Italian genealogy word list

This is a working list for Italian civil registers: the words that mark a relationship, a date, a number, or a job. It is the list to keep beside an image from the Antenati portal or the FamilySearch catalog. It is not a dialect dictionary, and it is not a description of any one family. Occupations in the table are examples of words that appear often. Seeing contadino in the list does not mean your ancestor was a farmer. Seeing it in an act, on his line, means the clerk called him that on that day.

Civil acts are in Italian. Parish books are where Latin mostly appears. When the page says baptizatus or obiit, switch to the Latin word list and the church records overview.

How to use the list while the image is open

Copy the Italian first, on the worksheet, and translate in a second column. Look up only the word that is blocking you. The formulas repeat, so the same twenty words carry most birth acts. The reading pages show those formulas in order: births, marriages, deaths.

A few habits prevent the usual mistakes:

• Fu before a name means that person was already dead. Antonio fu Giuseppe is Antonio, son of the late Giuseppe. It is a lead to a death act, not a second given name.
• Nipote is ambiguous. It can be a grandchild or a nephew or a niece. Keep the Italian in the note until the act makes the generation clear.
• A woman’s last name is her own. Moglie tells you she is a wife. It does not rename her.
• Dote means dowry. It shows up in some marriage files and is missing from many others. If the word is not on your page, do not add it from this list.
• Clerks abbreviated. If a word is a stub, expand it only when the formula makes the expansion obvious, and mark the expansion in brackets. The year on the title page anchors a scribbled mille ottocento.

Invented example. On a birth act the phrase nata ieri means the girl was born yesterday, relative to the declaration date at the top of the page. If the top says 7 March, ieri is 6 March. The people in any sample on this site are invented. The word ieri is the part to learn.

Months and numbers are below because almost every act uses them, and because a year written as words is the line readers skip. Mille ottocento ottanta is 1880. Mille ottocento ottantaquattro is 1884. Mille novecento begins the 1900s. Units and tens combine. Ventotto is 28. Trenta is 30. Clerks shortened the year-words. When the middle is illegible, write the title-page year and the unreadable stroke, and say which is which.

The list

Italian	English	Where it helps
padre	father	parents on any act
madre	mother	parents; her last name stays
figlio	son	relationship
figlia	daughter	relationship
figli	children	plural
genitori	parents	both parents
marito	husband	death and marriage
moglie	wife	her own family name remains
coniuge	spouse	either partner
sposo	groom	marriage act
sposa	bride	marriage act
sposi	the couple	marriage act
vedovo	widower	a previous spouse may be named
vedova	widow	a previous spouse may be named
celibe	unmarried man	marriage act
nubile	unmarried woman	marriage act
nonno	grandfather	when the act says so
nonna	grandmother	when the act says so
zio	uncle	when the act says so
zia	aunt	when the act says so
fratello	brother	relationship stated
sorella	sister	relationship stated
nipote	grandchild or nephew or niece	read the rest of the act
suocero	father-in-law	relationship stated
suocera	mother-in-law	relationship stated
cognato	brother-in-law	relationship stated
cognata	sister-in-law	relationship stated
genero	son-in-law	relationship stated
nuora	daughter-in-law	relationship stated
gemello	twin, masculine	birth
gemella	twin, feminine	birth
fu	the late, deceased	before a parent’s name
nato	born, masculine	birth act
nata	born, feminine	birth act
nascita	birth	series title and text
morto	died, masculine	death act
morta	died, feminine	death act
decesso	death	death act
matrimonio	marriage	series and text
atto	register entry	the page you are reading
atto n.	act number	margin and index
dichiarante	person who reported the event	birth or death
testimone	witness	one person
testimoni	witnesses	usually named with ages
levatrice	midwife	often the dichiarante
sindaco	mayor	official in the formula
ufficiale dello stato civile	civil-registration official	the “before me” speaker
professione	occupation	the label
residente	residing	address
domiciliato	domiciled	copy beside residente if both appear
comparso	appeared	the declarant entered
oggi	today	relative to the declaration
ieri	yesterday	often the real event date
alle ore	at the hour	then a number and morning or afternoon
antimeridiane	in the morning	with the hour
pomeridiane	in the afternoon	with the hour
indici	indexes	archive folder
indice	index	front or back of a volume
pubblicazioni	banns	before the wedding
allegati	attachments	marriage packet, when filmed
processetti	supporting marriage papers	same job as allegati
consenso	consent	a person named in the act
dote	dowry	only if the word is on the page
di anni	of years of age	then a number in words
illetterato	unable to write	why a signature is missing
comune	municipality	the unit of the register
frazione	hamlet	inside a comune
provincia	province	archive organization
registro	register	the book
anno	year	dates
giorno	day	dates
mese	month	dates
ora	hour	dates
presente	present	someone was there
assente	absent	someone was not
ignoto	unknown	a blank the clerk admitted
legittimo	legitimate	status word, copy as written
naturale	a child born outside marriage	status word, copy as written
gennaio	January	month
febbraio	February	month
marzo	March	month
aprile	April	month
maggio	May	month
giugno	June	month
luglio	July	month
agosto	August	month
settembre	September	month
ottobre	October	month
novembre	November	month
dicembre	December	month
uno	1	numbers in words
due	2	numbers
tre	3	numbers
quattro	4	numbers
cinque	5	numbers
sei	6	numbers
sette	7	numbers
otto	8	numbers
nove	9	numbers
dieci	10	numbers
undici	11	numbers
dodici	12	numbers
tredici	13	numbers
quattordici	14	numbers
quindici	15	numbers
sedici	16	numbers
diciassette	17	numbers
diciotto	18	numbers
diciannove	19	numbers
venti	20	numbers
trenta	30	numbers
quaranta	40	numbers
cinquanta	50	numbers
sessanta	60	numbers
settanta	70	numbers
ottanta	80	numbers
novanta	90	numbers
cento	100	numbers
mille	1,000	year formula
contadino	peasant farmer	occupation example
bracciante	day laborer	occupation example
pastore	shepherd	occupation example
pescatore	fisherman	occupation example
sarto	tailor	occupation example
falegname	carpenter	occupation example
muratore	mason	occupation example
calzolaio	shoemaker	occupation example
fabbro	blacksmith	occupation example
tessitore	weaver	occupation example
casalinga	housewife	occupation example
filatrice	spinner	occupation example
possidente	landowner	occupation example

Occupations are vocabulary

The occupation rows are common words, gathered so you can recognize them in a professione blank. They are not a claim about any one family, any town, or any decade. A contadino in one act and a bracciante in the next may be the same man described two ways, or two men. The act in front of you is the evidence. A woman described as casalinga on a marriage may be filatrice on a child’s birth. Copy each one under the act it came from.

Levatrice sits in both worlds. As an occupation it means midwife. In a birth act she is often the person who appeared to declare the birth. Name her in the transcription. She is not a grandmother unless the act says so.

Other jobs exist, far beyond this table. When you meet one, write the Italian and a question mark rather than forcing it into the nearest row. A later reading, or the same word on a clearer page, will settle it. The beginners’ guide is the sequence around this list: town first, then the image, then the words.

Dates you can build from the pieces

Birth act of Vittorio Breheret, Farnese (Viterbo), 15 December 1894. Civil register published through Portale Antenati. Public domain.

A full opening date is year, day, month, hour. Practice with the pieces rather than memorizing every ordinal.

Addì sette di marzo is “on the seventh of March.” Alle ore dieci antimeridiane is 10 in the morning. Alle ore quattro pomeridiane is 4 in the afternoon. Put the declaration date at the top of your note and the event date, oggi or ieri or a fully written day, underneath it.

The year mille ottocento ottanta plus a unit is the nineteenth-century pattern you will see most. Compare it with the margin, where the clerk may also have written numerals. If the words and the numerals disagree, record both. The estratto comparison matters when a later typed extract “corrects” a date. The register page remains the page you read here.

Atto n. 45 in an index should be opened. A decade index, indice decennale, still sends you back to a single act.

When the word is not in the table

Mark it and move to the next slot. One unread occupation should not stop you from copying the parents. After the session, compare the word with the same formula on the previous act in the register. Clerks repeat themselves. The unclear word is often clear two pages earlier.

Spelling varies by clerk and by region. Double consonants appear and disappear. Sarto and a slightly different ending still point at a tailor if the rest of the word supports it. Say so in brackets. The hometown guide is for place-names that look like vocabulary and are actually towns. A frazione can resemble a last name. Check it before you add a person.

If the book is not on the portal, the list still helps you read whatever the office sends. The not-online guide is the path: confirm the gap, try FamilySearch, then the comune letter or the parish letter. Ask for the atto when you want the full narrative this list is built to unlock.

The record overviews show what a finished act looks like in context: births, marriages, deaths. The free records guide is the map of sites. This page is the glossary you keep open on the second screen. The kit includes it with the worksheet so you are not copying the table by hand. The reading still happens on the image, one word at a time.