[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Twins in Latin records

[Richard A. Stein]

Thanks to all who replied.

Rose,
Eva alteri Rosalie is the only one that appears to be twins because they are
so listed in the Polish index.  In this case, there is only one pair of
godparents.

Jerry,
I have not yet looked at death records, but that's a good suggestion and I
will in due course relate the deaths to the births.  However I found in
another parish that the Germans had their children baptised by the Catholic
priest, but usually did not register deaths until required to do so after
1808.

Dick

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rose Ingram" <roseingram at shaw.ca>
To: "Richard A. Stein" <ra_stein at telus.net>; "Listserve SGGEE"
<ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
Sent: Friday, January 20, 2006 4:21 PM
Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] Twins in Latin records


> 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
>
>