EGUN

Definition

EGUN appears in Burrill's Law Dictionary as a Law French term meaning "any." Burrill attributes the definition to Kelham's glossary of Law French and Norman terms. In legal usage, the term functioned as an indefinite article or universal qualifier in Old Law French pleading and document drafting — functionally equivalent to the modern English word "any" when appearing in writs, deeds, or other instruments composed in the Anglo-Norman legal dialect. The entry as it appears in Burrill is fragmentary, and the dictionary page from which it is drawn contains overlapping content from multiple entries, suggesting a printing or compilation artifact. Researchers should treat the definition with caution and verify against Kelham's original glossary where possible.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): A member of the Yoruba people who performs a masquerade as an ancestor spirit in traditional religious ceremony. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not present. The term does not appear in Webster's 1913. The common and legal meanings of EGUN share no connection whatsoever. The Wiktionary definition reflects a distinct cultural and religious term drawn from Yoruba tradition. The legal term is a Law French artifact meaning "any." Researchers should be alert to this false cognate problem, particularly in interdisciplinary or comparative legal research contexts where the Yoruba religious term might appear in materials touching on religious freedom, cultural property, or indigenous practice law.

Why It Matters in Research

EGUN is a term of almost purely antiquarian interest. It appears in the context of Law French — the specialized Norman French dialect used in English courts, pleadings, and legal instruments from roughly the Norman Conquest through the seventeenth century. Researchers working with early English legal manuscripts, Year Books, or pre-modern writs may encounter this term and need to confirm that it functions as a simple qualifier ("any") rather than as a term of art carrying substantive legal weight. The principal research trap here is the fragmented Burrill entry itself. As printed, the dictionary page runs the EGUN definition into surrounding material — including the maxim "Ei incumbit probatio qui dicit, non qui negat" and unrelated content about wills and the word "effects." This is a typographical or pagination artifact, not a signal that EGUN carries any connection to those doctrines. Researchers relying on digitized or OCR-processed versions of Burrill are especially vulnerable to misreading this confluence of entries as a single, unified definition. Law French terms like EGUN are generally not indexed in modern legal dictionaries, making Kelham's Glossary of Norman French one of the primary reference points. Burrill's value here is as a secondary pointer to Kelham, not as a standalone authority.

Historical Dictionary Support

Burrill's Law Dictionary provides the only historical legal dictionary support available for this term in the Law Mind corpus. The entry is terse: "L. Fr. Any. Kelham." This three-word gloss is typical of Burrill's treatment of Law French vocabulary, which he catalogued primarily as an aid to reading old instruments rather than as living doctrine. No further elaboration appears in the corpus. The term does not appear in Black's Law Dictionary or other standard modern references, which reflects the obsolescence of Law French in active legal practice following the formal prohibition of Law French in English court proceedings by statute in the mid-seventeenth century. Historical dictionaries beyond Burrill, including Cowell's Interpreter and Jacob's Law Dictionary, may contain related Law French vocabulary but are not confirmed to address EGUN specifically.

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