Danish Genealogical Word List
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The Danish Genealogical Word List shows Danish words and their English translations for many words that are found in documents used to research Danish ancestors. If the word you are looking for is not on this list, please consult a Danish-English dictionary. (See the "Additional Resources" section below.)
Danish is a Germanic language like English, German, Dutch, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic. A major spelling and grammar reform was introduced in Denmark in 1953. Most differences between modern and old Danish are simply a matter of spelling. The spelling section in "Language Characteristics" below, along with the English to Danish Word list are designed to help you find the words you need.
Due to community feedback, the Danish Word List is now available in a PDF format. This list was created by revising the Genealogical Word List for Denmark that is now out of print. Some words that did not seem relevant to Danish research were removed. Many words were added including many occupations. There are 1, 278 terms in this list. The PDF will be updated as the Word List is improved. See Danish Genealogical Word List October 2010
Language Characteristics
Variant Forms of Words
In Danish, as in English, the forms of some words will vary according to how they are used in a sentence. Who—whose—whom or marry—marries—married are examples of words in English with variant forms. The endings of a word in a document may differ from those in this list, for example:
Mand= man
Kone= wife
Manden= the man
Konen= the wife
Mænd= men
Koner= wives
Mænderne= the men
Konerne= the wives
This word list gives the standard form of each word.
Alphabetical Order
Written Danish has three additional letters: Æ (æ), Ø (ø), and Å (å). These letters are filed after A-Z alphabetically. The letter Å (å) was officially introduced in 1953, so it never appears in older records. Prior to that time it was usually written as Aa (aa) and filed at the beginning of the alphabet. Danish dictionaries and indexes, this word list, and the Locality section of the FamilySearch Catalog use the following alphabetical order:
a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z æ ø å
Spelling
Spelling rules were not standardized in earlier centuries. The following spelling variations are common.
aa used for å
b used for p
c used for k
d used for t
fi used for v
g used for k
i used for j
x used for ks
q used for k
w used for v
e used for æ
ö used for ø
u used for v
ch used for k
tj used for ki
Examples:
skov spelled as schov
kvinde spelled as qvinde
Århus spelled as Aarhus
Key Words
To find and use specific types of Danish records, you will need to know some key words in Danish. This section gives key genealogical terms in English and the Danish words with 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 Danish words with meanings such as marry, marriage, wedding, wedlock, unite, legitimate, joined, and other words used in Danish records to indicate marriage.
| English | Danish |
|---|---|
| banns | trolovede, trolovelse, forlovelse |
| births | fødte, født |
| burials | begravede, begravelse, jordet |
| census | folketælling |
| child | barn |
| christenings | døpte, døbt, daab |
| confirmations | konfirmerede |
| deaths | døde, død |
| father | fader, far |
| female | kvindekjøn (køn), pige |
| husband | mand, husbonde, husfader |
| index | register |
| male | mandkjøn (køn), drenge |
| marriages | copulerede, vielse, ægteviede, bryllup |
| military | militær, lægd |
| mother | moder, mor |
| moving in | tilgangsliste, inflytning |
| moving out | avgangsliste, udflytning |
| name, given | navne |
| name, surname | efternavne |
| parents | forældre |
| parish | sogn |
| vaccinations | vaccinerede |
| wife | hustru, husmoder, kone, kvinde |
| year | år, anno |
Additional Resources
This word list includes only words most commonly found in genealogical sources. For further help, use a Danish-English dictionary. Several dictionaries are available in the Scandinavian book collection at the FamilySearch Library. Their call numbers begin with 439.81321.
The following dictionary is also available on microfilm for use in FamilySearch Centers:
Magnussen, Johannes Julius. McKay's Modern English-Danish, Danish-English Dictionary. New York: David McKay, 1957. (FS Library book 439.81321 M275m; film 1,440,033, item 1.)
Additional dictionaries are listed in the Subject section of the FamilySearch Library Catalog under DANISH LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES or in the Locality section under DENMARK - LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES.
A dictionary of modern Danish published by the Danish Language and Literature Society (Det Danske Sprog- og Litteraturselskab) is available online at The Danish Dictionary (Den Danske Ordbog}.
Other FamilySearch Research Wiki Resources
- Denmark Probate Records for words commonly found in probate records
- Denmark Occupations for a list of occupations