original pension application papers were burned either in 1801 or 1814.

no parents listed : [IGI] an IGI notation signifying that the record showed neither the Father nor Mother of the proband.  This expression often appears beneath the name of a solitary and unrelated, individual subject, or in conjunction with the proband’s marriage to his or her Relative (Rel), instead of an affined Spouse.  Cf. * (the symbol), non nemo.

nobili genere : of noble birth.  Cf. loco natus.

nobilissima meretrix : the noble prostitute Acca Laurentia who donated property for the building of Rome.[66]  Cf. Gaia Terratia.

nobilitas : nobility.

nobility : nobilitas : the antiquity of a family joined with splendor; a rank or dignity of several degrees conferred by sovereigns; persons of high rank.  The English have five noble ranks, namely duke, marquess, earl, viscount, and baron, in descending order, and added to these the baronet.

noble : [1603] a gold coin worth one-third of a pound, 6s 8d.

noble : nobilis : one of high rank; one of an ancient and splendid family; exalted to some rank above commonalty; exalted, sublime, greet, worthy, magnificent, stately; free, generous, liberal.

noble degrees of honor : [1597] gentleman, esquire, knight, baron, and lord.  Cf. degrees of honor.

nobleman : one ennobled.

noblewoman : a female ennobled.

noces : wedding.

no-fault divorce : a provision of marriage unfettered by church and state, and equalizing the grounds for divorce that may be cited by both the husband and wife.  No-fault divorce happens to signify the wife’s rights of full citizenship, which she newly acquired in America from 1921.  Louisiana’s Marriage Law (1997) instituted so-called ‘covenant marriage’ as a regressive form of strictly patristic marriage that required a two-year separation prior to any dissolution.  Cf. covenant marriage, desertion.

noin : [Fi] about.

nom de Dieu : [Fr] name of God, e.g. au nom de Dieu, in the name of God.

nom de famille : fam. n. : [Fr] surname,[67] family name.

nom de guerre:  [Fr] nickname; nickname assumed on entering the army; traveling name; name used to travel incognito.

nom de lettre : [Fr] pseudonym, alias.

nom de plume:  [Fr] literary title.

nom. : nominative.

nom. : nominatus : named.

nomancy : [Lt-Gk] the art of divining the fates of persons by the letters that form their names.

nomen : n. : name.  The Roman nomen identified a large patrilineal family or gens, the members of which could all trace their lines of descent to a common remote ancestor.  In a specific Roman name, the nomen was preceded by the individual’s prænomen, meaning his prename, forename, or first name, and the nomen was followed by his particular cognomen, or surname.

nomen- : nomin- : name, noun.

nomen activum : active name, the name of a plaintiff with an outstanding charge or claim.

nomen et circulum Principatus : the title and coro­net of a prince.[68]

nomen nescio : of what name I know not.

nomen passivum : passive name, the name of a defendant charged with a claim or debt; someone suspected to be culpable or guilty.

nomenclator : nomenclateur [Fr] one who calls thing and persons by their proper names.

nomenclatress : a female nomenclator.

nomenclature : nomenclatura : vocabulary, disctionary, the act of naming.

nomin- : nomen- : name, noun.

nominal : nominalis : titular, referring to names rather than to things.

nominative : known by name if not by fact; a nominal or titular style.  Cf. genealogical adjectives.

nominator : one who names or appoints to a place or office.

nomine : in name, named.

nomine principalis : in the names of the principals, in the names of the employers.

nomine tutoris : in the name of the tutor or guardian.

nomine uxoris : in the name of the wife.

nominee : a person nominated to any post or office.

-nomy : [Gk] science of.

non alimentum : non victus, non-support, a ground for divorce.

non ante quam : not prior to, not until.

non coacta sed propria voluntate : of their own free will.[69]

non compos mentis : out of his mind, without control of his mental faculties.[70]

non exant : deprived of life.

non habuit filios sed filias : he had no sons, but daughters.[71]

non habuit liberos : he did not have children.

non habuit proles : he did not have any offspring.

non munitus : not fortified.  Cf. munitus.

non natus : not born, the unborn; a nobody; a derogatory phrase expressing insignificance.[72]  Cf. libertas, natus.

non nemo : * : everyone : everyone known and no one else; a complete record with no cross reference and no additional data; an all-inclusive or self-contained record, an expression denoting a solitary record which mentioned neither a spouse nor parent in relation to the proband.  The words non nemo are roughly equivalent to the IGI asterisk (*) which signifies ‘Film contains no additional information.’  Cf. nfi., nfk.

non nupti : unmarried persons, single persons.  Cf. viduæ.[73]

non prius quam : not prior to, not until.

non vivus : not alive, stillborn.  Cf. in vivus.

Non. : Nonæ.

nonage : minority, the time of life before legal maturity.

nonaged : being in nonage, not yet in maturity.

nonagenarian : one 90 years of age and above.

nonagenary : 90 years.

Nonconformist : [1635] someone who did not conform to sacraments of the Church of England.  Some of the earliest emigrants to Virginia were required to obtain a Certificate of Conformity before departure.[74]

Nonconformist : [1662-1689] a Protestant Dissenter belonging to one of the Old Dissenting sects, namely the Presbyterians, Independents (later Congregationalists), Baptists, and Quakers.  The Nonconformists refused to accept the Act of Uniformity of 1662, and were not elevated in status until the Act of Toleration (1689).[75]

Nonconformist : [inde 1715] a Protestant Dissenter belonging to one of the New Dissenting sects, such as the Unitarians, Congregationalists, Moravians, Methodists.

nondum habeo liberos : to not yet have any chil­dren.

nondum miles : not yet a knight.  Cf. miles.

none : nones : 3 p.m., the third canonical hour; the third of seven daily services of Christian prayer.  Cf. canonical hours.

nonjuror : [1688] someone who refused to swear allegiance to the House of Orange, someone adhering to the cause of the deposed James II.  Cf. Jacobite.

non-kin and non-affines : everyone in society who is unrelated to the ego by consanguinity or affinity.  Cf. kithship, society.  Opp. affinity, kinship.

nonsuit : stoppage of a lawsuit; a suit renounced by the plaintiff after discovery of some error or defect, but before the jury delivers any verdict.

non-unilineal descent : nonunilineal descent : bilateral descent; ramage, multilineal descent.

Nor. : Norway, Norwegian.

Nordhumbra : Northumberland.

Nordhumbria : Northumberland.

Norf. : Norfolk.

Norffolca : Norfolk, England.

Norfolca : Norfolk, England.

Norfolk: Norf. : Norffolca : Norfolca.

Norroy King at Arms : the third of three senior heralds in England.  This officer supervised heraldry for the whole of Ireland until 1943, when Ireland established its own state herald.  The Norroy King of Arms presently supervises only Ulster, but works in close coöperation with the state herald of Ireland.

Northampton : Antona Borealis : Avona Mediterranea, sive Borealis : Northamptonia : Northantuna : Northanimbria : Northantonia.

Northamptonia : Northampton.

Northamptonshire: Northants. : Northantescr’.

Northanimbria : Northampton.

Northantescr’ : [suspension] Northamptonshire.

Northantonia : Northampton.

Northants. : Northamptonshire.

Northantuna : Northampton.

Northimbria : Northumberland.

Northum. : Northumberland.

Northumberland : Northum. : Nordhumbra : Nordhumbria : Northimbria : Northumbria : Northymbria : Northumberlanda.

Northumberlanda : Northumberland.

Northumbria : Northumberland.

Northwest Passage : [1492-1804] the fiction that there must be some watery passage leading from Europe to Asia through the northwestern regions of North America.  The legend of such a passage served as a compelling motivation for explorers, but Lewis and Clark proved that no such passage existed.  The U.S. opened the manmade Panama Canal in 1914, and the only other passage was around the southern tip of South America.  The northern-most regions of Canada connect with the polar ice cap, and therefore the only transit feasible is by submarine, under the ice.

Northymbria : Northumberland.

nostrum : a medicine not yet sold publicly, a medicine monopolized by one party.

not until : non prius quam; non ante quam.

notae Tironianæ : [63 bc] Tironian shorthand.  Cf. shortwriting.

Notæ Tironianæ : Tironian notes, a basic Roman system of short-writing or stenography.  Cf. Tironian shorthand.

Notæ Tironis et Senecæ : an extensive collection of Latin shorthand notations used by Tiro and Seneca.  Cf. Tironian shorthand.

notario : [Sp] notary.

notarius : notary, secretary, public writer,[76] Notar, Schreiber, Rechtsgelehrter.  The word originally denoted a scribe skilled at abbreviating Latin in medieval shorthand.  Documents written in Latin shorthand sometimes must be expanded into their full grammatical spellings for the purpose of transcription or translation.

notarius adjunctus : secondary notary.

notarius cameræ : notary of the treasury; a secretary serving the chamberlain or treasurer; Kammerschreiber.

notarius causæ : a deputy notary assigned to recording the details of a particular cause or case.

notarius civitatis : city clerk, Stadtscheiber.

notarius curatus : curator notary, a bureaucrat who discharges or oversees a court’s business.

notarius immatriculatus ad hunc actum legitime requisitus : notary of the immatriculate and those acts required by law; a registrar who handles documentary legal transactions requiring no court appearances.

notarius provincialis : provincial notary, a recorder of deeds; Landschreiber.

notarius publicus : N.P. : notary public, a deputy clerk who seals and records affidavits made public.

notarius terrestris : land notary, a recorder of deeds; Landschreiber.

notary : England had only 48 notaries, and their narrow spe­cialization was helpful only in for­eign and eccesiastical matters.[77]

notary : notarius : an officer who notes anything that may concern the public.

nothis : nothus : [Gk] illegitimate, spurious

nothus : nothis : [Gk] bastard;[78] spurious, illegitimate.

Notingehamsc’ : Nottingham.

Nottingamia : Nottingham.

Nottingham : Notingehamsc’ : Nottingamia.

Nottinghamshire : Notts.

Notts. : Nottinghamshire.

Notus : the South wind.

-nounce : nunci- : to announce.

nourisher : a person or thing that nourishes.

nourishment : nourissement : [Fr] food, sustenance, nuriment; the supply of things needed; that given or received to support one’s strength.

nova nupta : bride, a woman newly veiled.  Opp. novus maritus.

Novation : the sect of Novatus, or Novatianus, which practiced permanent excommunication and which barred second marriages.

Nove : Nbve : Noviembre : [Sp] November.

novel disseisin : new ejectment, new eviction; assize of novel disseisin; writ of novel disseisin.

November : 9ber : /11/ : [ad 8] a month of 30 days; literally the ninth month; the eleventh month of the Gregorian Calendar, and eleventh month of the Scottish NS Julian Calendar, but the ninth month of the English OS Julian Calendar reckoned from March.  Cf. December, Noviembre [Sp], October.

noverca : dark lady, evil stepmother; a woman who intrudes or interferes.  The word might have been used as a metaphor for a woman who steals the affections of some beloved boy, as Alcuin seems to have used it.[79]

noverca : stepmother.

novercus : stepfather.  Cf. vitricus.

novice : novitius : a freshman, one in the rudiments of any knowledge; probationer; one who has entered some religious house but has not yet taken any vows.

novissima verba : final words, last words, a person’s last ut­terance.

novitiate : noviciat : [Fr] the state of a novice; the time during which the student learns the rudiments.

novus : new, fresh, young.

novus homo : new man.

novus maritus : Hu; bridegroom, a man newly married.  Opp. nova nupta.

nr. : near.

NS : New Style, a Scottish New Style Julian calendar, with its New Year falling on 1 January, same as the Gregorian year.  Cf. OS, Old Style, Julian calendar.  Opp. Gregorian calendar.

Ns : Norse; northern; any of the Scandinavian group of languages, such as Norwegian and Swedish.

: : [Ch] Da; daughter, woman of the generation below Ego’s.  Cf. jo, nyo, nyō [SJ]; onna [Jp].

Nubia : the Egyptian cities of Napata and Thebes, which was organized along matriarchal lines, and which once had two queens.  Cf. matriarchies.

nubo : [of a female] to veil, cover; to veil oneself as a bride; to marry; to be married to.  The use of this verb is sexist, for it pertains only to the action of a female.  Opp. duxo.

nubo : nubere : to veil oneself as a bride.  Ordinarily, this verb consistently describes the marriage of a woman to a man, whereas the verb duco or duxere is used of a man marrying a women.  When used of a male in Latin, the verb nubo implies a homosexual liaison.[80]

nuclear family : [1947] Sp & Sp & Ch; elementary family; a family restricted to a pair of spouses, and their children, or a group united by both affinal and consanguineal ties.  This core family membership customarily defines a heterosexual couple united in marriage, living with their natal offspring.  Since the institution of universal suffrage in 1920, modern American couples have been attempting to share family authority.  The concept of shared potestas is entirely new, for it was never contemplated prior to the elevation of women’s social status.  Cf. coparenthood, domus, family, family-at-large, group, kinship.

nucleic acid : one of the acids in the nucleus of a cell that constitute the DNA and RNA sequences that carry genetic codes.

nucleoside : [1911] a compound consisting of a purine or pyrimidine base combined with deozyribose or ribose and arranged in a sequence of DNA or RNA nucleosides.  Cf. adenosine, guanosine.

nucleotide : [1908] a structural unit of RNA and DNA; one of the four bases that encode genetic information in the polynucleotide chain of DNA, namely A, C, T, U; one of four compounds that consist of a ribose or deoxyribose sugar, joined to a purine or pyrimidine base and to a phosphate group.  Cf. adenine, cytosine, thymine, uracil.

nudism and free love : [1411]  Cf. Men of Intelligence.

Nue-kun : [Ch] ones governed by women; a matrilineal tribe among the Man-Tseu of southern China, who gave their chief the title Noi-Tak.[81]

nuera : [Sp] SoWi; daughter-in-law.

nugua : the soul of the bush.

nugualism : the belief in traveling animal souls.  The primitives of Central America and South America hold the belief that magic can release one’s soul and cause it to travel about in the body of some alien animal, and to learn much knowledge and mystery through that practice.[82]

nuisance : assize of nuisance.

nul- : null- : nothing.

null- : nul- : nothing.

nullius filius : bastard, no one’s son.

number 1 : α’ : I.

number 10 : ι’ : X.

number 100 : ρ’ : C.

number 1000 : ,α : M.

number 11 : ια’ : XI.

number 12 : ιβ’ : XII.

number 13 : ιγ’ : XIII.

number 14 : ιδ’ : XIV.

number 15 : ιε’ : XV.

number 16 : ις’ : XVI.

number 17 : ιζ’ : XVII.

number 18 : ιη’ : XVIII.

number 19 : ιθ’ : XIX.

number 2 : β’ : II.

number 20 : κ’ : XX.

number 200 : σ’ : CC.

number 2000 : ,β : MM.

number 21 : κ’ : XXI.

number 22 : κβ’ : XXII.

number 23 : κγ’ : XXIII.

number 24: κδ’ : XXIV.

number 3 : γ’ : III.

number 30 : λ’ : XXX.

number 300 : τ’ : CCC.

number 3000 : ,γ : MMM.

number 4 : δ’ : IV.

number 40 : μ’ : XL.

number 400 : υ’ : CCCC.

number 4000 : ,δ : MMMM.

number 5 : ε’ : V.

number 50 : ν’ : L.

number 500 : φ’ : D.

number 5000 : ,ε : V̅.

number 6 : Ϛ’ : Ϟ’ (digamma) : VI.

number 60 : ξ’ : LX.

number 600 : χ’ : DC.

number 7 : ζ’ : VII.

number 70 : ο’ : LXX.

number 700 : ψ’ : DCC.

number 8 : η’ : VIII.

number 80 : π’ : LXXX.

number 800 : ω’ : DCCC.

number 9 : θ’ : XC.

number 90 : ‘ (koppa).

number 900 : Ϡ’ (sampi).

numbering systems : Cf. genealogical numbering, NGSQ system, Record system, Register system.[83]

numerator : he who numbers.

numerological interpretation : Gematria [Hb].

Numidia : an ancient state that comprised regions now in Algeria and Tunisia.

nunc : at this moment, at the time present to the writer.  Cf. ab hoc tempore.  Opp. priusquam.

nunci- : -nounce : to announce.

nunciature : the office of a nuncio.

nuncio : messenger, one who brings tidings.

nuncle : [1589] uncle.  Cf. naunt.

nuncupative : not written, oral.

nuncupative will : a last will and testament made orally, before witnesses, but not written down.

nunnery: a house of nuns.

nuorin : [Fi] youngest.

nup. : nupta : she married.

nupsit —— viris : she married —— men.

nupsit [with dative of husband, or cum] : she married; she was married to, she entered into a state of matrimony with.

nupsit heri : literally he veiled himself yesterday; he had homosexual intercourse yesterday; Martial’s reference to a mock marriage ceremony between homosexuals.[84]

nupsit in familiarum : she married into the family.

nupsit marito eius : she married her husband, she was married to her husband.  Cf. duxit in uxorem.[85]

nupsit viro : she married a man.

nupta : she married.

nupta verba : obscenities of the bedroom; the words a bride must learn.

nupti : married.

nupti erat : they were married.[86]

nuptiæ : [feminine plural] nuptials, wedding, a marriage festival.  A writer ought to remember that nubo means ‘to veil’ and therefore describes a female act.  The word nuptials certainly implies the presense of a pair of spouses, but it specifies the marriage of a woman to a man, and not vice versa.  The words nuptiæ and nuptials customarily appear only in the plural form in both Latin and English.

nuptiæ iustæ et legitimæ : lawful marriage.  Cf. matrimonium iustum.

nuptiæ secundæ : second marriage.

nuptial : nuptialis : Wi; pertaining to marriage, used in marriage, constituting marriage.  The adjectives nuptial and uxoral can be used to denote persons relative to one’s wife.  Cf. kin types.  Opp. marital.

nuptialia instrumenta : marriage document.

nuptialis : nuptial.

nuptialis donatio : marriage as a kind of purchase.

nuptials : marriage, with no singular.

nuptias conciliare : to arrange a marriage.

nuptum : married.

nuptus : married; wedded.  This is the masculine participle of nubo, and it might have some rare, genuine uses.  However, the verb nubo denotes a bridal veil, so it exclusively describes the action of the bride.  To signify a man being married, it is customary to use a special, sexist verb, such as duxo, and avoid any feminine forms.

nurser : one who nurses.

nursery : the place where young children are nursed and fostered.

nursing services : Cf. hospice care, respite care.

nurus : SoSoWi; grandson’s wife, granddaughter-in-law.

nurus : SoWi; daughter-in-law, young woman.

nutrire : to supervise oblates during their child­hood.

nutritive : giving nourishment; characteristic of husbandry or foster parenthood.

nutritive parent : fosterparent.

nutritor : foster father, employer of a child la­borer; tropheus, nurse.[87]

nutrix : foster mother, nurse, wet-nurse, a woman who breastfeeds another woman’s child.

Ny the letter : Y.

NYGBR : N.Y.G. & B.R. : New York Genealogical and Biographical Record.

nymph: nympha : lady, a goddess of the woods, meadows, or waters.

nymphet : a childish or adolescent girl who appears naturally sexy and attractive; the female correlative of a faunet.[88]  Cf. faunet.

nymphette : nymphet.

nympho- : [Gk] bride.

nymphomania : an obsession with men; a woman’s unreasonable desire to act as ‘bride’ to many men.

Nzingha concubitor : Cc & An & He; the male sex partner of a Nzingha amazon.  The Nzingha amazons of Angola once had some fifty or more concubitors, whom they dressed and named as women.[89


[1] According to Duald Mac Firbis, bard of the O’Briens.  Roderick O’Flaherty, Ogygia.  Graves 1948, edition 1966:  116-117.

[2] Kang-Hu, 1915.

[3] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[4] Angus Baxter, In Search of Your Roots, 1978.

[5] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[6] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[7] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[8] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[9] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[10] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[11] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[12] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[13] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[14] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[15] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[16] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[17] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[18] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[19] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[20] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[21] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  11.

[22] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[23] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[24] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[25] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[26] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[27] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[28] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[29] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[30] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[31] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[32] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[33] Ptak 1995, edition 1997:  12.

[34] Kang-Hu, 1915.

[35] Varro 1.5.119.114-115.

[36] Plucknett 1956 : 216-217, 221.

[37] Boswell 1988:  284.n41.

[38] Leland, 5.207.

[39] Reference Services Branch (NNIR), National Archives and Records Administration, 7th and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408, inquire@arch2.nara.gov, 1997.

[40] National Archives, Southeast Region, 1557 St. Joseph Avenue, East Point, GA 30344, 404-763-7477, 1997.

[41] Webber edited by Parsons, 1947:  224.

[42] NGS, 4527 17th Street North, Arlington, VA 22207-2399, 1977.

[43] HL:  51.

[44] Magna ista scientiarum mater.  Bacon, Novum Organum, 1.80.

[45] Horace, Epistles.

[46] Boswell 1980:  201-202.

[47] Augustine, De ordine.  Boswell 1980:  150.

[48] Grahn 1990:  67-68.

[49] Davis 1924:  275.

[50] Davis 1924:  265.

[51] Davis 1924:  265.

[52] Davis 1924:  264.

[53] University of Munich and Pennsylvania State University, 1997.

[54] Boswell 1988:  369.

[55] Grahn 1990:  207.

[56] Joseph Strange, MONT 8:13316241A.

[57] Boswell 1980:  82.

[58] See Paul Strange (circa 1579-1639), PURL 18.#111.

[59] According to Duald Mac Firbis, bard of the O’Briens.  Roderick O’Flaherty, Ogygia.  Graves 1948, edition 1966:  116-117.

[60] National Genealogical Society Quarterly, 1991/9:  79.183-193.

[61] Everton 1971.

[62] Parkin 1997:  34.

[63] Maclennan 1979.

[64] Boswell 1980:  184, n52.

[65] Bullfinch 1855:  226-228.

[66] Diner 1965:  241.

[67] LIMO.

[68] HL : 163.

[69] Boswell 1988:  249.n65.

[70] John Murray, 5th Duke of Atholl, MURR 24.#1619153.

[71] I Paralipomenon, 23.22.  1 Chronicles, 23.22.

[72] Martial 8.64.18.48, 49.n2; 10.27.4.172, 173.n7.

[73] I Corinthians, 7.8.

[74] Certificate of Conformity dated at Gravesend on 1635/7/6.  VIRG.

[75] Hey 1993:  186.

[76] Ariès & Duby:  1.19.

[77] Plucknett 1956:  227.

[78] Quintilian:  1.3.6.97.458-459.

[79] Boswell 1980:  189.

[80] Boswell 1980:  123.

[81] Diner 1965:  165.

[82] Diner 1965:  201.

[83] Curran 1991.

[84] Adams 1982:  160.

[85] LEIC.

[86] Hey 1993:  179.

[87] Ariès & Duby:  1.14

[88] Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita.  Eglinton 1964:  485.

[89] Salmonson 1991:  63.

 

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