Common genealogical terms

Name	Definition
D
De Cujus	The person whose genealogy is established. The full Latin expression is: "de cujus successione agitur", which means "whose estate it is". The de cujus is Sosa 1.
Degree of relationship	Number used to measure the relationship between two members of the same family. The degree of relationship is not measured in the same way in civil law and canon law. See also Dispensation of consanguinity.
Depository	The act of depositing archives. It is also the place where archives are kept.
Descendants	All the descendants of an individual or couple (children, grandchildren, etc.).
Consanguinity exemptions	If the spouses were related, they had to apply for a dispensation from consanguinity before they could marry. See also Implex.
E
Endogamy	Marriage between individuals from the same place.
Enfeu	A tomb built into the wall of a religious building.
Registration	Entry in a public register of notarial deeds.
Exogamy	Marriage between people from different places.
F
Announcements	letter or note announcing a family event: birth, baptism, marriage, death…
Feu	Under the Ancien Regime (before the Revolution), this referred to all the people living under the same roof and therefore meeting around the fire in the evening. The fire therefore included not only the nuclear family but also the servants... Censuses were taken by fire and not by person.
Filiation	The relationship between ascendants and descendants. A filiation may be agnatic or cognatic. See also these words.
Funds	All the archival documents kept in a repository, all the books kept in a library…
G
Generation	Each of the successive degrees of filiation: Generation 1: the child, generation 2: the parents, generation 3: the grandparents, etc. The time separating two generations is estimated at 30 years on average.
Germains	People with the same father and mother. First cousins have at least one grandfather or grandmother in common.
H
Heraldic	Science of blazons and coats of arms.
Hoirs	Direct heirs. The mention without hoirs or s.h. can be found in genealogies, meaning that the person had no children. See also posterity.
Homogamy	Marriage between individuals of the same social level.