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MarthaHicks
New on board
USA
1 Posts |
 Posted - 17/05/2024 : 18:38:49
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| Yes, Norwegians spelled patronymic names using "-sen" and "-datter." The Swedish spellings were "-son" and "-dotter." The reason Swedish spellings are so frequently seen in Norwegian records is because Norway was ruled by Sweden (and Denmark) for hundreds of years, and Sweden sent their own ministers to serve in Norway to keep tabs on the people. According to historian/genealogist Betty Rockswold, the Swedish ministers were required to keep careful records of the people--which helped the Swedes with taxation, estimating manpower availability for the military, etc. // For names in my family tree, I always use the Norwegian spellings (-sen/-datter) for my Norwegian ancestors. |
Martha |
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ToreL
Advanced member
Norway
842 Posts |
Posted - 17/05/2024 : 23:02:27
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As Nancy tried to explain in this thread many years ago, the records in the church books before 1814 only reflect Danish naming practices. A written Norwegian language did not exist at the time, but how people referred to each other in spoken language probably differed very much from the way people did in Denmark. During the 1800s a new Norwegian written language (Nynorsk) was put together based on spoken Norwegian dialects. In this written language, son and daughter are written son and dotter. Most of the bygdebooks that were written in the following years, were written in Nynorsk, and converted the -sen and -datter endings found in the church books to -son and -dotter. This was part of a movement led by Norwegian idealists to reconstruct/reclaim Norwegian heritage after 400 years under Danish dominance. The fact that Norway was in a relatively loose union with Sweden from 1814 to 1905 has nothing to do with this. Danish remained the official Norwegian language after the split with Denmark in 1814. This priginally Danish language was gradually modified to better match the way Norwegians (in the cities) actually speak, eventually resulting in the other written Norwegian Language, Bokmål. In this tradition, -sen and -datter are the preferred endings. As more people use Bomål, you find more Hansens than Hansons.
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AntonH
Norway Heritage Veteran
USA
9303 Posts |
Posted - 17/05/2024 : 23:49:50
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| Thanks to ToreL for the very clear explanation |
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Naming Practices
