Here we are again - WADSET: Used chiefly in law, - pledge (land or other heritable property) in security, mortgage - Evidence of this from the 4th to 18th century. Kind Regards June & Roy http://www.btinternet.com/~roy.cox/index.htm -----Original Message----- From: Gordon Barlow [mailto:barlow@candw.ky] Sent: Monday, March 15, 2004 5:38 AM To: OLD-ENGLISH-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [OEL] Scottish tacks According to a book I am reading on Scottish history, the basis of land tenure in the 17th Century for junior branches of "the chiefly houses" in the clan territories of the Highlands, was "usually either a tack, wadset or a feu. A tack was a lease. A wadset was the Scots term for a mortgage. It was often converted into a feu, which meant virtual ownership in exchange for a lump sum annual payment to a feudal superior who retained certain powers of control..." ""... the clan gentry, often known generically as tacksmen..." I found that very interesting, because I had never heard the term "tacksmen" before. It seems reasonable enough to presume that the words "feudal" and "fee" came from "feu", and I also wonder if our word "tax" might conceivably have come from "tacks", in the same general sense of payments for an income-producing area of land. What does the Team think? Also, is there any modern cognate of "wadset"? Gordon ==== OLD-ENGLISH Mailing List ==== OLD-ENGLISH Web Page http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~oel/