"Richard R. Johnson" <rjohnson@jvlnet.com> wrote in message news:3vuos0lbhmulgd5kdclded9r8ngnu9laga@4ax.com... > On Fri, 24 Dec 2004 18:47:34 GMT, Robert Heiling <robheil@comcast.net> > wrote: > > >"Richard R. Johnson" wrote: > > > >> Dear Group members: > >> > >> I have an old photograph of an ancestor taken by the K.F. Karlsson > >> Studio in Mellerud, Ålvsborg, Sweden many years ago. On the back is > >> printed: > >> > >> "1ata Pris och Diplom 1909" > >> > >> [the letters "ata" being superscripted and underlined] > >> > >> What would be the meaning of the phrase in this context? I understand > >> the individual words, but can make no sense of the whole. > >> > >> Thanking you in advance and wishing you all a Merry Christmas, > >> > >> Richard R. Johnson > >> Whitewater, WI, USA > > > >It was his graduation picture and loosely translated would be: awarded > >degree & diploma 1909. > > > Thanks, Bob. However the photo is of a very old woman (my great > grandmother, I think). Hello Richard, I do believe that you have a slight misreading of the text. I think it should read: "1sta Pris och Diplom 1909" which is translated to: "First prize and Diploma 1909" To me it seems to have been some kind of, probably agricultural, competition where she was awarded the first prize and a Diploma. In Swedish "first" is "första" or as in this example, the digit "1" followed by "sta" which is quite a normal way to write ordinal numbers. Other examples: "second" is "andra" or "2ra" or "2a" "third" is "tredje" or "3e" for the following ordinal numbers, add the "e" to the digit. Merry Chistmas Kurt F