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

Record Search Findings: 1819 Death for Joseph Wenzel

I stumbled upon the 1819 death record for my 6th-great-grandfather today. His name was Joseph Wenzel, and he was born in the town of Graber, Bohemia (now Kravaře, Litoměřice, Czech Republic) to Christoph and Elisabeth Wenzel. He died on 07 Mar 1812 and was buried 09 Mar 1812. His occupation listed was "fleischhauermeister", which translates out to be "master butcher". I thought that was pretty interesting! On previous records, he was only listed as a "gärtner", or "gardener".

Joseph Wenzel was married to Anna Dorothea Munzig-Seeman on 06 Nov 1754, in Graber. They had six children: Johann Christoph (03 Dec 1756), Anna Maria (02 Jan 1759), Joseph (31 Jul 1762), Anna Maria (04 Sep 1763), Franz Joseph (29 Sep 1765) and Rosalia (26 Mar 1768). I only know of two of their children that married. First of which was their son Joseph, who married a Rosalia Görner from the neighboring town of Bleiswedel. Then their daughter Rosalia, my 5th-great-grandmother, who married Joseph Kasper from Graber.

Follow Friday - 22 Jan 2010

I've been following an interesting blog for about a month or two now. It's called Royal Musings, and it's devoted to news and/or commentary about the reigning houses of Europe, as well as the former monarchies. The most interesting items she posts are the old family portraits of the royals, and old newspaper clippings with gossip and news on the then royals in the public eye. If you're as fascinated with royalty and nobility as I am, give it a read. It's definitely a plus knowing I'm related to these royals too!

http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/

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.

Record Search Findings: A Few Bódogh Obituaries

I was browsing through Record Search's database "Hungarian Funeral Notices", and I came upon these obituaries for our cousin Dr. Albert Bódogh and his wife Malvina Szepessy de Négyes.

Albert was born on 10 May 1829 in Nemesbikk, Borsod megye to Péter Bódogh and Erzsébet Szegö. He at some time was married to Malvina Szepessy de Négyes, she was the widow of Imre Darvas de Nagy-Réth. Albert was a docter of medicine in Hungary. The above obituary states "Borsodi orvos-gyógyszerész egylet", which means he was member of the Borsod Doctors of Medicine Club. He died on 12 Apr 1886 in Miskolc, Borsod megye, Hungary. His funeral services were held on 14 Apr 1886 in Miskolc.



In the beginning of this obituary, it states the names of this two children: Albert and Erzsike (Erzsébet).


This obituary is for Albert's wife, Malvina Szepessy de Négyes. She was born about 1838 in Hungary, to László Szepessy de Négyes and Terézia Csoma de Ragyolc. She died on 25 Jan 1880 in Budapest, Hungary and the services were held on 26 Jan 1880. Her obituary includes the following family:

Husband: Albert Bódogh

Children: Albert Bódogh and Erzsébet Bódogh

Children from previous marriage: Malvina Darvas de Nagy-Réth, wife of József Lichtenstein de Homrogd, Antal Darvas de Nagy-Réth, and Róza Darvas de Nagy-Réth, wife of Miklós Kóczán de Tuzberk

Record Search Findings: A 1919 Budapest Marriage

A few months ago, I found a marriage for cousin of mine in Budapest. His name is Bénjámin Porkoláb, and he was born in Tiszadob on 30 Jul 1894 to Bénjámin Porkoláb and Juliánna Pethe (de Kis-Szántó). I am related to Bénjámin (the son) through at least four different lines. They are the Porkoláb family (3rd cousin, 4 times removed), Bódogh family (5th cousin, 3 times removed), Varga family (5th cousin, 4 times removed) and the Pethe de Kis-Szántó family (connection unknown as of yet). His mother, Juliánna, comes from the neighboring town of Büdszentmihály, and was born about 1857. I need to research her baptism and connect her into my Pethe de Kis-Szántó family.

Bénjámin was married to a woman named Ilona Petrovics, on 07 May 1919 in Budapest District I. She was born 12 Aug 1900 in Csobánka, Pest megye (county), to Zsigmond Petrovics and Ilona Streit. Bénjámin was living at Krisztina körét 112 and Ilona was living at Koronaőr utca 19. The witnesses to the marriage were János Paulovics, living at Koronaőr utca 19, and Henrik Qertel, living at Márvány utca 38.

Follow Friday - 15 Jan 2010

This is the first time I'm participating in Friday's weekly event. I wanted to highly János Bogárdi's blog RadixLog- Hungarian genealogy blog (http://www.radixlog.com/). He hasn't been able to write for a few months, but he's a great source for new Hungarian resources and databases for genealogy.

If you're interested in Hungarian genealogy, you should also check out some of his other pages:

http://www.bogardi.com/gen/ (Genealogy research in Hungary)

http://www.radixforum.com/ (Board for Hungarian Genealogy Research)

http://www.radixlog.com/archives/200811/0.htm (RadixRobot - a somewhat new powerful Hungarian genealogy database/website search engine)