A creative and poetic parish priest – gems found in a death register
A dear friend of ours and fellow genealogist, Miklós Békefi, drew our attention to these special death register pages:
(Felsőszölnök, 1789)
The arrows and numbers indicate all the different expressions for saying that somebody has died. Yes, most of these 51 entries are different! They are also preceded and followed by the usual obiit and sepultus/a est .
Here is a list of the variations in Latin and English – in the same order as in the image, so you can practice some Latin reading too. Enjoy!
| obiit | went away | |
| 1 | raptus est | was carried away |
| 2 | vivere desiit | ceased to live |
| 3 | migravit | departed |
| 4 | emarcuit | faded |
| 5 | vitae metam attigit | reached the end of life |
| 6 | emarcuit ut flos | faded like a flower |
| 7 | mortuis assotiatus est | joined the dead |
| 8 | emarcuit ut flos | faded like a flower |
| 9 | vivere recusavit | refused to live |
| 10 | a morte praeventa est | was overtaken by death |
| 11 | mortis praeda facta est | fell victim to death |
| 12 | vivere recusavit | refused to live |
| 13 | emarcuit | faded |
| 14 | a morte praeventa est | was overtaken by death |
| 15 | aeterna petiit | sought eternity |
| 16 | sublata est | was taken away |
| 17 | vivere recusavit | refused to live |
| 18 | emarcuit | faded |
| 19 | post priorem obiit | went away after the previous |
| 20 | soti…s factus est | unsure (you are welcome to help if you can!) |
| 21 | mortis praeda facta est | fell victim to death |
| 22 | a morte depasta est | was consumed by death |
| 23 | vivere recusavit | refused to live |
| 24 | raptus est | was carried away |
| 25 | decessit | left |
| 26 | vivere abnegavit | rejected living |
| 27 | mortis preda factus est | fell victim to death |
| 28 | migravit | departed |
| 29 | post priorem properavit | hurried after the previous |
| 30 | cursum vitae finivit | finished the course of life |
| 31 | emarcuit | faded |
| 32 | sprevit mundum | despised this world |
| 33 | rapta est | was carried away |
| 34 | renuit vivere | declined to live |
| 35 | raptus est | was carried away |
| 36 | mortis praeda facta est | fell victim to death |
| 37 | rapta est | was carried away |
| 38 | a morte devictus est | was overcome by death |
| 39 | mortis telo icta est | was struck by death’s spear |
| 40 | a morte praeventus est | was overtaken by death |
| 41 | praeda mortis facta est | fell a victim of death |
| 42 | fatis cessit | succumbed to fate |
| 43 | aeterna petiit | took the road to eternity |
| 44 | mundo abrenuntiavit | relinquished this world |
| 45 | emarcuit | faded |
| 46 | mundo valedixit | said farewell to this world |
| 47 | aeterna petiit | took the road to eternity |
| 48 | vitam cum morte commutavit | replaced life with death |
| 49 | vivere recusavit | refused to live |
| 50 | a morte depastus est | was consumed by death |
| 51 | mortis sententiam subiit | underwent death’s verdict |
| sepultus/-a est | was buried |
We wish you the best of luck in your research,
Judit and István
Historia Translation
P.S. Have you found a Hungarian, Latin or German text and don’t know whether it is worth translating? We can make you an abstract from it! You can learn who wrote it and to whom, when and where it was written, as well as what it’s about, so that you can decide whether or not you want to have it translated. For details, see our webpage: http://historiatranslation.com/abstract/.