Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Hungarian Records and Twins

     
         When researching old records from Hungary, one will come upon the mention of twins in the Latin words of Gemelli (could mean male, or male and female), Gemellae (girl twins) or Gemini. In Hungarian, ikrek (twin), két (as in two infants), kett, kettos or ketts gyermek.

   In this record, on July 9th 1756, we see fraternal twins - GEMINI - as it is written in Latin. Although not in this particular example, I always wondered about the popularity of naming fraternal twins, "Adam and Eve" for a boy and girl births or "Peter and Paul" for male twins. I see this naming occurrence in Hungarian and German records, even in baptismal records of twins born to immigrants in America. 


   There must have been something in the water in this town, Morvaszentjános, in upper Poszony. In this one particular record, in the span of one week, there are THREE more sets of twins born between the 22 Oct and 31 Oct, 1756 week ~ “Catherina & Elisabeth“ on 29 Oct; “Barbara & Dorothy“ on 31 Oct  and  “Andreas & ??”.  

     Here is an example of an "Adam and Eve" naming for twins. I frequently wonder about the survival rates for twins so always check ahead in the death records in the same time frame.

             

                                                        

1 comment:

  1. This is helpful. It caught my eye because I've taught first year Latin a few times (though it is definitely not my strength), and it does help from time to time. I wasn't aware of this terminology, so thanks for the tip.

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