Translation of Latin on Marriage entry

Catsmeow · 13-01-2022 12:24AM #1

Hi

I have a church marriage entry for a cousin of my grandmother, which has an entry in Latin in the final column. The entry reads: Sponsus, neo conversus.

I think it might mean that the groom is a convert (I heard many years ago that he was C of I originally), but am not sure so decided to ask here. I've uploaded the image. I hope this is ok.

Many thanks.

Anne & George M1920 Ch pg2.png

VirginiaB · 13-01-2022 04:50AM

With the help of Google Translate, it looks like 'bridegroom new convert'. With the help of Sr Xavier a very long time ago, the -us ending refers to a male.

Peregrinus · 13-01-2022 07:39AM

It's dog-Latin. The "neo-" prefix that we use in English (as in neoliberal, neoclassical, etc) isn't from Latin; it's from the Greek neos, meaning "new". Neo in Latin means "I weave" or "I spin". "A new convert" would be conversus novus or conversus recens.

Still, I'm pretty sure that it is intended to signify that the groom had recently converted to Catholicism. Not to rubbish the standards of clerical education in the past, but not all priests were entirely fluent in Latin. And the fact that the groom had converted to Catholicism was significant and needed to be recorded somewhere; at the time Catholic canon law and practice leaned very strongly against interdenominational marriages.

pinkypinky · 13-01-2022 04:02PM

Yes, I agree on the meaning.

Mick Tator · 13-01-2022 06:51PM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118465594#Comment_118465594

Canem noli reprehendere, dominum reprehendere!!

Catsmeow · 13-01-2022 10:41PM

Thanks for taking the time to respond, that confirms what I was told. When I put the words in a Latin to English translation app, I got something about spinning back(wards) lol. I knew it wasn't that anyway.

Thank you all.

Translation of Latin on Marriage entry

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