Germanic Genealogy
Vocabulary for Finding Your Germanic Roots
Part 2b: Dates, Death, Marriage
Germanic Names | Genealogy Vocabulary | Old Occupations
- Addresses, Birth, Baptism
- Dates, Death, Marriage
- Family, Geography, Heraldry
Dates
German (European) dates are usually written in the format DAY-MONTH-YEAR. The German date 12.4.34 is 12 April 1934 (not Dec. 4, 1934!), and "am 5. Mai 1912" is "on May 5th, 1912." The written numeral seven is crossed and a European "1" often looks like an American seven. Older documents written in the old Sütterlin script are difficult even for contemporary Germans to decipher and you may need help, even if you can read German. (See the article German Roots: A Personal Search for sample documents in Sütterlin.)
Months: (in order)
Januar/Jänner, Februar/Feber, März
April, Mai, Juni, Juli, August,
September, Oktober, November, Dezember.
Other:
Datum date - Jahr year
Monat month - Tag day
Woche week
Death:
Asche ashes, cremains
Begräbnis funeral, burial
Bestattung burial, interment
Bestattungsinstitut funeral home
Grab/Grabstätte grave/grave site
sterben to die
Sterbeurkunde death certificate
Tod death - tot dead
Totenschein death certificate
Marriage/Divorce:
Ehefrau/Frau wife
Ehemann/Mann husband
geschieden divorced
Heirat marriage
Heiratsbuch marriage book, marriage register
Heiratsurkunde mariage certificate
Hochzeit marriage ceremony
Scheidung divorce
Standesamt marriage bureau, civil registry office
Traubuch marriage register
Trauung marriage ceremony
verwitwet widowed
Witwe widow
Witwer widower
NEXT > Family, Geographic, Heraldry
- Addresses, Birth, Baptism
- Dates, Death, Marriage
- Family, Geography, Heraldry
Germanic Names | Genealogy Vocabulary | Old Occupations
Related Pages
Genealogical Vocabulary - Part One
German names, first and last.
German Roots: A Personal Search
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Germanic Genealogy: Contents
All of the genealogy pages for German.
Germanic Surname Lexikon
Germanic surnames with their English meanings.
From Hamburg to Amerika
The Hamburg State Archive is putting emigrant passenger lists online.
English-German Glossaries
All of the vocabulary lists from your Guide – by category.