German Phonetic Filing Order

German indexes are oftentimes areanged use a phonetic filing arrangement, rather than a strict alphabetic filing sytem.  This filing system is sometimes referred to as an Adreßbuch (adress book) filing system. This filing system attempts to bring together all variant spellings derived from a "root" name, e.g. Schulze, Schultz, Schultze, Scholz and Scholze all file as Schulz. Once a root form has been established for filing puposes, any name with the same sound values will be interfiled with it, even names which are not usually associated with each other. For example, Boch equals Pöge, and Feder equates to Vetter. The rules for converting a name to a phonetic equivalent are: a) When choosing between several forms of a name, select the the clearest or shortest, e.g. Henig for Hennicke and Hennig. b) Silent letters and diacritical marks are eliminated, e.g. Hahn becomes Han, Biene becomes Bin. c) Double letters are counted as a single, e.g. Haan becomes Han, Habbel becomes Habel.

d) Silent final -e is ignored; -en, both within and at the end of a word, is eliminated. Bruchenhausen thus becomes Bruchaus. e) The suffix -sen and the genitive -s are dropped. f) The letter e replaces ae and ä. g) Eu replaces aeu and äu. h) Ei replaces ai and ay. i) Low German oe becomes u. j) Eu replaces oi k) High German oe and ö becomes o. l) U replaces ue and ü. m) I replaces y. n) B replaces p. o) C replaces ck, k, g, gh, gk, k, ch, and cz (not initial). p) X replaces cs, chs, gs and ks. q) D replaces dt and t. r) Z replaces ds, ts, dz and tz. s) F replaces bf and pf. t) H is used only when pronounced (see b above). u) I replaces j.

v) F replaces ph. w) Sch replaces dsch, tsch, dzsch and tzsch. x) Schm replaces the sm of Low German. y) The Low German sl becomes scl. z) F replaces v and w. . These rules are valid only for High German names. Low German names should be left in their dialectical form, e.g. Voss cannot become Fuchs, nor Piper Pfeifer. For a complete explanation of foreign and Low German names, see the register to this collection or the Foreward on film number 1799712, item 3.

SUMMARY: ä filed as a -- dt filed as d -- ph filed as f -- ae filed as a -- dz filed as z -- q filed as q -- äu filed as eu -- dzsch filed as sch -- sl (Nd.) filed as scl -- aeu filed as eu -- g filed as c -- sm (Nd.) filed as schm -- ai filed as ei -- gh filed as c -- t filed as d -- ay filed as ei -- gs filed as x -- ts filed as sch -- bf filed as f -- j filed as i -- tz filed as z -- ch filed as c -- k filed as c -- tzsch filed as sch -- chs filed as c -- ks filed as x -- ü filed as u -- ck filed as c -- ö filed as o -- ue filed as u -- cs filed as c -- oe (Nd.) filed as u -- v filed as f -- cz filed as c -- oi filed as eu -- w filed as f -- ds filed as z -- p filed as b -- y filed as i -- dsch filed as z -- pf filed as f.