Kyloe, David did a great job. I can add one small point, based on an online German-English dictionary that I really like. I'll give that too. Bergraben - I wonder if that should be begraben? > The dictionary I use gives beerdigen, begraben and beisetzen all as "to bury" Here is the dictionary for German and English: http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/dings.cgi?lang=en;service=deen The home page, that lets you also select German-Spanish and German-Portuguese is here. http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/ Barbara ----- Original Message ---- From: David Armstrong <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; [email protected] Sent: Monday, August 11, 2008 6:50:33 PM Subject: Re: [SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-ROOTS] German records what do these words mean? Kyloe I'm nowhere near being an expert, so maybe someone else can correct me if I'm wrong. Wai. and wailand would be more commonly wei. and weiland, (sometimes weyl. or weyland) and means "the deceased", or "the late". Can't help you with "ebel".  Are you sure of your transcription?  It would appear to be an abbreviation. I can't locate "Bergraben" in my dictionary, however "Beerdigung" is burial, and "Grab" is grave, to it would appear to be an old word for grave or burial.  You would have the context for the word. "Geb." is the standard abbreviation for "geboren" which means born.  The Scots use "m.s." for maiden surname, while the English tend to use the French "née". "Bei" means near, at or with.  "Bei meiner Tante" is at my aunt's (place). "Dressen".  It's not in my dictionary and you give no context for it, however Ernest Thode's "German English Genealogical Dictionary" does have "Dressler" as being a joiner (ie "Tischler").  So I wonder if "dressen" is an old dialect verb connected with carpentry? Hope this helps, David Armstrong Maylands, Western Australia   ----- Original Message -----   From: kyloe fisher   To: [email protected]   Sent: Tuesday, August 12, 2008 8:15 AM   Subject: [SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-ROOTS] German records what do these words mean?   Hello   I am trying to translate a couple records from the German church and am stuck on the words   wail   wailand   ebel   Bergraben   geb   bei   dressen   Thanks for any help   Kyloe ==== SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN-ROOTS Mailing List ==== Technical Terms and Rules of the S-H-ROOTS: http://www.genealogy-sh.com/faq-sh-roots/index.htm ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message