Norwegian Genealogical Word List

This Norwegian Word 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:

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

A

absolvere                         to give absolution adel                                   nobility adelig                                noble adelsmann                         nobleman adoptert                             adopted adresse                              address aften                                  evening alder                                  age alderdomssvakhet             weakness of old age aldri                                   never alle                                    all alltid                                  always almisse                              charity almisselem                        indigent, poor altergang                           communion amt                                    county amtmann                           chief county administrator andre                                 others, other, next anetavle                             pedigree chart anfall                                  seizure, attack anførte                                entered, mentioned ankomst                              arrival anmerkning                        remark, notice, note annen, annet                      second, another annen gang                        second time anno (Latin)                        year annonsere                          publish, announce antall                                  number, count april                                   April arbeider                             laborer arkiv                                   archive arv                                      inheritance arvelodd                             share of inheritance arving                                 heir astma                                 asthma at                                        that atten                                   eighteen attende                               eighteenth attest                                  certificate august                                August av                                       of, at, by, from avdeling                             part, division avdød                                 deceased avgangen                           departed avgift                                  duty (monetary), fee avkom                                offspring, issue avtale                                 agreement 

B

'''bakbygning                      back building (additional residence behind the main building) baker                                baker bakke                                hill bannlyse                           excommunicate baptist                               Baptist bar                                    carried bar barnet                         held child (at baptism font) bare                                  only barn                                  child barna                                children barndom                           childhood barnebarn                         grandchild barnedåp                          child baptism barnefar                            child’s father barnløs                              childless barsel                                birth barselfeber                        childbed fever barselseng                         birthing bed be                                      pray, request beboer                               occupant, resident bededag                            prayer day bedrive hor                        commit adultery befolkning                          population, people begge                                 both begivenhet                         event, occurrence begravelse                         funeral, burial begravet                             buried behandle                           handle, treat, manage bemerkning                       remark ben                                    leg, bone benekte                             deny benåde                              pardon beruset                              drunk besetning                          livestock, crew beskrivelse                        description beslektet                            related bestefar                             grandfather besteforeldre                     grandparents bestemor                           grandmother besvangre                         impregnate, get with child, make pregnant betale                                pay betler                                 beggar bevilge                              grant bevis                                  proof bibliotek                            library bind                                   volume (book) biografi                              biography biskop                                bishop bispedømme                      diocese bli                                      become blikkenslager                     tinsmith blind                                  blind blod                                   blood blodgang                           dysentery'''

blodskam                          incest blodsott                              abnormal loss of blood during illness bo                                       to live at bodde                                 lived bok                                     book bokhandler                         bookseller bokholder, bokfører            bookkeeper bokstav                               letter, character bolig                                   residence, house bonde                                 farmer bopel                                  residence, domicile borger                                citizen borgermester                      mayor borgerskap                         citizenship bot                                      fine, penalty brann                                  fire brennevinsbrenner             distiller of spirits brev                                    letter (correspondence) bro                                      bridge bror                                     brother brordatter                            brother’s daughter brorsønn                              brother’s son brud                                     bride brudgom                              bridegroom bruk                                      farm, use brygger                                brewer bryllup                                 wedding budeie                                 milkmaid buskap                                 livestock, crew by                                         town, city bygd                                     small country community, village bygdebok                             rural chronicles bygsel                                  lease byll                                      abscess byllepest                              plague (bubonic) bære                                    carry bøkker                                  cooper, barrel maker både                                     both, either båret                                     carried båt                                        boat, ship båtbygger                             shipbuilder båtsmann                              boatswain, bosun 

C

cirka                                    approximately communion                          Communion confirmerede                        confirmed copulerede                           marriage 

D

'''dag                                      day dagen før                              the previous day dagsarbeider                        day laborer dal                                        valley Danmark                               Denmark dannekvinde                         gentlewoman dannemand                          gentleman dansk                                    Danish dato                                      date (noun) datter                                    daughter datterdatter                           daughter’s daughter dattersønn                             daughter’s son datum (Latin)                         date dele                                       to divide, to share dem                                       them, they den                                        the, it, that denne                                    this der                                         there deres                                      their derfor                                     therefore desember                               December det                                          it, that, the difteri                                      diphtheria din                                           your disse                                        these diverse                                    various dokument                                document domkirke                                 cathedral dommer                                   judge dragon                                     dragoon, light cavalryman dreng                                       boy drengebarn                              male child drepe                                       kill dronning                                  queen druknet                                    drowned dydig                                        virtuous dø                                             to die døbt(e)                                      christening død                                           dead, death døde                                         died, death dødfødt                                     stillborn dødsfall                                    death døgn                                         24-hour period of time døpt                                          baptized, christened døtre                                         daughters døv                                           deaf døvstum                                    deaf and dumb dåp                                           baptism dåpsattest                                 certificate of baptism dåpsdag                                    day of baptism '''

E

efter                                 after efterkommer                     descendant efterlatte                           surviving, survivors efterlevende                     surviving eftermiddag                      afternoon efternavn                          surname, last name egen                                 own egentlig                            actual egteviede                         marriage eie, eje                             to own eiendom                           property, real estate ekte                                  legitimate, to marry ektefelle                           spouse ektemann                         husband ektepar                             married couple ekteskap                           marriage ekteskapelig                     marital, conjugal ekteviet                            married eldre                                older eldst                                 oldest, eldest elev                                  student eller                                 or, or else elleve                              eleven ellevte                             eleventh elv                                   river, stream embete                            public office embetsmann                   public official emigrant                         emigrant emigrere                         emigrate en, et                               a, one enebarn                           only child engelsk                            English England                           England enhver                             each enke                                widow enkemann                       widower enkestand                        widowed ennu                                 yet, still epilepsi                            epilepsy er                                      is, are erhverv                             livelihood erkjenne                           acknowledge et                                      a, one etasje                               floor, story etc. (Latin)                        et cetera, and so on etternavn                          surname, last evne                                 intelligence 

F

'''fabrikk                             factory faddere                            christening witnesses, godparents fallesyke                          epilepsy falt                                   fall, be killed in war familie                             family familie                             historie lineage books far                                    father farfar                                paternal grandfather farger                               dyer, tanner farmor                              paternal grandmother farsot                                pestilence, plague fartøy                                vessel, craft fattig                                 poor fattigvesnet                       welfare agency februar                              February felles                                 common, joint fem                                    five femte                                 fifth femten                               fifteen femtende                           fifteenth femti                                  fifty femtiende                          fiftieth fengsel                               prison festeseddet                        rental contract festning                              fortress fetter                                  cousin (male) Finnland                            Finland finsk                                   Finnish fire                                     four fisker fisherman fjell mountain fjerde fourth fjorten fourteen fjortende fourteenth flere several, more flittig diligent flytte move foged, fogd bailiff, sheriff folio page (double) folk people folkemengde population folkeregister citizen register, national register folketelling census for for, at, before, by foran in front of forblødning bled to death foreldre parents foreldreløs orphan forening society forfedre ancestors, forefathers forhenværende former, previous, preceding forhus house in front (usually the main house on a farm) forkjølet to have a cold forklaring explanation forlate leave, forgive forlovelse engagement forlovere marriage witnesses formiddag between morning and afternoon formynder guardian fornavn first name, given name forpakter manager of estate forrige former forstand intellect, mind forstoppelse constipation, obstruction forsørges is supported fortelle tell, relate fortid past forvalter manager foster fetus fosterbarn foster child fostre foster, to rear fra from fraflytte leave, move away fraværende absent fredag Friday fremmed foreign, foreigner fremtid future fru Mrs. fruentimmer unmarried mother, female person (derogatory) fruktsommelig pregnant frøken Miss full full, complete, drunk fullmektig head clerk, agent fylke county fyr lighthouse fæstebrev to acquire land føderåd support received after giving one’s estate to another føderådskone woman on føderåd føderådsmann man on føderåd fødested birthplace fødsel birth fødselsattest birth certificate fødselsdag birthday født(e) born (birth) følgende following, next føllaug retired før before første first førti forty førtiende fortieth får sheep, receives    '''

Spelling
Spelling was not standardized when most early records were made. The following spelling variations are common:

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.