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EXPLANATIONS
n Inquilinus / zsellér / jeleri
In Banat, a zsellér
is a serf with his own house and 1/8 Session1 of land [that means 7
Joch/iugăr [composed by: 5 Joch/iugăr agricultural land; 1 Joch/iugăr of
grass-land; 1 Joch/iugăr land for the house]; but this is a very complex
concept.
After the 1780
conscription [the "Conscriptio Urbarialis Banaticum" made by Count
Kristóf Niczky's Commission using as example the already existing Hungarian
one], there where 3 categories of peasants in Banat:
-serfs;
-colonized
peasants
-contracting peasants.
The serfs where
split in 2 categories:
-sessionati
[in Latin; serfs with land]
-non
sessionati [serfs without land].
If the serfs had less
than an eight of Session but had his own house, he was named "inquilini
/ inquilinus" [jeleri in Romanian; zselle'r
in Hungarian].
If the serfs lived in somebody's house, he was named "subinquilini".
Felix
Game's Web Site has a page explaining
these terms [for Hungary; this is a little
different than in Banat but it is a good opportunity for making an opinion]:
-The Farmer (colonus)
-The Cotter (Hungarian: zsellér [or
kishazos],
Latin: inquilinus, German: Kleinhäusler).
-The Subtenant (also zsellér in Hungarian, but subinquilinus
in Latin and Holden in German)
In the dictionaries
you can find:
-Inquiliny
[Latin] = alien/strain [tenant=chirias/lodger=chirias]
-Inquilinus
[Latin] means locatar [Romanian]/lodger [English], chirias/tenant, venetic/alien
[figurative]
In Banat, the standard dimension
and composition of a farm was:
-Peasant with a full Session = 34 Joch/iugăr [24 Joch/iugăr agricultural land; 6 Joch/iugăr of hay field; 3 Joch/iugăr of grass-land; 1 Joch/iugăr land for the house].
-Peasant with a half of
Session = 19 Joch/iugăr [12 Joch/iugăr agricultural land; 4 Joch/iugăr of hay
field; 2 Joch/iugăr of grass-land; 1 Joch/iugăr land for the house].
-Peasant with a quarter
of Session = 11 Joch/iugăr [6 Joch/iugăr agricultural land; 3 Joch/iugăr of
hay field; 1 Joch/iugăr of grass-land; 1 Joch/iugăr land for the house].
-Peasant with an eight
of Session = 7 Joch/iugăr [5 Joch/iugăr agricultural land; 1 Joch/iugăr of
grass-land; 1 Joch/iugăr land for the house].
[1]
1 Session (Ansässigkeit)=4 Viertel-four quarters=1 Joch/iugăr=0,575 Hektar/
Hectare [Ha] =1,43 acres
1/2 Session (Halbe Ansässigkeit)=2 Viertel-two quarters=1/2 Joch
1 Joch (Tagwerk) zu
1.600 Quadratklafter=0,575 Hektar=1,43 acres.
1 Joch/iugăr = 1600
Wiener Klfter2/stanjeni vienezi2=5751,7 m2
1 Wiener Klfter/stanjeni
vienezi=6 foot/picioare =1,896 m
1 Schuh (Fuß)/foot/picioare = 31,6 cm
1
Quadratklafter - square fathom = 3,6 qm = 4,3 square yards
1 Motike (200 Quadratklafter) = 72 Ar = 0,18 acres
1 Viertel (400 Quadratklafter) - quarter = 144 Ar = 0,36 acres
1 Morgen = 0,26 Hektar = 0.64 acres
1 Acker - acre = 0,41 Hektar = 1 acre
1 Joch (Tagwerk) zu 1.600 Quadratklafter = 0,58 Hektar = 1,43 acres
9 Ketten - chains = 1 Viertel = 1/4 Joch
1 Hufe = 10 Hektar = 24,71 acres
1 Ar = 100 qm = 120 square yards
1 Hektar = 100 Ar = 2,5 acres
n
In Latin language
do not exist the " J " letter!
Even if this is not quit correct, probably
because in the priests handwriting almost always the capital " I " is like " J
", almost everybody [including us!] use the J instead of I when it
comes to write the names in Latin language.
n
[FYI]:
In 1897 the Hungarian Parliament vote the Law on the Villages Name;
according to this law, all the official names of the villages from Banat/Transilvania
were to be [after 1897] in Hungarian language. So, this is one of the
explanations for some “strange” names that will occur during the history. An
another explanation is that the immigrants were using the names for villages in
Schwobischen dialect when they talked about them or the phonetic transcription
was used by the american customhouse officers or other american functionaries.
The Magyarization
Process started long time before 1897 [check also our comment on this
subject forwarded to Banat-L on 30 Nov 2000]. Even starting 1836 the Hungarian
language was imposed in the administration and justice all over Banat/Transilvania.
In 1839-1840-1843 the Hungarian language was imposed in all the churches; even
the service was not performed in this language! So, starting 1843 the church
books belonging to the German and Romanian villages are written in Hungarian
language. In 1843 the Hungarian language is imposed in schools. The
Magyarization Process will continue also during the 1848 revolution. In the
period 1850-1866 the process will stagnate in order to become more powerful
starting 1868 [with the law on the nationalities, the law on education, etc.].
This process will continue until the end of the WWI [1891-law for the
kindergartens; 1907-the abolish of the confessional schools; etc.].
David
Dreyer [in his “Extractions
of Banat Emigrants from Pre-1914 United States Customs and Immigration
Passenger Ship Records. Background and Village Index"] has the following
supplementary explanations:
"One can chart the
increasing Magyarization of the Banat
German surnames in the records as well as the increasing substitution of the
Magyar version of given names for the German.
a.
One consequence of the Magyarization is that in surnames containing the letter
S, the S is substituted by Sz.
For
example: Siller is now Sziller, Theissmann is Theiszmann and Hess is Hesz.
b.
A second change is the substitution of Cz
for Z
in names beginning in Z.
For
example: Czimmer for Zimmer and Czauner for Zauner.
The Magyarized versions were somewhat more pronounced among those Banaters
leaving from Fiume where a Hungarian passport was required and it was more
likely that clerks would substitute the Hungarian for the German version. After
arrival in America the spelling usually reverted back to the German version.
Not only must consideration be given to a Hungarian spelling variant when
searching databases but also to normal German spelling variations that occur
when surnames and place names are spelled phonetically.
n
The following guidelines cover the usual
spelling variations that are encountered in German church books [and in the
passenger ship records]:
1.
German Phoentics The letter
pairs B-P, W-V
& T-D
are frequently found interchanged leading to equivalent names: Pulger /
Bulger, Tolwig / Dolwig; Tipo / Dipo / Dibo, Vollmann / Wollmann (and even
Follmann); Vetter / Fetter, Vetzler / Wetzler and Schirado / Schirato.
2.
Of lesser importance are the exchanges of the pairs:
C-K, K-G [resulting in
Gasko and Gasgo or Vigete and Wikete]
Z-S [leading to Sauner and
Zaune].
3.
Vowels are exchanged in a
bewildering fashion so that almost any combination is found.
4.
Consonants are found doubled
when only one is anticipated while, those customarily doubled are also found
alone.
For example: Pfeiffer / Pfeifer, Schaeffer / Schaefer and Doggendorf / Dogendorf.
5.
The letter H
is sometimes silent in German and, as a result, can appear or disappear from
names in a disconcerting fashion.
For example: Hehn / Hen, Bernard / Bernhard.
6.
A terminal letter D
in a word is pronounced like a T.
This leads to spelling variations: Bernhard, Bernhart or Bernhardt; Quind,
Quint
n The
statements below are excerpted from "18th
Century PA German Naming Customs" by Charles F. Kerchner, Jr.. Although
Kerchner was specifically interested in Pennsylvania German genealogy, the
statements apply to European Germans [included Banaters] as well:
5. An "in" or
"en", added to the end of a name, such as Anna Maria
KERCHNERin, is a Germanic language name ending suffix denoting that the person
is female. Thus the correct spelling of the last name in the example would be
Kerchner, not Kerchnerin.
6. An "er"
or "ner", added to a surname
based on the name of something, denoted that the person worked with that object
or at that occupation, if the main portion of the name was an object or an
occupation, or that the person was from that geographic location or city, if the
main portion of the name was a geographic location. Examples: Forst is German
for a forest, thus Forster is one who worked in a forest or with woodlands or
was from a forest. Berlin is a city in Germany, thus Berliner is one who is from
Berlin. Since English is a Germanic rooted language we do the same thing in
English, i.e., Paint[er], Garden[er], New York[er].
The
suffixes mentioned in 5. & 6. above are compounded in many cases.
The nouns Kirche and Kerche are German words for church. Thus for the surname
spelled in an early record as Kerchnerin, i.e., Kerch[ner][in] we have a family
name which means a person who worked in or near a church, and this particular
person is female.
n "originally from" [i.e. place of origin / in Latin language: Locus Origins or "ex" and in Hungarian language: Szarmazási Helye] has a triple meaning in Banat's KB:
- that a person was born / baptized in a certain parish OR
- that a person is living in a certain village when a genealogical event [as B, M, D] occur OR
- that the person lived in another place before coming to a new parish [usually the place from where we have the information extracted] where he is involved in a genealogical event [as B, M, D].
n "the godparent / witness argument": usually, a godparent from one person's baptism / christening will be also the witness at that person's marriage. When the godparent died before his godson will marry, then the witness will be somebody from the godparent close family.
We discovered that, in the case of the Roman Catholic Germans / Schwab's from Banat, when all other detail are missing and there is no way to make a positive link between a person listed as married in a place and a person with the same first & family name, born in the same place and having a good age, we can use this "godparents / witness argument" for a positive link between the two persons.
Example:
oo 29.09.1846
-Caspar GERLACH, 18 years old, young boy unmarried, farmer
-Anna BECKER, 18 years old, young girl unmarried
witnesses: Caspar WOLTZ, Peter WAGNER
* 26.12.1827, Caspar GERLACH, son of Anton GERLACH & Elisabetha KIRI; godparents: Caspar VOLTZ, Catharina GERLACH
* 24.12.1825, Anna BECKER, daughter of Peter BECKER & Christina FLATON; godparents: Peter WAGNER, Anna MUHN
Sometimes this argument is not so obvious but, with a little work, you can find almost always the family relations.