{"id":633,"date":"2016-02-15T04:14:39","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T03:14:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/?p=633"},"modified":"2026-01-25T13:10:40","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T12:10:40","slug":"how-to-read-gothic-handwriting-4-letters-to-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/martinroe.com\/blog\/how-to-read-gothic-handwriting-4-letters-to-words\/","title":{"rendered":"How to read Gothic handwriting – 4 – Letters to words"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this installment I will look at some words that frequently appear in church records.<\/p>\n

I hope you have had a look at the previous installments of the quest into Gothic handwriting. If not, you find them starting here. <\/strong>In this post, I will explain how to read Gothic handwriting, moving from recognising individual letters to understanding full words. In fact, how to read Gothic handwriting, letters to words, is exactly what this article sets out to teach.<\/p>\n

I will present words that are commonly found in church records, showing you step-by-step how one can move from reading Gothic handwriting letters to understanding full words, a process central to mastering how to read Gothic handwriting from letters to words in historical texts. The words can also be found in my Norwegian genealogy dictionary<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Looking at these words I try to identify each individual letter to make sure they give meaning. I\u00a0realize that it is a handicap to not know the Norwegian language. it is, however, an opportunity to learn some Norwegian words and the Gothic letters they are made up of. It is of great value to have a Norwegian – English Dictionary for understanding how to read Gothic handwriting. Many words you encounter in genealogy may not appear in a modern dictionary, but I\u00a0try to collect these\u00a0words in my genealogy dictionary that I refer to above.<\/p>\n

As I note some places in the text, I have included words that are written in latin letters. I decided\u00a0to do\u00a0that,\u00a0making this not only an introduction to Gothic handwriting, but\u00a0hopefully\u00a0making this also a help to navigate the church records. Knowing how to read Gothic handwriting and going from letters to words can really help clarify these old texts.<\/p>\n

Here we go:<\/p>\n

\"forretet<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

forr\u00e6tted Guds tieniste ved Home. <\/strong>This means “celebrated mass at Home (sub-parish)” When looking for baptisms in a chronological written book\u00a0it is often smart to look for\u00a0a heading like this as the baptism normally took place during the Church service. Often, successfully navigating such headings is part of learning how to read Gothic handwriting letters and combine them into whole words.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Drengeb\u00f8rn\"<\/p>\n

Drenge b\u00f8rn. <\/strong>This word means male children. Dreng is Danish meaning boy. Note that this word is also used about farm hands no matter age. We recognize the different letters. The r<\/strong>‘s are\u00a0not as distinct as the ones we\u00a0have looked at before. This particular Word is from a heading where the male and the female\u00a0baptisms\u00a0are listed separately.\u00a0In a chronological list it would say Drengebarn, Drengeb., Dr.b.\u00a0or Dreng, <\/strong>all meaning male children. Typically found in baptism records.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"pigeb\u00f8rn\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pigeb\u00f8rn. <\/strong>This means female children. Pige is Danish, the Norwegian word is pike. This is also\u00a0a heading in a baptismal section. In a chronological list it would be written Pigebarn, Pigeb., P.b.\u00a0or<\/strong> Pige<\/strong>. Typically found in baptism records.<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"S\u00f8n\"S\u00f8n<\/strong> means son. In baptismal records it would appear as\u00a0e.g. Hans Hanssons S\u00f8n. <\/strong>After this word,\u00a0 the name of the child is written. In many baptism records the name of the child is underlined.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Datter\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Datter <\/strong>means daughter. E.g. Hans Hanssons Datter. <\/strong>Here the D <\/strong>and the\u00a0e <\/strong>is a bit rough, but based on the other letters and the context we can tell that this word is Datter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"d\u00f8bt\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

D\u00f8bt <\/strong>means baptised.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"foreldre\"<\/p>\n

Foreldre<\/strong> means parents<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Parentes\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Parentes<\/strong> this is latin and means parents. Written in latin letters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"fad\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fad: <\/strong>This is an abbreviation for “Faddere” wich means witnesses to a baptism.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"testes\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Test. <\/strong>This is an abbreviation for Testes\/Testis meaning witnesses to a baptism.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Uekte<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

u\u00e6gte <\/strong>This is an abbreviation for utenfor \u00e6gteskapet <\/strong>meaning that the child was born out of wedlock.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Confirmerede\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

confirmerede <\/strong>means confirmed. These letters are latin.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

If we move on to\u00a0the marriage section of the church book we find:<\/p>\n

\"trolovede\"<\/p>\n

Trolovede <\/strong>means betrothed or engaged. Sometimes this is the main\u00a0part in the marriage section of the Church book. The notice about the wedding date are then added\u00a0 when it took place.\u00a0I have seen the planned wedding date being\u00a0recorded at the time of the engagement and later learned that the wedding never took place (at that date). With each new section, understanding how to read Gothic handwriting by piecing together letters to form words becomes even more essential for interpreting the church records.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Copuler\"<\/p>\n

Copuler: <\/strong>is an abbrevation for copuleret<\/strong>\u00a0meaning wedded. It may be written as Copuleret, Copul. or Cop.<\/strong> The name of the couple is normally written after this word. The r <\/strong>at the end of this word is clearly latin. Very often latin words were written with latin letters.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Wiede\"<\/p>\n

Wiede <\/strong>means wedded. This is not a latin word, but except for the W <\/strong>in the beginning of the word these letters are latin. I have seen capital M written looking very much like this W<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"gift\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

gift<\/strong> means wedded<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Sponsors\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Spons: <\/strong>means Sponsorer. witnesses to the wedding. The names of the witnesses are listed after this word.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Cautionister\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Cautionistre\/Cautionister.\u00a0<\/strong>Witnesses to a wedding. The names of the witnesses are listed after this word.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When looking for burials you may find these words:<\/p>\n

\"D\u00f8dde\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

D\u00f8dde\/D\u00f8de\u00a0<\/strong>means dead.\u00a0This is typically a heading to the burial section<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Blef<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Blef graflagt<\/strong> means “was buried”. Here the f <\/strong>and the l <\/strong>in graflagt has merged as the minister has written with a fairly broad pen. In the other pictures I have cleaned up around the word we are looking at. I choose to keep the other text in this picture to show how the lines above and below can disturb the impression. Also, it\u2019s a practical demonstration of how to read Gothic handwriting, working out the letters and words despite ink merges and distractions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Begravet\"<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Begravet <\/strong>means buried.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I must admit that I have struggled a bit writing this post. My problem has been to choose what to include and what to leave out, while trying to make it relevant for as many as possible. It is a fact that the Norwegian Church records is very varied in their organization and layout. Also, very many different words and abbreviations is used to express the same thing. Last, but not least; every minister had his own handwriting. Some wrote very beautifully, others had a really bad handwriting (like me \ud83d\ude42 ) How to read Gothic handwriting, letters to words, is a challenge that varies widely with context.<\/p>\n

If you have thoughts\u00a0or questions about\u00a0this\u00a0posting, don’t hesitate to contact me. You can do it by writing in the comment section below or you can send me a personal Message by going to the contact page. <\/a><\/p>\n

If you have stuck with me this far, I hope you will come back for the last installment of this introduction to Gothic handwriting. There I will share some further advice as to how to navigate records written in Gothic letters.<\/a><\/strong> Finally, learning how to read not just Gothic handwriting but moving from recognizing letters to understanding words, is an essential skill for those interested in genealogy and old records.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this installment I will look at some words that frequently appear in church records.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3233,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":null,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-633","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gothic-handwriting"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Read Gothic Handwriting: Key Words Explained - 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