Latin Genealogical Word List

Latin is the language of the Romans. Through the continuing influence of Roman civilization and the use of Latin by the Catholic Church many genealogical resources are written in Latin. This page provides information about the language, including grammar, and a Latin to English wordlist.

Usage
Nearly all Roman Catholic church records used Latin to some extent. Latin was used in the records of most European countries and in the Roman Catholic records of the United States and Canada. Because Latin was used in so many countries, local usage varied. Certain terms were commonly used in some countries but not in others. In addition, the Latin used in British records has more abbreviations than the Latin used in European records.

Inflections
Latin is an inflected language, meaning that the endings of words vary according to how the words are used in a sentence. Who—whose— whom or marry—marries—married are examples of words in English with variant forms. This word list gives the most commonly seen form of each Latin word. As you read Latin records, be aware that almost all words vary with usage.

The case of a word describes how it is being used in a sentence. The main three cases are:

Nominative: when the noun is the subject of the sentence, i.e. it is doing the verb Accusative : when the noun is the object of the sentence, so something else is doing a verb on it. Genitive: the noun possesses or belongs to something else. In English indicated by 'of' or 's

A word's ending also varies by whether it is plural or singular. Latin words are divided into five declensions, but only three are considered here. Each declension has it's own basic pattern for word endings.

The main word endings genealogists need to know are:

Most male names are in the 2nd declension. Nearly all female names are in the 1st declension. Names from both genders can be found in the 3rd declension.

Gender
Latin words for persons, places, and things (nouns) are classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter. For example, rex (king) is a masculine word, aetas (age) is a feminine word, and oppidum (town) is a neuter word.

Words that describe persons, places, or things (adjectives) will have either masculine, feminine, or neuter endings to match whatever they describe. For example, in Latin you would write magnus rex (great king), magna aetas (great age), and magnum oppidum (large town). This word list gives only the masculine form of adjectives. For example:


 * noster, nostra, nostrum (our) is listed as noster
 * magnus, magna, magnum (great, large) is listed as magnus
 * nobilis, nobile (noble, known) is listed as nobilis

Some words can be either masculine or feminine, such as patrinus (godfather) and patrina (godmother). This word list usually gives only the masculine form even though a feminine form may occur in Latin records. Thus, given the word famulus (servant), you can conclude that famula is a female servant. Similarly, this word list gives only natus est ("he was born"). You can conclude that nata est means "she was born." The plural form nati sunt means "they were born."

Examples and Exceptions
Other noun endings change as follows to show possession:


 * -as may change to -atis
 * -ns may change to -ntis
 * -or may change to -oris
 * -tio may change to -tionis

Example: sartor (tailor) changes to sartoris (of the tailor)

Words that show action (verbs) also vary depending on who is doing the action and whether the action is past, present, or future. For example, the Latin word baptizare (to baptize) will appear with various endings:

Spelling
Spelling rules were not standardized in earlier centuries. The following spelling variations are common in Latin documents:


 * i and j used interchangeably
 * u and v used interchangeably
 * e used for ae (æ)
 * e used for oe (œ)
 * c used for qu

Examples:


 * ejusdem or eiusdem
 * civis or ciuis
 * preceptor or praeceptor
 * celebs or coelebs
 * quondam or condam

Additional Resources
This word list includes only the words most commonly found in genealogical sources. For further help, use a Latin-English dictionary. Latin-English dictionaries are available on each floor of the Family History Library. The call numbers begin with 473.21. Many resources exist that will help you read Latin genealogical records. One of these is a 10 part online video called, Latin Handwriting.

Another resource is the National Archives of England, they have 12 online lessons covering latin records from 1086 to 1733, each lesson provides step by step instructions and is listed under the title of "Learn medieval Latin - Stage 1".

The Internet can be of great assistance in trying to translate Latin. There are some dictionaries and word lists as well as some sites that will translate for you. One good website is William Whitaker's Words for translating words. Latin Dictionary and Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid are Latin dictionaries. It is important to remember with using any of these websites that you have to be careful about accepting the meaning. Be sure that the meaning makes sense with what you are trying to translate.

The Dizionario di Abbreviature Latine ed Italiane contains an intensive list of Latin abbreviations, but the translations are in Italian.

The following Latin-English dictionary is available on microfilm for use in Family History Centers:


 * Ainsworth, Robert. Ainsworth's Latin Dictionary, Revised Edition. London, England: F. Westly and A.H. Davis, 1836. (.)

Additional dictionaries are listed under in the Subject Search of the FamilySearch Catalog. Most bookstores carry useful, inexpensive Latin-English dictionaries.

The following sources can also be helpful for reading Latin records:


 * Baxter, J. H. and Charles Johnson. Medieval Latin Word-List From British and Irish Sources. London, England: Oxford University Press, n.d. (.)


 * Grun, Paul A. Schlüssel zur alten und neuen Abkürzungen: Wörterbuch lateinischer und deutscher Abkürzungen des späten Mittlealters und der Neuzeit. Limburg/Lahn, Germany: Starke Verlag, 1966. (.) Key to ancient and modern abbreviations: Dictionary of Latin and German abbreviations of the late middle age and modern times.


 * Jensen, C. Russell. Parish Register Latin: An Introduction. Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Vita Nova Books, 1988. (.) A guide to understanding Latin as it appears in continental European church records. Also available digitally at Archive.org


 * Martin, Charles Trice. The Record Interpreter: A Collection of Abbreviations, Latin Words and Names Used in English Historical Manuscripts and Records, 2nd ed. London: Stevens, 1910. (.)


 * McLaughlin, Eve. Simple Latin for Family Historians, 2nd ed. Birmingham, England: Federation of Family History Societies, 1987. (.) This booklet lists Latin words frequently used in English parish registers.


 * Temple, Robin Edgel. Latin for Genealogical Research: A Primer for Record Latin. Thesis (M.A.). Brigham Young University, 1977. (.)

Key Words
To find and use specific types of Latin records, you will need to know some key words in Latin. This section lists key genealogical terms in English and gives the Latin words that have the same or similar meanings.

For example, in the first column you will find the English word marriage. In the second column you will find Latin words with meanings such as marry, marriage, wedding, wedlock, unite, legitimate, joined, and other words used in Latin records to indicate marriage.

Numbers
In some genealogical records, numbers—especially dates—are written out. The following list gives the cardinal (1, 2, 3) and the ordinal (1st, 2nd, 3rd) versions of each number. Ordinal numbers are adjectives and may sometimes appear with the feminine ending (-a) or the neuter ending (-um). In written dates the ordinal numbers usually end with the grammatical ending (-o). Example:


 * quartus = the fourth quarto = on the fourth

Roman Numerals
Roman numerals are written as combinations of the seven letters listed below. The letters can be written in capital (XVI ) or lower-case (xvi ) letters.

D is sometimes represented by the symbol.

M is sometimes represented by the symbol.

If smaller value numbers follow larger value numbers, add the values together. If a smaller value number precedes a larger value number, subtract the smaller from the larger. For example:

Dates and Times
In Latin records, dates are often written out. Numbers generally end with -o when used in a date. For example:


 * Anno Domini millesimo sescentesimo nonagesimo quarto et die decimo septimo mensis Maii [In the year of (our) Lord one thousand six hundred ninety-four, and on the seventeenth day of the month of May]

To understand Latin dates, use the following lists as well as the preceding "Numbers" section.

General Words
This general word list includes words commonly seen in genealogical sources. Numbers, months, and days of the week are listed both here and in separate sections that follow this list.

In this list, some grammatical variations of Latin words are given in parentheses. Some Latin phrases and their translations are listed [in brackets] under the most significant Latin word, not the first word, of the phrase. Words in parentheses in the English column clarify the definition.