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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: manukarik on Wednesday 27 April 22 11:17 BST (UK)

Title: It's all Greek to me!
Post by: manukarik on Wednesday 27 April 22 11:17 BST (UK)

Who knew that Genealogy would involve having to decipher so many languages?

With a mixture of UK and French ancestry and a French partner, I anticipated English and French in all their forms, old and new, and maybe Latin too.  Looking through French Protestant Registers in Ardèche, the entries changed from French to Greek for a few years. Not sure if the Pastor was showing off or trying to disguise the entries following the Persecution of Protestants in France. I realise that Greek was used by early Christians for the New Testament.  Has anyone else come across a seemingly incongruous change of language used for records?

https://archives.ardeche.fr/ark:/39673/50f341f9ecdc7e3b7d282e6d33b0c623/dao/0/62 (https://archives.ardeche.fr/ark:/39673/50f341f9ecdc7e3b7d282e6d33b0c623/dao/0/62)

Title: Re: It's all Greek to me!
Post by: Mike Griffiths on Saturday 30 April 22 10:41 BST (UK)

I must confess I've seen nothing quite like that before!  I first wondered if the pastor was using the records as a chance to practice his Greek, but that seems unlikely.  Your idea that he was protecting identities is interesting; it would make quite a story if that was true!