Glossary:J

J : I : the letter J, a letter once identical to I. The letter was a fancy or cursive variant of I. Cf. I.

jack : jaque : [Fr] a coat of mail; a defensive coat of any design, made of mail or wadding. Mail and armor were expensive, so ordinary foot soldiers tended to devise and make their own jacks by using heavy materials such as canvas or leather, and by quilting between two layers wads of cotton or cloth, or small, flat pieces of metal. Cf. gambeson, hauberk, habergeon, jazerine.

Jack : the diminutive of John; a term of contempt for a paltry or saucy fellow; the name of an instrument or tool that substitutes for a boy, such as a boot jack, or the device one uses to pull off one’s boots.

Jacobite : [1688-1745] a supporter of the cause of James II after his forced abdication; a supporter of the house of Stuart after it had been unthroned and replaced by the houses of Orange and Hanover.

Jacobus : Jacob, Jake; Jacomus, James, Jim. These were two Latin variants of the same, biblical name. Cf. Ajax, jakes.

January : /1/ : [ad 8] a month of 31 days; the first month of the Gregorian Calendar, first month of the Scottish NS Julian Calendar, but the eleventh month of the English OS Julian Calendar. The date 1 January usually falls on the 10th day after the Winter Solstice, 22 December. Cf. December, Enero [Sp], February, Gregorian Calendar.

Japanese family : [1400] the Japanese marriage form that remained essentially visitational and matrilocal until the fourteenth century.[2]

jaundice : jaunisse : [Fr] an obstruction or disorder of the liver which prevents gall from being separated from the blood and thereby causes the skin and eyes to appear yellow. Jaundice may be a symptom of hepititis, and it arises when the liver can no longer break down the pigment bilirubin.

javelin : javeline : [Fr] a spear or half pike used either by infantry or cavalry.

jazerine : a light and inexpensive armor made of small splints or plates of metal, riveted to some durable base material.

JBG : Bibel : Deutsche Ausgabe mit den Erläuterungen der Jerusalemer Bibel (1968).

JC : Julian Calendar. In Anglo-American or Scots-American genealogy, this continental calendar corresponds to the English Old Style (OS Julian calendar), or the Scottish New Style (NS Julian calendar). Cf. New Style, Old Style. Opp. GC, Gregorian calendar.

-je : -ke : -tje : [Du] the female suffices Dutchmen use to feminize a male name.

Jehovah : the proper name for God in Hebrew. In Hebrew, the name Jehovah is always written with consonants only and no vowels, so that no one may know the true pronunciation of God’s name, the utterance of which is prohibited.

jeopardy : jeu parti : [Fr] hazard, danger, peril; a game in which the chances are exactly even. The word is now used in legal parlance to denote an instance of indictment and trial. Cf. double jeopardy.

jerkin : jerkyn : [Sx] jacket, short coat, a close-fitting waistcoat. The household at Hunstanton Hall paid 16d for the making and lining of a black satin jerkin, in 1519.[3]

jeroboam : double magnum : a large wine bottle four or six times (4x or 6x) the normal size. Cf. bottle sizes.

jesse : a large brass candleabra with many sconces that typically hangs in the middle of a church. The name jesse alludes to the large, branching genealogical tree showing the descendants of Jesse, natal father of King David. Cf. arbor Jessæ.

jesses : the straps attached to both legs of a captive hawk, used to hold and control the hawk.

jester : buffon, jackpudding, someone who plays pranks and engages in merriment.

Jesuit conspiracy : [1598-1606] Both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I affirmed the supremacy of the Church of England, so by the end of the sixteenth century, there were many English Jesuits who refused to swear obedience to the English monarchs, and lived in exile abroad to avoid capital punuishment. The exile of Catholic priests gave the Jesuits sufficient cause to work mischief in England, and therefore the English commonly believed the rumors that the continental Jesuit exiles were plotting to assassinate Elizabeth I. The fears proved to be justified in the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, and the condemnation and sentencing of Father Henry Garnet for high treason on 28 March 1606 seemed only to confirm these beliefs in a Jesuit conspiracy.

Jew : a person from Judah; Hebrew, Israelite. The word Hebrew is normally applied when speaking of the exiled Hebrews in Egypt, whereas the terms Jew and Israelite are used for times after Moses and the relocation to Judah and Israel.

Jewish acronym : a nickname devised by selecting syllables from both parents. A woman named Rachel Shlomo BatIssac might be known by the nickname Rashi, for it includes three initials, taken from her given name, her mother’s surname, and her father’s surname.[4]

Jewish Mundane Era : [ad 1000] the Jewish era fixed at 3760 bc. The Jewish Era was not adopted until the tenth century in Europe. Cf. bce, ce.

Jewish names Israel and Sarah : [1938] the male and female prenames that Nazi Germany required Jews to add to their names in 1938. People who already used distinctly Jewish names, such as Moses, were exempt from the rule. Cf. Star of David.

Jewish naming conventions : [1900] the peculiar patterns of naming exhibited by migrating Jewish families. Jewish siblings sharing the same parents may be named differently, for at least four reasons: (1) election to use one’s mother’s surname, (2) adopting a synagogue name as one’s surname, (3) making an acronym of the surname by altering its spelling, such that Levi might rename himself Weil, and (4) Anglicizing one’s Hebrew name, as when a man born Ma’ir adopts the spelling Meyer.[5]

Jewish patronymic : Bar-; Bat-; a paternal surname preceded by the patronymic prefix bar- or bat-.[6]

Jews : [1182] Philip Augustus of France annulled all loans made by Jews to Christians, in 1181. He expelled all Jews from France in 1182.

Jews : [1492] The Spanish forced Jews to convert to Christianity, and then subjected the converts to the Inquisition. Spain expelled all its Jews in 1492.

Jews : [1934-1945] Germany’s second attempt to expel Jews began with acts of wholesale intimidation in 1934, and selective arrests and imprisonments in 1938. The twelfteh-century Christian practice of labeling Jewish clothing was revived in 1941. The Germans began to systematically exterminate Jews, homosexuals, and gypsies about 1943. By 1945, the German had shot, strangled, poisoned, and burned more than 6 million captives.

jig : a lively round dance with movements resembling the Scottish reel. Cf. dances, reel.

jig : the stage jig; a dance in pantomime typically performed by two or more dancers in character, after a stage play. The final jig sometimes featured dialogue, and was often a bawdy, comical act. Shakespeare’s company included the clown Will Kempe, who earned a reputation for dancing jigs.

Jim Crow : JC : [1828] a minstrel routine called “Jump Jim Crow,” authored by Thomas Dartmouth Rice in 1828, and often imitated by minstrels. The name became a derrogatory appellation for an obsequious black slave. Blacks adopted the phrase to denote racist and segregated institutions, which refused to serve blacks, as well as any servile blacks who worked for the same institutions.

Jim Crow laws : [1877-1954] segregation laws, restored by southern legislatures at the end of Reconstruction (1865-1877) and preserved until the Supreme Court deemed them unconstitutional, starting with the integration of the public schools in 1954.

jiù : chiu : [Ch] mMoBr, mWiBr, mWiFa; mother’s brother; a male relative comparable with mother’s brother; wife’s brother. Anciently, the term denoted a male speaker’s father-in-law, and seems to have reflected an exclusive system of bilateral cross cousin marriage.[7] Cf. kyū [SJ]; shūto ‘father-in-law’ [Jp].

Joan of Arc : [interfecta 1431] the lesbian heroine who was burned at the stake for having adopted transvestism as her sacred duty, and for believing that her personal visions superseded the primacy of the church. A woman in Cologne was excommunicated for cross-dressing in imitation of Joan of Arch in 1435. Joan’s personal friend and bodyguard was Gilles de Rais, and when he was tried and executed in 1440, the charges included sodomy, heresy, puerile murder, and molestation. Thus, the pair became the lesbian and gay archtypes of their time. Joan of Arc heard her voices at the base of an old and venerable beech tree or fagus, and she was accused of dancing around that tree with fairies.[8] It has been further reported that Joan of Arc preferred to sleep with young girls.[9] Cf. fagus.

jockey : one who rides horses in races. The name derived from Jack, the diminutive form of John.

jocular relationship : a pattern of joking and familiarity between two individuals that permits the diffusion of potential conflicts. Cf. avoidance relationship, mild joking relationship, obligatory joking relationship, relationship, respect relationship.[10]

John-Joan : [floruit 1977-1997] the boy John who lost his penis in infancy, and was subsequently raised as a girl named Joan. Joan underwent painful sex re-assignment surgery attempting to restore her manhood, and lived the remainder of her life as the man John. Cf. ambiguous genitalia, sex assignment.

join affinity with : to acquire affines by marriage; to form a relationship through marriage. Cf. fuit ego Iosaphat …

joined at the hip : married; united as a couple. This modern but rare colloquialism is used as a euphemism for permanent mateship, and alludes to the bodily attachment of Siamese twins.

joiner : [1400] joyner, one who constructs articles by joining pieces of wood. Robert joyner was paid 5d per day at Hunstanton in 1548.[11]

joint family : expanded family; a group of nuclear families of siblings or same-generation cousins; two or more nuclear families belonging to the same generations and residing in the same household or settlement. This term denotes a lateral expansion of a family, across the same generations, whereas an extended family refers to a vertical extension. Cf. extended family. Opp. extended family.

jointure : the joint tenancy of an estate; an estate held by joint tenancy. By establishing jointure with his wife, a man could ensure that his wife would succeed to the tenancy upon his death, and such an arrangement was often made in lieu of providing a dower. English law eventually required that jointure and dower be established during a man’s lifetime, so as to avoid testamentary disputes. American customs were not so complicated, and therefore American testaments often provided for the wife to remain on an estate during her life, even though possession or ownership might be assigned to an heir male.

joking relationship : a pattern of familiar behavior between relatives characterized by taunting and joking. Unmarried relatives, such as a husband and his sister-in-law, sometimes exhibit sexual teasing.

jota : [Sp] queer; a Spanish courtly dance featuring graceful and elaborate motions.

journal : journale : [Fr] diary, day book, quotidian; an account of daily transactions; a newspaper published daily. As a general ledger, the journal constitutes a fundamental database of simple journal entries used to generate financial reports, such as balance statements, income statements, and documentary inventories, so it serves as the starting point for any accounting system. Cf. household account.

journey : journée : [Fr] the travel of one day; travel by land. The Mongol army of Genghis Khan could purportedly travel as far as 70 miles in one day. Aztec relay runners delivering fresh fish to Montezuma could purportedly transport them 200 miles in one day. English postboys riding day and night could deliver an urgent message 165 miles within 30 hours from Devon in 1597. The mobilized army of General Eisenhower could progress only 11 miles per day. Cf. post delivery, Sabbath-day’s journey, voyage.

joya : [Sp] jewel; a shaman, male and androphilic, among the natives of Santa Barbara, CA; an appellation native Americans used to denote the tribal shaman, along the coast at Santa Barbara, CA.[12] Cf. berdache, medicine men.

juba : crest; the distinctive heraldic device or design that surmounts a helmet.

judge : judex [Lt] : juge [Fr] : one who presides in a court of judicature; one invested with the authority to determine any real or personal cause or question; someone having the skill or knowledge needed to decide upon the merit of anything.

judgement : jugement : [Fr] decision, determination; the power to discern the relations between one term or proposition and another; the right or power of passing judgement.

Judith the Hebrew : When an Assyrian General named Holofernes beseiged the Hebrews, Judith and her handmaiden strolled through their ranks, and used a basket of wine and food to intoxicate the sentries. She audaciously met Holofernes, and stayed with him three days. Then she took a sword from her basket, decapitated Holofernes, and took his head as a trophy in her basket. As soon as the Hebrews displayed the head of Holofernes atop a pike, the Assyrians departed, and Judith was made a heroine. In gratitude for her valiant deed, the Hebrews provided Judith with maintenance for the balance of her life, and granted her the privilege of exemption from marriage. We assume that her handmaiden was her lover.[13]

Julian Calendar : JC : [1771] the old reckoning, or Old Style / New Style of the calendar year, named after Julius Caesar, and instituted in 46 bc. Romans used the Julian Calendar until 1582, and the English and Scots continuously used Julian reckoning until 1752. The Gregorian calendar replaced the Julian, but adoptions of the New Style varied greatly from country to country. The Russian Orthodox church has never adopted the Gregorian calendar, and therefore persists in celebrating Christian holidays later than other Christians, now by 13 or 14 days. Cf. Gregorian Calendar.

Julian reckoning : [1582] Old Style : Vecchio Stile [It] : traditional reckoning based on the Julian Calendar. Julian reckoning was 10 days behind Gregorian reckoning from 1582/10/5 jc to 1700/2/28 jc, 11 days behind Gregorian from 1700/3/1 jc to 1800/2/28 jc, 12 days behind Gregorian from 1800/3/1 jc to 1900/2/28 jc, and 13 days behind Gregorian from 1900/3/1 jc. These differences by 10 to 13 days, between 1582 and 2100, are the actual, mathematical differences, and a chronicler must use these differences to convert Julian dates to Gregorian, and visa versa. However, certain misapprehensions have caused laymen to perceive the differences as larger, namely 11 to 14 days. Adopters of the Gregorian Calendar leaped from 4 October jc to 15 October gc in 1582, and therefore the uninformed presumed the difference to be 11 days (15 –4 =11). Similarly, when the Russians adopted the Gregorian Calendar, they began the year 1918 on the date 14 January 1918, giving rise to the Russian Orthodox notion that the Gregorian Calendar would be 14 days ahead of the Julian Calendar. Nevertheless, the operative, mathematical differences were shorter by one day in both cases. E.g. 1582/10/5 jc = gc 1582/10/15 (15 –5 = 10 days), 1918/1/1 jc = gc 1918/1/14 (14 –1 = 13 days). Cf. Gregorian reckoning.

Julian day number : [1583] the sequential numbering of days wherein the Julian day number 1 equals 25 November 4714 bc Gregorian.[14] The Julian Period nominally began at noon, on 1 January 4713 bc.

Julian factor 4 : JC factor 4 : the Julian Calendar rule for determining leap years. Any year-date evenly divisible by the JC factor 4 is deemed a leap year, unless the given year-date ends in 2 zeros (-00) as a centesimal year ending a century. Cf. centesimal year, Gregorian factor 400.

Julian Period : [1583] 7,980 years, a number that unifies three cycles of time used by the ancients, namely the Metonic Cycle (19 years), Solar Cycle (28 years), and Indiction Cycle (15 years); 15 x 19 x 28 =7,980 years. The Julian Period was thus based upon a year of 365.25 days. Joseph Justus Scaliger (1540-1609) devised the Julian Period, but he named it for his father, so the reckoning was a Renaissance convention, having no relation to the Julian Calendar. Scaliger counted the past histories of all three cycles, and then determined that the three must have approached perfect convergence with one another on 25 November 4714 bc, which he made equivalent to day 1 of the Julian Period sequence of days. Next, Scaliger fixed upon noon (not midnight) 1 January 4713 bc to represent the beginning of the present Julian Period. Cf. Anno Iuliano, retrospection.

Julius Caesar and Nicomedes : Er & Ph; the first Emperor of Rome and his lover Nicomedes, King of Bithynia. Caesar enjoyed being buggered, and therefore submitted himself to the passion of Nicomedes. For this, his men derided him, and called him Queen of Bithynia. The incident also gave rise to a chant that said, ‘Caesar conquered Gaul; Nicomedes, Caesar.’[15]

July : /7/ : [ad 8] quintilis, literally the 5th month; a month of 31 days; the seventh month of the Gregorian Calendar, and seventh month of the Scottish NS Julian Calendar, but the fifth month of the English OS Julian Calendar. Cf. August, Julio [Sp], June.

June : /6/ : [ad 8] a month of 30 days; the sixth month of the Gregorian Calendar, and sixth month of the Scottish NS Julian Calendar, but the fourth month of the English OS Julian Calendar. Cf. July, Junio [Sp], May.

junior : Jr. : jun. : junr. : juniorem : the younger, signifying the younger of two living men sharing identical names. The term ordinarily denotes the living son of a living father, and the distinction of junior and senior is customarily abandoned if one of the two dies. For example, President John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s son was always styled John Kennedy, and no distinction of senior and junior ever obtained. However, genealogists and family historians often find it necessary to retain such distinctions, and sometimes find it necessary to develop new distinctions, for purposes of keeping identities separate and unconfused. The same and similar names may often appear in succeeding generations of the direct line, as well as among collateral relatives. Therefore, in addition to senior and junior, there might arise the need to style direct descendants the third (III), the fourth (IV), et cetera. If the recurrence of some name becomes ubiquitous, the genealogist might impose upon the family a strict system of identity numbers. E.g. Johannem Extraneum juniorem.[16] Cf. numbering systems.

Jupiter : the sixth of seven planets, which returns to the same heavenly position every 12 years.

jury : jurata [Lt] : jurée [Fr] : a company of persons, usually numbering twenty-four, or twelve, or six, assembled to determine matters of fact on the basis of evidence presented.

jus patronatus capelle de Knockin : grants the perpetual advowson of Knockin.[18]

justice : justitia : right, or the assertion of right; equity, agreeableness to right; punishment; vindictive retribution.

Justice of the Common Pleas : justiciarius Communium Placitorum : a judge who rules on all causes at common law, or civil causes between commoners.

Justice of the Forest : justiciarius Forestæ : a judge who hears and adjudicates all offenses committed against venison or vert within a royal forest. There were two such justices, one who heard cases south of Trent, and one who heard cases on the north side of Trent.

Justice of the King’s Bench : justiciarius de Banquo Regis : the chief justice of the realm charged with hearing and deciding all pleas to the crown.

juvenile : juvenilis : juv. : young, youthful, gay, brisk, lively.[19] American usage implies that this is some very youthful time, under 16, 18, or 21 years, but Roman usage placed it much later as the period of perfect majority, 28-48 years. Cf. iuventas.

juvenile court : an especially lenient or compassionate court organized to adjudicate cases involving minors not yet adult. Under common law, such a court customarily hears allegations against teenagers or youngsters ranging in age between 14 and 17 years, or 14 and 20 years.

juvenility : ætas iuventas : a period of youthful manhood or perfect majority, variously defined. Cf. The Ages of Passage, under 28-48 years; iuventas.

juxtapositive : [1665] placed side by side; placed near one another. A justapositive sibling is someone known to have lived or acted in proximity to his or her family member, such as a brother who worked or migrated with his brother, or a brother who moved with his sororal in-laws. Cf. collateral, genealogical adjectives.

[1] Leland, 5.200.

[2] Diner 1965: 164.

[3] HHA 1520.

[4] Ptak 1995, edition 1997: 12.

[5] Ptak 1995, edition 1997: 12.

[6] Ptak 1995, edition 1997: 12.

[7] Lévi-Strauss 1967: 317.

[8] Grahn 1990: 207.

[9] Grahn 1990: 146.

[10] Schusky 1972: 62.

[11] Gurney, 561.14.

[12] Grahn 1990: 323.

[13] Grahn 1990: 186.

[14] Scott E. Lee, scottlee@pobox.com Robert T. Strong, Jr., 1997/7/12.

[15] Grahn 1990: 293.

[16] HL: 80.

[17] Frederick J. Furnivall, editor, The English Conquest of Ireland, A.D. 1166-1185, mainly from the ‘Expugnatio Hibernica’ of Giraldus Cambrensis. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1896: 29. Reprint, New York: Greenwood Press, 1969.

[18] HL: 208.

[19] Webster 1806.

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The Alphabetary Heraldic

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Arapacana Press

Mailing List | Guest Book | Contact | Links B.J. Way's Family Tree | Sitemap

The Alphabetary Heraldic

—J—

© 2007 Arapacana Press (Top of page)

Mailing List | Guest Book | Contact | Links
B.J. Way's Family Tree | Sitemap