The French President has Chinese Ancestry? I think not!

A few hours ago I came across a very interesting blog post about Nicolas Sárközy. It's entitled Nicolas Sarkozy is a Chinese? Ah-huh. It's been bugging me since I read it. It tries to explain the Chinese ancestry of the current French president, and I finding myself very skeptical of what I'm reading.

Here are the facts we do know to be true: Nicolas Sárközy's paternal ancestors were all of Hungarian nobility.. all of them. His grandmother was Katalin Ilona Anna Csáfordi Tóth. Her family name was Tóth with the additional name of Csáfordi. In Hungarian, the 'i' on the end of Csáfordi means 'of' or 'from'. The name was also written in the Latin version as Tóth de Csáford. This means the Tóth family from Csáford.

Here's what the blog post claims. It says that there is "a piece of entry for Toth in Jinshi, the History of Jin as a family name, but also is there a significant nomadic people called Xianbei of whom the Csafordi tribe was belonged to once upon a time". It's entirely possible that there is a Toth family in China and related to the Jin family name, but not the Tóth's of Hungary.

According to Béla Kempelen's book "Magyar nemes családok", ('Hungarian Noble Families' for those of you who can't read Hungarian) the Csáfordi Tóth shares it's origins with the Simaházi Tóth family. It says that family tradition and also old documents verify this as fact. In 1649, during the Turkish occupation, Sebestyén Tóth of the Simaházi family was given his own nobility apart from the Simaházi Tóth's, including possessions in Csáford for which his descendants took their name. The Simaházi Tóth family begins with a Benedek Tóth and his wife Erzsébet Simon. Benedek was granted nobility by King Ferdinand II in 1626 and they resided in Sopron county, Hungary.

The Tóth de Csáford (csáfordi Tóth) Coat of Arms

As for the "Csafordi tribe" suggested in the blog, I can find no mention of such a thing in my Hungarian nobility resources. Csáford was the name of a town in Sopron county, in Western Hungary, it was not the name of a tribe.

The Tóth name is one of the most popular surnames in Hungary. It very simply means "Slovak". It's very unlikely that the Toth family in the "History of Jin as a family name" and the Tóth's of Hungary are the same people. A word meaning "Slovak" migrating from China to the Hungary and Slovakia area just doesn't make sense. How could the word exist before they knew who or what the Slovaks were? It seems to me that people are trying to fabricate family trees!

Today's Lesson - 22 Jan 2010: Understanding Latin Part 2

Earlier this week, I wrote a blog dedicated to understanding dates in Latin. This blog will be a helpful list of the most common and helpful Latin words used in baptisms, marriages and deaths in church parish records. The list is sorted alphabetically by the Latin words.

anno in the year

anno domini in the year of our lord

annus year

banni marriage bann

baptismi christening

cognomen surname, family name

consors wife

conjux husband, wife

copulatio marriage

defunctus death

die on the day

dies day

ex from

filius son

filia daughter

filiae daughters

genitores parents

gentius birth

infans child

mariti marriage

marita wife

maritus husband

mater mother

matrimonium marriage

mensis month

mortis death

mortuus death

nati/natus birth

nobilis noble

nomen name

oppido town

oppidum town

parentes parents

pater father

patrini godparents

patrinus godfather

proclamationes marriage bann

sepulti burial

sepultus burial

sponsus husband

susceptores godparents

uxor wife

vidua widow

That's the beginning of what you should need to get a basic understand of what the record states. You can find an amazing more extensive list on FamilySearch's website under Research Helps.

http://www.familysearch.org/eng/search/RG/frameset_rhelps.asp

Today's Lesson - 17 Jan 2010: Understanding Latin Part 1

I've recently been helping a friend index some Italian church records. If you've ever seen Roman Catholic church records, then you've encountered Latin before. Some find it daunting and challenging, but it's the complete opposite. I find it rather easy. Well, it is easier when you compare it to the Hungarian language. With some patience and a knowledge of basic genealogical words, you can understand those Latin records in a cinch!

Today I'm going to help you understand dates. Before we begin, you should know that endings can vary for words. They can vary from -a, -o or -us. The numbers will remain the same no matter which ending is used. Let's start off with the most basic information: numbers.

1 - unus
2 - duo
3 - tres
4 - quattuor
5 - quinque
6 - sex
7 - septem
8 - octo
9 - novem
10 - decem
11 - undecim
12 - duodecim, or decimo secundo
13 - decimo tertio
14 - decimo quarto
15 - decimo quinto
16 - decimo sexto
17 - decimo septo
18 - decimo octavo
19 - decimo nono
20 - viginit, or vicesimo
21 - vicesimo primo
22 - vicesimo secundo
23 - vicesimo tertio
24 - vicesimo quarto
25 - vicesimo quinto
26 - vicesimo sexto
27 - vicesimo septo
28 - vicesimo octavo
29 - vicesimo nono
30 - triginta, or tricesimo
31 - tricesimo primo
40 - quadragesimo
50 - quinquagesimo
60 - sexagesimo
70 - septuagesimo
80 - octogesimo
90 - nonagesimo
100 - cento, or centimo
1000 - millo, or millesimo

Hopefully you you caught onto the pattern of the numbers repeating. If you look closely at 40-90, you'll notice the endings begin -agesimo. Numbers in the 100's have endings with -gentesimo. Example: quadragentesimo (400), quingentesimo (500).

Now onto months. The latter months can be quite confusing for some. January to August are written as is, except for various ending variations: Januario, Januari, Juni, Junio, Juno. September to December are a different case. As they CAN be written as they appear, they'll more than often appear in number and letter form. Here is the explanation:

September - 7bris (note: 7 in Latin begins with sept)
October - 8bris (note: 8 in Latin begins with oct)
November - 9bris (note: 9 in Latin begins with nov)
December - 10bris, or Xbris (note: 10 in Latin begins with dec; also sometimes shown as Roman Numeral X for 10.)

Now if you've ever seen a year written out in Latin, you know it can be long, confusing and intimidating. But, it's actually pretty easy. Take what you have learned about numbers above, and you'll master it quickly! Use the above numbers as a guide, to help you out. Here are a few examples that we'll now analyze knowing what we already learned:

1: (millesimo centesimo sexagesimo septo)
mill. =1000
cent. = 100
sex. = 6
sept. = 7
The date is 1167.

2: (millesimo quingentesimo quarto)
mill. = 1000
quingen. = 500
quart. = 4
The date is 1504.

3: (millesimo sexcentesimo quadragesimo secundo)
mill. = 1000
sexcent. = 600
quadrag. = 40
secund. = 2
The date is 1642.

4: (millesimo octingentesimo quinquagesimo primo)
mill. = 1000
octigen. = 800
quinqua. = 50
prim. = 1
The date is 1851.

5: (millesimo nongentesimo septuagesimo octavo)
mill. = 1000
nongent. = 900
septua. = 70
oct. = 8
The date is 1978.

I hope this has helped someone out there. If you have questions or need help with any Latin documents, feel free to comment or email me at nickmgombash@yahoo.com.