Today, as I was reading Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter, I stumbled upon a link to The Encyclopedia of Genealogy. The Encyclopedia of Genealogy is a free service that is provided by Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter. It is a great free genealogy resource that I never knew existed until today.
In this gem of an online resource, there are many excellent articles on a variety of genealogy – related topics. I read a couple of articles about French Canadian surnames, hoping to uncover some information about my own surname. Unfortunately, I found nothing but the articles were interesting nonetheless.
Speaking of all things French Canadian, I also found plenty of new genealogy words. In case you do not know, I love words and genealogy is full of obsolete or rarely – used words that I enjoy discovering. The French Canadian word that I found is “Arpent”, and it is a French term used for measuring land. Of course, unless you are doing research in Quebec, Louisiana, or Arcadian land records you would probably never need to know what an Arpent is.
I also finally found out what “brazier” means. It is a person who works with brass. Of course the reason that I was curious about the word is that it also can be used to refer to a type of grill. I used to see the word on the sign for the Dairy Queen restaurant in a town close to my home and as a kid I always wondered what it was. I know, it is a bit odd that I remember random stuff like that but that is just how it is.
I also laughed out loud when I saw the word “Catamenia”. I thought that this term would have something to do with cats, obviously. Nope. It turns out that “Catamenia” is the archaic term that was used to refer to “that time of the month”. That’s right, ladies, blame it on the Catamenia.
I could have browsed the Encyclopedia of Genealogy all night, but I have housework and other chores to attend to. I’ll go back again when I want to discover some new genealogy words or check out some culture specific articles.
Photo by jdurham on morguefile.com.