Identifying Place Names in German documents: Difference between revisions

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Latin names for localities are found frequently in parish register entries. ''Villa nova ''(Latin); ''Villeneuve'' (French); and ''Neuhof'' (German), and Newtown or Newton (English) are names for the same place. . Latin or Greek place names are very common in University matriculation records. (see illustration). The Latin prepositions "ex" [from or out of] and "de" [from] often precede the Latin places names. Latinized place names when following a preposition commonly have these endings: -anus, -inus, and -ensis. Examples of Latin places names:<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Parthenopolis = Magdeburg<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Regiomont(i)um or "ex Regiomontanus" = Königsberg or "from Königsberg"<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Borussia = Prussia<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Marchia = Mark Brandenburg<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Gryphiberga = Greiffenberg, Schlesien, Prussia<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Guelferbytum or Wolfenbuttela = Wolfenbüttel, Braunschweig  

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Thomas Otto Achelis in "Die Bedeutung der Universitätsmatrikeln für den Familienforscher" [The importance of University Registers for the Family Researcher] states that students often gave the name of a larger, more well-known city as their place of origin instead of their native village or birthplace. Place names in Latin can be found on the internet at [http://www.columbia.edu/acis/ets/Graesse/contents.html Orbis Latinus online ].