Latin Genealogical Word List

This list contains Latin words with their English translations. The words included here are those that you are likely to find in genealogical sources. If the word (or some form of it) that you are looking for is not on this list, please consult a Latin-English dictionary. (See the "Additional Resources" section below.)

Latin is the mother language for many modern European languages. Many words in English, Spanish, French, and other languages resemble Latin words and have the same or similar meanings.

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.

Language Characteristics

Variant Forms of Words

In Latin, the endings of most 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.

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. 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 have both a male (-us) and female (-a) form, such as patrinus (godfather) and patrina (godmother). This word list usually gives only the male form even though a female 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."

Plurals

Plural forms of Latin words usually end in -i, -ae, or -es. Thus patrinus (godfather) becomes patrini (godparents), filia (daughter) becomes filiae (daughters), and pater (father) becomes patres (fathers). However, these same endings may also indicate other grammatical changes besides plurality.

Grammar

The endings of Latin words can also vary depending on the grammatical use of the words. Latin grammar requires a specific type of ending for a word used as the subject of the sentence, used in the possessive, used as the object of a verb, or used with a preposition. Latin words fall into several classes, each with its own set of grammatical endings.

If you do not find a Latin word in this list with the same ending as the word in your Latin document, find a similar ending in the examples below to see how the word in your document is used:

filius	son
(pater) filii	(father) of the son
(baptizavi) filium	(I baptized the) son
(ex) filio	(from) the son
vidua	widow
(filius) viduae	(son) of the widow
(sepelivi) viduam	(I buried the) widow
(ex) vidua	(from) the widow
pater	father
(filius) patris	(son) of the father
(sepelivi) patrem	(I buried the) father
(ex) patre	(from) the father

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:

Present	Past
baptize	have baptized, baptized
(I) baptizo	baptizavi, baptizabam
(he) baptizat	baptizavit, baptizabat
(they) baptizant	baptizaverunt, baptizabant
is baptized	was baptized
(he) baptizatur	baptizatus est

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.

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. (FHL book British Ref 473Ai65a 1836; film 599,788.)

Additional dictionaries are listed under LATIN LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES in the Subject Search of the Family History Library 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. (FHL book 942 A8bm.)

• 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. (FHL book 943 B4gg vol. 6.) 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. (FHL book 475 J453p.) A guide to understanding Latin as it appears in continental European church records.

• 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. (FHL book 422.471 M363re 1910; 1892 edition on FHL film 547,182, item 3.)

• McLaughlin, Eve. Simple Latin for Family Historians, 2nd ed. Birmingham, England: Federation of Family History Societies, 1987. (FHL book 471.1 M273.) 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. (FHL call number 929.1 T247L; edition on FHL fiche 6,070,611.)

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.

English	Latin
birth	nati, natus, genitus, natales, ortus, oriundus
burial	sepulti, sepultus, humatus, humatio
christening	baptismi, baptizatus, renatus, plutus, lautus, purgatus, ablutus, lustratio
child	infans, filius/filia, puer, proles
death	mortuus, defunctus, obitus, denatus, decessus, peritus, mors, mortis, obiit, decessit
father	pater
godparent	patrini, levantes, susceptores, compater, commater, matrina
husband	maritus, sponsus, conjux, vir
marriage	matrimonium, copulatio, copulati, conjuncti, intronizati, nupti, sponsati, ligati, mariti
marriage	banns banni, proclamationes, denuntiationes
mother	mater
name	given name nomen
name	surname cognomen
parents	parentes, genitores
wife	uxor, marita, conjux, sponsa, mulier, femina, consors

Genealogical Abbreviations

Abbreviation	Latin	English
&c	et cætera	and also
aas	anno aetatis suae	died in the year of his age, i.e., a.a.s. 24
ar	anno regni	year of reign
at	ætatis	age
c	circa	about, approximately
c	comitis	count
dsp	decessit sine prole	died without issue (children)
dspl	decessit sine prole legitima	died without legitimate issue (children)
dspm	decessit sine prole mascula	died without male issue (sons)
dspml	decessit sine prole mascula legitima	died without legitimate male issue (sons)
dspms	decessit sine prole mascula superstite	died without surviving male issue (living sons)
dsps	decessit sine prole superstite	died without surviving issue (living children)
dspv	decessit sine prole virilli	died without male issue (sons)
dvm	decessit vita matris	died in the lifetime of the mother
dvp	decessit vita patris	died in the lifetime of the father
msp	mortuus sine prole	died without offspring (children)
na	natus or nata	born
ob	obiit	died, followed by the date
osp or ob.s.p.	obiit (or obit) sine prole	died without issue (children)
slp	sine legitima prole	died without legitimate issue (children)
smp	sine mascula prole	died without male issue (sons)
sp	sine prole	without issue (children)
spl	sine prole legitima	died without legitimate issue (children)
spm	sine prole mascula	died without male issue (sons)
sps	sine prole superstite	without surviving issue (children)

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

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 101 150 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000

Cardinal unus duo, duae tres, tres, tria quattuor quinque sex septem octo novem decem undecim duodecim tredecim quattuordecim quindecim sedecim septemdecim odeviginti undeviginti viginti viginti unus viginti duo viginti tres viginti quattuor viginti quinque viginti sex viginti septem viginti octo viginti novem triginta quadraginta quinquaginta sexaginta septuaginta octoginta nonaginta centum centum unus centum quinquaginta ducenti trecenti quadringenti quingenti sescenti septigenti octingenti nongenti mille

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th 11th 12th 13th 14th 15th 16th 17th 18th 19th 20st 21st 22nd 23rd 24th 25th 26th 27th 28th 29th 30th 40th 50th 60th 70th 80th 90th 100th 101th 150th 200th 300th 400th 500th 600th 700th 800th 900th 1000th

Ordinal primus secundus tertius quartus quintus sextus septimus octavus nonus decimus undecimus duodecimus tertius decimus quartus decimus quintus decimus sextus decimus septimus decimus duodevicesimus undevicesimus vicesimus or vigesimus vicesimus primus vicesimus secundus vicesimus tertius vicesimus quartus vicesimus quintus vicesimus sextus vicesimus septimus vicesimus octavus vicesimus nonus tricesimus quadragesimus quinquagesimus sexagesimus septuagesimus octogesimus nonagesimus centesimus centesimus primus centesimus quinquagesimus ducentesimus trecentesimus quadringentesimus quingentesimus sescentesimus septingentesimus octingentesimus nongentesimus millesimus

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.

I = 1

V = 5

X = 10

L = 50

C = 100

D = 500

M = 1000

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:

External Links

• Latin Word List at FamilySearch.org
• An On-line Latin word-list (Hypertext version) UBC SunSITE
• Words (by William Whitaker)- Latin to English
• Genealogical Abbreviations, Randy Jones, Roots : The Genealogy And Family History Home Page (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~randyj2222 : updated 9 December 2007)