[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Twins in Latin records

[Rose Ingram]

Dick,

alteri = alter in my Latin Word List meaning 'the next, the other"  The 
child's name would be Eva Rosalie.
"et' = and  - so you are correct, the child had two names.


Now with twins you will always see Gemilli or Gemillae in the beginning of 
the record.

I have found there usually are two different sets of 'paten' for each twin 
child.

Rose Ingram


From: "Richard A. Stein" <Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 2:52 PM

> How are twins recorded in Latin records?  I am extracting German names 
> from a Catholic parish in the years 1780 to 1800.  Out of some 300 
> baptisms so far, there are no instances where two children born at the 
> same time, i.e., twins, have their baptisms recorded separately.  However 
> there are cases where two given names are stated.
>
> There is one instance where the word "alteri" is used, i.e., "Eva alteri 
> Rosalie".  The index, compiled years later in Polish, lists "Ewa i 
> Rozalia, bliznieta" with a curl under the e.  The Polish word bliznieta 
> means twins, so this case is clear.
>
> There are some 20 instances where the two names are separated by "et".  18 
> are females with Anna as the first name, e.g., "Anna et Christine".  The 
> two males have Johann as one name, in one case Johann is the first name, 
> in the other it is the second name.  In addition, there are 11 cases (10 
> female, one male) where there are two names, such as Anna Christine, 
> without any separating word.
>
> My question is  Should any of the cases using "et" be interpreted as 
> twins?  For these cases, only one name, almost always the first name, is 
> listed in the index.   I looked carefully at the records but can't see 
> anything else that indicates twins, but possibly I am missing something. 
> The poor handwriting and abbreviations of some words compounds the 
> problem.  But in 300+ births, I would have expected several sets of twins.
>
> Any help will be appreciated.
>
> Dick Stein