cottar

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cot·tar

(kä′tər)

1. A medieval villein who occupied a cottage with a small piece of land in return for labor.

2. In Scotland and Ireland, a farm worker who, in return for a cottage, gives labor at a fixed rate when required.

[From Middle English coter, from Old French coter, cotier; akin to Medieval Latin cotārius : Medieval Latin cota, cottage (of Germanic origin and akin to Old English cot, cottage) + Latin -ārius, adj. and n. suff.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

cottar

(ˈkɒtə)

(Historical Terms) Scot (in the Scottish Highlands) a peasant occupying a cottage and land of not more than half an acre at a rent of not more than five pounds a year

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

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Noun	1.	cottar - a peasant farmer in the Scottish Highlands cotter bucolic, peasant, provincial - a country person
	2.	cottar - fastener consisting of a wedge or pin inserted through a slot to hold two other pieces together cotter cotter pin - a cotter consisting of a split pin that is secured (after passing through a hole) by splitting the ends apart fastening, holdfast, fastener, fixing - restraint that attaches to something or holds something in place

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Contrasting with the heroic sailors of eighteenth century, Sinclair's heroes are the fishermen, cottars and a young mother and child.

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(5) The original 1215 version of Magna Carta referred to the rights of a "freeman"; the 1354 statute removed the word "free-man," and replaced it with "No man of what estate or condition that he be," a generous expansion that included freemen, villeins, bordars, and cottars. The term "estate" referred to the three estates of the realm: the clergy, the nobility, and commoners.

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For the tenant farmers and the cottars, the system of obligations remained and they continued to uphold their part of the traditional bargain, expecting the land-owners to do the same.

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One of the most significant reports ever prepared about the wild lands of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland was compiled by Lord Napier's Royal Commission of Inquiry into the Condition of Crofters and Cottars in the later years of the 19th century.

SANDISON'S SCOTLAND; BRUCE SANDISON IS A JOURNALIST, ANGLER AND AUTHOR OF A STRING OF BEST-SELLING BOOKS ABOUT SCOTLAND'S OUTDOORS. HE LIVES IN SUTHERLAND.HOW DECADES OF TERRIBLE OPPRESSION FINALLY CAME TO AN END FOR HARD-WORKING CROFTERS

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As Christiansen demonstrates, this revival "could be viewed as a nostalgic longing for the old-time culture which was so rapidly disappearing, but in reality it was a demonstration of class identity by which prosperous farmers could distance themselves horizontally relative to the townspeople and vertically from the cottars, craftsmen and labourers." (41)

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Northfield had seven villeins, 16 bordars, six cottars or cottagers, two serfs (probably male slaves), and one female bondswoman (slave) - and their families.

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"They are left as long as they can possibly be, at large, wandering about through the country, and, when they become dangerous, they are tied with ropes, chained, handcuffed, confined in outhouses, or in some house apart from others, and occasionally in some of the cottars' houses." (76) For such commentators, specialist institutions providing long-term care were the only way to treat lunatics.

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In recent times many artists steeped in the region's Celtic-Canadian heritage have become international stars in the folk and country music industries, including fiddlers Natalie MacMaster (1973-) and Ashley MacIsaac (1975-), vocalist Mary Jane Lamond (1960-), and ensembles the Cottars and the Rankins.

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Given these legally recognized protections, entropy among the elite overlay continuity among the cottars.