Latin Language and Script — Resources for the Genealogist

Latin Language and Script:

Sample Documents.

Death Record, 1696: Unusual Wording.

This sample came to our attention because of the peculiar highlighted word, which appears to be acquisitionis. The context suggests that it is simply another obtuse way of saying that the person was considered illegitimate. Note that the record does not mention the burial, only the death.

Transcription

Die quinta mensis octobris 1696 omnibus sacr� Roman� sacramentis pr�munita obiit (or ob�t) in domino Maria Braumanin filia acquisitionis Magdalen� Braumanin, iam nupta cum honesto viro Joanne Jacobo Wild oppilione in Reschvau...

Notes: This sample shows another of the ancient Latin abbreviations, in the word omnibus. The character æ occurs several times, indicating that this scribe used the Classical spellings. The phrase omnibus sacr� Roman� sacramentis pr�munita is another example of the "ablative absolute", which we will translate as "all sacraments of the Holy Roman (Church) having been prepared". The verb obiit is written with a y and two dots, replacing the double i. In earlier times, this substitution is not uncommon. Oppilione is from opilio, a shepherd.

The real puzzle here, however, is acquisitionis, if that is indeed what it says. From the context, the word should be an adjective used to describe Maria (nominative case), and it is certainly derived in some way from acquiro (to acquire, obtain). But there are difficulties with the grammar! Magdalenæ (certainly singular) is evidently in the genitive case. Also, the problem word has the ending -is, which in the declensions of adjectives is only expected in the singular in the genitive of the third declension. But that would make the adjective agree with the mother rather than the daughter, which does not seem logical here. But if we accept that the problem word is genitive singular, can we reverse engineer the nominative form? The most logical solution is that it should be an adjective formed from a participle of acquiro. Unfortunately, the only participles that contain the clearly written "acquisit-" stem are the active future acquisiturus, which would make no sense at all, and the passive perfect acquisitus, which makes perfect figurative sense as "Maria filia acquisita Madgalenæ" — however, the feminine genitive singular here would end in -æ, not -is. Another possible reading is at least an actual word, the noun acquisitionis (meaning, an acquisition), but that, too, is in the genitive case. The (correct) nominative form would be acquisitione. Thus, we are left without a satisfactory grammatical explanation, other than that the construction must be in error, and the meaning we suppose to be "Maria, a daughter obtained by Magdelena", implying but not actually stating that Maria was considered illegitimate. If we had a larger sample of this church book, we might be able to find other occurrences of this word, perhaps clarifying the context. For now, the best "explanation" is that the word is an error for acquisita, the passive perfect participle used as an adjective in the nominative case.

The little word iam, sometimes spelled jam (because the letters i and j were not distinguished in Classical Latin) has many meanings depending on the context, just like the similar Spanish word ya. Here, it must mean "since" or "now", to contrast Magdelena's previous unmarried condition with her current state as the wife of "honest man" (simply a title here, today we would just say Mister) Johann Jacob Wild.


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This page last updated Tuesday, 26-Feb-2013 11:07:49 MST.