Definition
An archaic Law French adverb used in medieval legal instruments and pleadings with three closely related senses: (1) "so" or "thus" (indicating that a preceding statement holds or applies); (2) "also" or "and" (connecting successive provisions or facts); and (3) "afterwards" or "thereupon" (marking temporal sequence within a narrative). The word functioned as a connective particle in the formulaic drafting style of Anglo-Norman legal writing, serving purposes now covered in modern drafting by plain English conjunctions, transitional phrases, and adverbs.
Common Confusion
The three meanings of enci — so, also, and afterwards — are not interchangeable in context, and a reader encountering the word in a medieval record must determine which sense the drafter intended from surrounding syntax. The word is also easily overlooked or misread as a scribal abbreviation or proper noun by researchers unfamiliar with Law French conventions.
Why It Matters in Research
Enci appears almost exclusively in manuscript sources and early printed editions of medieval English legal records: plea rolls, year books, and instruments drafted in Law French before the gradual displacement of that language by English in legal proceedings during the seventeenth century (with statutory pressure accelerating after the Proceedings in Courts of Justice Act 1731). Researchers working in those materials will encounter enci as a structural word — one that shapes the logical and temporal flow of a pleading or instrument rather than carrying substantive legal content. Misreading it, or skipping over it as untranslatable, can distort the sequence of facts alleged or the relationship between clauses.
Because enci is a function word rather than a term of art, it will not appear in most indexes or digests, and it will not generate search results in databases organized around legal concepts. Researchers must be alert to it at the level of close reading. Its presence is a signal that the source is either in Law French or is a near-literal transcript or translation of a Law French original. If the term appears in a later transcription and seems anomalous, it may indicate that the transcriber retained Law French particles while rendering substantive terms into English — a mixed-language artifact common in antiquarian editions of early records.
The Kelham citation in Burrill confirms that the word was recognized in the standard Law French glossaries available to nineteenth-century legal historians. Robert Kelham's Dictionary of the Norman or Old French Language (1779) remains a primary reference for Law French vocabulary in English legal sources, and researchers encountering enci or similar particles should consult it alongside Tomlins and other Law French authorities on the Law Mind shelf.
Historical Dictionary Support
Burrill's is the only shelf source to record enci, and its entry is brief: a three-part gloss (so; also; afterwards) with attribution to Kelham. The entry is faithful to Kelham's own treatment and does not expand on usage or provide illustrative context. No other major historical legal dictionary — not Black's, not Bouvier's, not Tomlin's — carries a separate entry for enci, reflecting the word's status as grammatical connective rather than legal term of art. Burrill's decision to include it at all reflects the dictionary's broader ambition to serve as a working glossary for practitioners and scholars reading original Law French sources, not merely a conceptual legal reference.
Jurisdictional Note
Enci is specific to the Anglo-Norman legal tradition and has no independent meaning in Scots, Irish, or continental legal sources, though cognate particles appear in other medieval Romance-language legal writing. Its relevance is confined to English legal history prior to the effective end of Law French as a drafting medium.