Norwegian Genealogical Word List
This list contains Norwegian words with their English translations. The words included here are those that you are likely to find in genealogical sources. If the word you are looking for is not on this list, please consult a Norwegian-English dictionary. (See the "Additional Resources" section below.)
Norwegian is a Germanic language like Swedish, Danish, and Icelandic. There are two official dialects in Norway. Prior to 1915 most Norwegian records are in a language closer to written Danish than to modern Norwegian. You may also want to refer to the Danish Genealogical Word List.
Records published after 1915, such as family and local histories, are in modern Norwegian. Most differences between modern and old Norwegian are simply a matter of spelling. Carefully study the section below on spelling. This will help you find the words in this list.
LANGUAGE CHARACTERISTICS
Variant Forms of Words
In Norwegian, 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:
| Mann | man | Kone | wife |
| Mannen | the man | Kona | the wife |
| Menn | men | Koner | wives |
| Mennene | the men | Konene | the wives |
Alphabetical Order
Written Norwegian has three letters not found in the English alphabet: Æ (æ), Ø (ø), and Å (å). In most record sources prior to 1915, Å (å) is written as Aa (aa) and filed at the beginning of the alphabet. Modern Norwegian dictionaries, indexes, the Locality section of the Family History Library Catalog, and this word list 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 was not standardized when most early records were made. The following spelling variations are common:
| aa used for å |
j used for gj |
| b used for p | ld used for ll |
| c used for k | nd used for nn |
| d used for t | q used for k |
| e used for æ | u used for v |
| f used for v | w used for v |
| g used for k | x used for ks |
| i used for j |
ch used for k |
| tj used for kj |
hj used for j |
Examples:
"gjørtler" spelled as "giørtler"
"mann" spelled as "mand"
"kvinne" spelled as "quinde"
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
This word list includes only words most commonly found in genealogical sources. For further help, use a Norwegian-English dictionary. Several Norwegian-English dictionaries are available at the Family History Library. These are in the Scandinavian collection. Their call numbers begin with 439.82321. Family History Centers can obtain the following dictionaries on microfilm:
Scavenius, H. Glydendals Ordbøker; Norsk-Engelsk [Gyldendal’s Dictionaries; Norwegian-English]. Oslo, Norway: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1945. (FHL film 1,224,705, item 4).
cavenius, H. Glydendals Ordbøker; Engelsk-Norsk [Glydendal’s Dictionaries; English-Norwegian]. Oslo, Norway: Gyldendal Norsk Forlag, 1945. (FHL film 1,224,705, item 3).
Additional dictionaries are listed in the Subject section of the Family History Library Catalog under NORWEGIAN LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES and in the Locality section under NORWAY - LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES.
KEY WORDS
In order to find and use specific types of Norwegian records, you will need to know some key words in Norwegian. This section lists key genealogical terms in English and the Norwegian 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 Norwegian words with meanings such as marry, marriage, wedding, wedlock, unite, legitimate, joined, and other words used in Norwegian records to indicate marriage.
| English | Norwegian |
| banns | lysninger |
| birth |
fødte, født |
| burial |
begravelse, jordet |
| census | folketelling |
| child |
barn |
| christening | døbte, døbt |
| clerical district | prestegjeld |
| confirmation |
konfirmasjon, konfirmerede |
| death | døde, død |
| engagement | forlovelse, trolovelse |
| father | far |
| female | kvinnekjønn |
| husband | ektemann |
| index | register |
| male | mannkjønn |
| marriage | copulerede, egteviede, gift, vielse |
| military | militær |
| mother | mor |
| moving in | innflyttning |
| moving out | utflyttning |
| name, given | fornavn |
| name, surname |
etternavn |
| parents | foreldre |
| parish | sogn |
| probate | skifte |
| vaccination | vaccinerede, vaksinert |
| wife | hustru |
| year | år |