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Ships passenger lists, census returns and other documents used in genealogy may give an ancestor's occupation, this list gives more modern interpretations of those terms.

Macon/Macun/Marson - mason
Malender - farmer
Malster - brewer of malted beverages (beer)
Manciple - steward
Marescallus - marshall
Marshall - horse servant, or groom
Mason - stone carver
Mayer - physician
Medicus - leech; doctor
Mercator - merchant
Millow - miller
Millwright - one who designs or builds mills
Mintmaster - issuer of local currency [mintner?]
Molendinarius/Muner - miller
Monger - seller (of goods ie. ale, fish)
Muleskinner - teamster

Neatherder - cow herd
Nedder - needle-maker
Nettir - knitter

Ordinary - innkeeper; keeper of a fixed price Inn
Osler - bird-catcher
Osnard - herder of oxen
Outrider - mounted attendant riding before or behind a carriage

Packman - itinerant peddler
Palmer - a pilgrim; one who had been, or pretended to have been, to the Holy Land
Paneler - saddler
Pannarius - clothier and draper
Pannebeter - pan-hammerer, or perhaps clothdriver
Pardoner - one licensed to sell Papal Indulgences
Parcheminer - parchment maker
Parochus - rector, pastor
Patton/Patten Maker - a maker of a clog shod with an iron ring; maker of iron-rimmed pattens for footware. A clog was a wooden pole with a pattern cut into the end
Peever - pepper-seller
Pelliparius/Peltarius - skinner
Peregrinator - itinerant wanderer
Peruker/Perukmaker - wig maker
Pettifogger - shyster; lawyer
Pictor - painter
Pigman - crockery dealer
Pilcher - maker of pilches
Pinder - keeper of the pound or pinfold
Piscarius - fishmonger
Piscator - fisherman [Pescador (sp?) in Spanish]
Pistor - miller or baker
Plantifene - see avernator
Plomer - plumber
Ploughwright - one who makes or repairs ploughs/plows
Plumber - one who applied sheet lead for roofing and set lead frames for plain or stained glass windows
Porcher - pig-keeper
Porter - gate-keeper or door-keeper
Poulterer - dealer in poultry
Puddler - wrought iron worker
Pynner - pin-maker

Quarrier - quarry worker
Quarryman - stonecutter

Revenuer - federal officer enforcing the law against illegal manufacturing of whisky
Rigger - hoist tackler worker
Ripper - fish monger
Roper - ropemaker; maker of rope or nets
Rotarius - wheelwright
Rower - builder of (small) wagon wheels

Saddler - maker and repairer of saddles and bridles
Safernman - grower of saffron
Samitere/Samite - maker of a kind of heavy silk stuff
Sauntere - probably salt maker
Sausere - salter
Savant - servant
Sawbones - physician
Sawyer - sawer of wood; carpenter
Scabbler - person who uses a scabbler (pick) to trim the sides of a tunnel
Schumacker - shoemaker; cobbler
Scribbler - minor or worthless author
Scrivener - scribe or clerk; professional or public copyist or writer; notary public
Scrutiner - election judge
Seinter - girdlemaker
Seler/sellarius - sadder
Serviens - sergeant
Servus - servant
Sevier - sieve-maker
Sewer - tailor or shoemaker
Sharman/Sherman/Shearman - one who raised the surface of wollen cloth and then sheared it to a smooth surface; cutter of woolen cloth
Shether - see vaginarius
Shrieve - sheriff
Sifker - sievemaker
Sissor/Cissor - tailor
Sizer - one who applies size to textiles
Slater - roofer; tiler
Slatter - slater (same as hillard)
Slaymaker/Sleymaker - maker of reeds or slays (instruments to part threads in weaving) for looms
Slopseller - seller of ready-made clothes in a slop shop
Snobscat/Snob - shoe repairer; cobbler
Soper - soapmaker
Sorter - tailor
Soyor - sawyer
Spicer - grocer
Spinster - unmarried woman; spinner (female)
Spittleman - hospital attendant
Spragger - person who inserts a piece of wood (sprag) between the wheels of a lorry (truck) to bring it to a standstill
Spurrer/Spurrier - spurmaker
Stabler - ostler
Stasyon/Stawsun - probably a stationer
Stokiner - maker or weaver of stockings
Squarewright - carpenter, specifically a furniture maker
Squire - country gentleman; farm owner; justice of peace
Stuff Gown/Gownsman - junior barrister
Sugarer - dealer in sugar (grocer?)
Sumner - summoner or apparitor
Supercargo - officer on merchant ship who is in charge of cargo and the commercial concerns of the ship
Sutler - one who supplies an army with provisions

Tabernarius - taverner; innkeeper
Tannator - tanner; curer of animal hide into leather
Taper - candlewick maker or seller
Tapley - one who puts the tap in an ale cask
Tasker - reaper
Tawer - one who taws (makes hide into leather without the use of tanning)
Teamster - one who drives a team (horses or oxen) for hauling
Teinter - dyer
Tenter - attendant for an engine
Textor - weaver
Thatcher - roofer (using thatch)
Thirdbororough - tithing man or deputy constable
Tide Waiter - customs inspector
Tinker - an itinerant mender and seller of kettles, tin pots and pans
Tinctor - dyer or possibly a painter
Tipstaff - policeman
Todd - fox hunter
Travers - toll bridge collector
Tripper - dancer
Tucker - cleaner of cloth goods
Turner - turner of wood (using a lathe) into spindles

Upholder - upholsterer; also a cheapjack and seller of secondhand goods

Vaginarius - sheather; scabbard maker
Venator/Venur - huntsman
Verderer - a Borsholder, Constable. Victualer - tavern keeper, or one who provides an army, navy, or ship with food supplies
Vitner - wine merchant
Vulcan - blacksmith

Wagoner - teamster not for hire
Wainwright - wagon maker
Waiter - customs officer or tide waiter; one who waited on the tide to collect duty on goods brought in
Walker - fuller; cloth trampler or cleaner
Webber/Webster - weaver; loom operator
Wharfinger - owner of a wharf
Wheelwright - builder/repairer of wagon wheels, carriages etc.
Whitcher - maker of chests
Whitesmith - tinsmith; worker of iron who finishes or polishes the work
Whittawer - one who tans skin into white leather
Wonkey-scoop - driver who operates a one horse scoop
Wright - workman, especially a construction worker ie. wheelwright

Yeoman - farmer who owns his own land; freehold farmer


Part 1

Abbreviations ~ Diseases ~ Epidemics ~ Latin ~ Occupations ~ Terminology

More occupational terminology can be found in the books:
Farm Servants and Labour in Lowland Scotland, 1770-1914
and:
Servants: English Domestics in the Eighteenth Century
and:
A Commoner's Cottage: The Story of a Surrey Cottage and Its Occupants Through the Ages
and:
Historical Directory of Trade Unions
and:
The Great Household in Late Medieval England

 

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