German Genealogical Word List

This list contains German 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 German-English dictionary. Latin words are often found in German records, and a few are included in this list. See the Latin Word List (34077).

German is spoken in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. Records written in German may be found in these countries and also in parts of Poland, Denmark, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Hungary, and wherever German people settled. There are several different dialects in the German language. For example, in the province of Westfalen and other areas of Germany that border the Netherlands, you may notice words that are closely related to Dutch words. You may find the Dutch word list useful when working with these records.

In addition, German is found in some early records of the United States, such as in Pennsylvania, Texas, Wisconsin, and other states where Germans lived.

Language Characteristics
German words for persons, places, and things (nouns) are always capitalized. All nouns are classified as masculine, feminine, or neuter. This classification is called gender. The gender of a noun is indicated by der (masculine), die (feminine), and das (neuter), which translates as "the." Word endings may vary, depending on the way the words are used in the sentence.

Variant Forms of Words

In German, as in English, the forms of some words will vary according to how they are used in the sentence. Who—whose—whom or marry—marries— married are examples of words in English with variant forms. In German, the form of many words can change greatly. This word list gives the standard form of each German word. As you read German records, you will need to be aware that some words vary with usage.

The endings of words in a document may differ from those on this list. For example, the document may use the word junger, but you will find it in this word list as jung. In addition, the suffixes -chen and -lein are often added to words to indicate "little." Therefore, the word Söhnchen means "little or young son," and Töchterlein means "little or young daughter."

Adjectives describe nouns and must have the proper masculine, feminine, or neuter endings. For example, in German you would say "junger Mann" (young man) or "junges Mädchen" (young maiden) if man and maiden are the subjects of a sentence. Adjective endings can change depending on usage and gender.

Plural words are usually formed by adding -er, -en, or -e. Thus the word Kind becomes Kinder, Frau becomes Frauen, and Aufgebot becomes Aufgebote. Plurality may also change the vowel slightly. For example, Mann becomes Männer.

In German, many words are formed by joining two or more words. Very few of these compound words are included in this list. You will need to look up each part of the word separately. For example, Geburtstag is a combination of two words, Geburt (birth) and Tag (day).

Diacritic Marks
Written German uses several letters in addition to the 26 letters used in the English alphabet. These are Ä (ä), Ö (ö), Ü (ü), and ß. Historically, German also included Ÿ (ÿ) which today have been primarily replaced phonetically with the letters I (i) and Ü (ü).

For data entry and some searches, it is useful to know how to create these characters. Note: Do not use diacritics when searching in the Family History Library catalog.

From a PC keyboard, these letters may be created by using the following keystroke combinations:

Alphabetical Order
German letters with diacritic marks will be alphabetized in this publication as though they were a, o, u, and ss. However, many dictionaries and gazetteers will alphabetize these characters as if they were ae, oe, ue, and ss.

Spelling
Because spelling rules were not standardized in earlier centuries, spelling variations are common. Local dialect often affects the spelling in genealogical records. In German records, the following letters are sometimes used interchangeably:


 * p used for b
 * a used for e
 * t used for d or dt
 * s used for z
 * ck used for k
 * y used for i or j
 * v used for w or f
 * k used for g
 * tz used for z
 * ig used for isch or ich
 * t used for th
 * u used for i

Examples:


 * Freytag for Freitag
 * Burckhart for Burkhard
 * Waldpurga for Waldburga
 * undt for und

Additional Resources
This word list includes only words most commonly found in genealogical sources. For further help, use a German-English dictionary. Several German-English dictionaries are available in the Family History Library. These are in the European collection. The call numbers begin with 433.21.

Particularly helpful dictionaries include:


 * Langenscheidt New Muret-Sanders Encyclopedic Dictionary of the English and German Languages. Berlin, Germany: Langenscheidt, 1969, 1974 (FHL book 433.21 Sp83n).


 * The New Cassell’s German Dictionary, German-English, English-German. New York, NY, USA: Funk and Wagnalls, Inc., 1971 (FHL book 433.211 C272 1971).


 * Das Deutsche Wörterbuch / Deutsches Wörterbuch (DWB, The "German Dictionary" / "German Dictionary") is one of the most important dictionaries of the German language. Written entirely in German, the dictionary contains 32 volumes and includes about 350,000 main entries. It is particularly useful for finding the meaning of words in genealogical documents that are no longer used in modern German. It can be searched online by clicking here and selecting the link "Online-Wörterbuch aufschlagen." Note: This site is intermittently not available.

Additional dictionaries are listed in the subject section of the Family History Library Catalog under GERMAN LANGUAGE - DICTIONARIES or in the locality section under GERMANY - LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGES.

Key Words
To find and use specific types of German records, you will need to know some key words in German. This section gives key genealogical terms in English and the German 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 German words with meanings such as marry, marriage, wedding, wedlock, unite, joined, and other words used in German records to indicate marriage.

General Word List
Note: In German, letters with diacritical marks are alphabetized as if they did not have a diacritical mark. In some other languages, they are alphabetized separately.

A
ab from, since Abbauer tenant on a (new, split-off) farm; heir with a small part of a farm (usually a second son) Abdecker skinner Abend evening Abendmahlgast communicant abends in the evening Abenteurer jeweler; adventurer aber but abgestorben deceased Ablader longshoreman Abnahmemann retired farmer on life estate Abnehmer photographer Abschiedsmann man retired on life estate absterben to die, to die off Abstreifer renderer; flayer acht eight achte eighth Achter  juryman achtundzwanzigste twenty-eighth achtzehn eighteen achtzehnhundert eighteen hundred achtzehnte eighteenth achtzig eighty achtzigste eightieth Ackermann farmer Adel gentry, nobleman a.D. = außer Dienst formerly employed, retired adoptiert adopted Ahnen ancestors Ahnentafel pedigree chart Akten documents alle all allhier in this place alt old Altbürger full citizen Alter age Altersschwäche weakness of old age ältest eldest alt-katholisch old Catholic Amman bailiff, magistrate Amt office, district Anbauer peasant andere other, next Angeber informant angeblich alleged, assumed Anmerkungen remarks Anspänner farmer apostolisch Apostolic April April Arbeiter laborer, worker Archiv archive arm poor Armut poverty Arzt physician auch also, too auf on, upon, at aufbieten post banns Aufenthaltserlaubnis residence permit Aufenthaltsort residence Aufgebot publication of banns August August aus from, out of außen outside äußere outside, outward, external außerehelich illegitimate Auswanderer emigrant Auswanderung emigration Auszehrung consumption or emaciation (especially from TB) Auszug extract

B
Bäcker baker Bad spa, resort Badeort spa, health resort Band volume Baptist Baptist Baron baron Bauer farmer, peasant Bayern Bavaria Bd. = Band volume Beamter official, registrar Beck(er) baker beerdigt buried Beerdigung burial, interment beglaubigt certified, attested begraben buried Begräbnis burial Beichte confession beide both Beilage supplement Bekannte(r) acquaintance Bekehrung conversion Belege proof, documentation Bemerkungen remarks Berg hill, mountain Bergmann miner Beruf occupation, profession Beschreibung description Besitzer possessor, proprietor, owner bestätigt confirmed, verified bestattet buried bettlägerig bedridden Bettler beggar Bevölkerungsregister population register bevorstehend previously mentioned Bezirk district Biographie biography Bischof bishop Bistum diocese Blattern smallpox blutend bleeding Blütenmonat May Blutsverwandschaft blood relationship Böhmen Bohemia Bootsmann bargeman, boatman Böttcher cooper, barrel maker Brauer brewer Bräune diptheria Braut bride Bräutigam bridegroom Brücke bridge Bruder brother Bub boy Buch book Büdner cottager Burg castle, fortress Bürger burgher, citizen, citizens Bürgerbuch citizen register Bürgermeister mayor Büttner cooper, barrel maker

C
ca. = circa about Chirurg surgeon Christmonat December Colonist settler, tenant farmer copulieren to marry cribrarius sieve maker (Latin)

D
d. = der, dem, des, die, das the Dachdecker roofer dänisch Danish das the daselbst residing in this place Datum date Dekanat deanery dem, den the der the, of the derselbe the same des of the deutsch German Deutschland Germany Dezember December die the Diener servant Dienst service, employment Dienstag Tuesday Dienstmagd servant girl dieser this, these Domäne domain Donnerstag Thursday Dorf village dort there drei three dreißig thirty dreißigste thirtieth dreiundzwanzigste twenty-third dreizehn thirteen dreizehnte thirteenth dritte third Duplikat duplicate record durch through Durchfall diarrhea

E
ebenda at the same place Ehe marriage Ehebrecher adulterer Ehebruch adultery Ehefrau wife, housewife Ehehindernis hinderance to marriage ehel. = ehelich legitimate eheleiblich legitimate Eheleute married couple ehelich legitimate ehemals formerly Ehemann husband Ehepaar married couple Ehescheidung divorce Eheschließung marriage Ehestand married state Eheverkündigungen marriage banns Eheversprechen, Eheverspruch betrothal, engagement Eidam (Eidmann) son-in-law Eigentümer proprietor ein, eine a, one, an Einbürgerung naturalization Einlieger landless farm laborer eins one Einsender informant, declarant eintausendachthundert eighteen hundred eintausendfünfhundert fifteen hundred eintausendneunhundert nineteen hundred eintausendsechshundert sixteen hundred eintausendsiebenhundert seventeen hundred einunddreissig thirty-one einunddreissigste thirty-first einundzwanzigste twenty-first Einwanderer immigrant Einwanderung immigration Einwilligung permission Einwohner inhabitant einzige only Eisenbahn railroad Eiterbeule abscess elf eleven elfte eleventh Eltern parents Enkel grandson Enkelin granddaughter Enkelkind grandchild eod(em) the same Epilepsie epilepsy er he Erben heirs Erbschaft inheritance erhalten received, receive erklärt declared Erlassung dispensation, permission Ermächtigung authorization Ernting August errechnet approximated, calculated erschien appeared erste first erstgeboren firstborn ertrank, ertrunken drowned erzeugen beget erzeugt begat es it et uxor and wife (Latin) evangelisch evangelical

F
Fabrikant manufacturer Familie family Familienbuch family register Familienforschung genealogical research Familienregister family register Färber dyer Faßbinder cooper, barrel maker Fäule cancer Februar February Fehlgeburt miscarriage Festtag feast day, festival day, holy day Festung fortress Fieber fever Findling foundling Firmung confirmation Fischer fisher Fl. = Florin standard monetary unit Flecken hamlet, also measles or spots Fleckfieber spotted fever, typhus Fleischer butcher Fleischhauer butcher Flüchtling refugee, deserter Fluß river folgende following, next Forst forest Förster forester Fraisen convulsions, epilepsy, seizures, spasms Frankreich France Frau Mrs., wife, woman Fräulein Miss, unmarried woman Freibauer farmer who owns his own land Freiherr baron Freitag Friday fremd foreign, strange Freund friend Friedhof cemetery früh early (a.m.) früher former, formerly fünf five fünfte fifth fünfundzwanzigste twenty-fifth fünfzehn fifteen fünfzehnhundert fifteen hundred fünfzehnte fifteenth fünfzig fifty fünfzigste fiftieth für for Fürst count Fürstentum principality

U
über