Czech Genealogical Word List: Difference between revisions

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==Introduction==

The '''Czech Genealogical Word List''' contains Czech words and their English translations for many words that are found in documents used to research Czech ancestors. Click [[Media:WLCzech.pdf|here]] for the PDF version of the Czech Genealogical Word List.  

Czech is a Slavic language derived from the West Slavic language family. Czech is related to Slovak and Polish and is used in the genealogical sources throughout Czechia. Czech is the language of Czechia and was the official language in the Czech lands of Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in the former Czechoslovakia. In addition, the Czech language may be found in the records of Czech communities in the United States, Canada, and other areas settled by Czechs.

Before 1918, the Czech lands were provinces of Austria, which, together with Hungary, constituted the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Records written before 1918 may be in German, Latin, or Czech. Czech records often contain German and Latin words. See the [[German Word List|German Genealogical Word List]] and the [[Latin Genealogical Word List|Latin Genealogical Word List]].

For Bohemian-German words, also consult {{FSC|357707|item|disp=Sudetendeutches Wörterbuch: Wörterbuch der Deutschen Mundarten in Böhmen und Mähren-Schlesien}} (not all volumes are available).

For explanations of the different peasant occupations in Czech records, consult [http://www.oxfordjctgenealogy.com/main/?page_id=1281 Peasant Levels & Occupations].

===Variant Forms of Words===

In Czech, the forms of most 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. In Czech, any word may have different forms, depending on how it is used. This word list gives the standard form of each Czech word. The endings of Czech words in a document often differ from what you find in this list.

'''''Surnames'''''  

Surnames will have the added ending '''-ová''' or '''-á''' if the person referred to is female:  

|-

''Surname''<br>Novák<br>Pleva<br>Novotný<br>

''+ female ending''<br>Nováková<br>Plevová<br>Novotná<br>

'''''Gender'''''  

Czech words for persons, places, and things (nouns) are classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter. Adjectives used to describe the singular and plural forms of Czech words must have the proper masculine, feminine, or neuter endings:  

''starý muž''<br>''stará žena''<br>''staré město''<br>

''staří muži''<br>''staré ženy''<br>''stará města''<br>

This word list gives only the singular masculine form of adjectives. Thus, ''starý, stará, staré,'' and ''staří'' (all forms of “old”) are listed here as ''starý.'' <br>

''narodil se''<br>''narodila se''<br>''narodilo se''<br>''narodili(y) se''<br>

This word list gives only the ''narodil se'' (“he was born”) form of the past tense verb. You can conclude that ''narodila se'' means “she was born,” etc.

'''''Plurals'''''  

Plural forms of Czech words usually change the singular word:

Words ending in '''-a''' change to '''-y''':<br>''žena'' woman / wife  ''ženy'' women / wives

Words ending in '''-o''' change to '''-a''':<br>''město'' city  ''města'' cities

Words ending in '''-e''' and '''-í''' do not change:<br>''ulice'' street  ''ulice'' streets

Words ending in a consonant add '''-y'''. A few words add '''-i''', '''-ové''', or '''-e''' to form the plural:

''list''<br>''muž''<br>

''listy''<br>''muži''<br>

The plural form may change the basic word:

''dítě''<br>''bratr''<br>''zámek''<br>

''děti''<br>''bratři''<br>''zámky''<br>

The endings of Czech words can also vary, depending on the grammatical use of the words. Czech grammar requires a different ending for a word used as a subject, a possessive, an object, or with a preposition. Czech words fall into several classes, each with its own set of grammatical endings. Certain possessive endings give the meaning “of” to a word.  

Nouns ending with a consonant add '''-a''' or '''-e''':  

''bratr''<br>''muž''<br>

Nouns ending with '''-a''' add '''-y''':<br>''sestra'' sister  ''sestry'' of sister

Nouns ending with '''-o''' add '''-a''':<br>''město'' city  ''města'' of city

Plural masculine nouns change to '''-ů''':<br>''muži'' husbands  ''mužů'' of husbands

Plural feminine or neuter nouns drop the last vowel:<br>''ženy'' wife  ''žen'' of wives

*Adjectives change the endings to show possession.

Adjectives ending in '''-á''' change to '''-é''':<br>''křtěná'' baptized  ''křtěné'' of the baptized

Adjectives ending in '''-é''' change to '''-ého''':<br>''neznámé'' unknown  ''neznámého'' of the unknown

Adjectives ending in '''-í''' change to '''-ího''':<br>''první'' first  ''prvního'' of the first

Plural adjectives ending in '''-ý''' or '''-í''' add '''-ch''':

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''zemřelý''<br>''erbovní''<br>

''zemřelých''<br>''erbovních''<br>

Prepositions also change the grammatical case of the word(s) following them. Some of the most common prepositions you may encounter in genealogical records are:

'''po''' means after, but also used in the sense of widow of > followed by locative case

Written Czech uses several letters in addition to the 26 letters used in the English alphabet: á, č, ď, é, ě, í, ň, ó, ř, š, ť, ,ú, ů, ý, ž. The letter combination ''ch'' is also considered a single letter and is alphabetized after ''h''. Letters ''q, w,'' and ''x'' are used only in words of foreign origin. Czech dictionaries and indexes use the following alphabetical order:

a,á  b  c,č  d,ď  e,é,ě  f  g  h  ch  i,í  j  k  l  m  n,ň  o,ó  p  (q) r,ř  s,š  t,ť  u,ú,ů  v  (w)  (x) y,ý  z,ž 

This word list follows the standard English alphabetical order. However, when you work with alphabetized Czech records, use the Czech alphabetical order.

Spelling rules were not standardized in earlier centuries. In Czech, the following spelling variations are common:

'''i, y''' and '''j''' used interchangeably<br>'''s''' and '''z''' used interchangeably<br>'''w''' used for '''v'''<br>'''rz''' used for '''ř'''<br>'''sz''' used for '''š'''<br>'''cz''' used for '''č'''<br>

*Fronek, Josef. ''Anglicko-český, česko-anglický slovník.'' (English-Czech, Czech-English dictionary). Praha: Leda, 2003, c1998. (FS Library book 491.86321)

The following dictionary is also available on microfilm and microfiche for use in FamilySearch Centers:

*Cheshire, Harold T. ''Česko-anglický slovník.'' (Czech-English Dictionary). Praha: J. Otto, 1935. (FS Library book 491.86321 C424c; film 1181683 item 1-2; fiche 6001286-6001287).

==Date and Time==

*''dvacátého osmého srpna, jeden tisíc osm set'' ''padesát dva''

|Augsburské vzynání, Augsburg Confesson

|perhaps, about, maybe, circa

|bratr, bratři

|brother, brothers