Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 2:27 am
Post subject: uxor derel
Hi.
I would like to confirm my interpretation of two annotations I've come across several times on death records from around 1900. Hopefully someone with better knowledge than my two years of Latin in high school many years ago, and Google, can help me out.
1. "uxor derel." on a woman's death record. I interpret that as "abandoned wife"
2. "maritus derelictae" on a man's death record. I interpret that as "husband of abandoned"
Am I correct or did those phrases have different meanings back in those days? How was abandonment treated by people in the village and by the Church?
Thanks.
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dnowickiPO Top Contributor
Joined: 28 Dec 2011
Replies: 2953
Location: Michigan City, IndianaBack to top |
Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 10:49 am
Post subject: Re: uxor derel
| trinkelson wrote: | Hi.
I would like to confirm my interpretation of two annotations I've come across several times on death records from around 1900. Hopefully someone with better knowledge than my two years of Latin in high school many years ago, and Google, can help me out.
1. "uxor derel." on a woman's death record. I interpret that as "abandoned wife"
2. "maritus derelictae" on a man's death record. I interpret that as "husband of abandoned"
Am I correct or did those phrases have different meanings back in those days? How was abandonment treated by people in the village and by the Church?
Thanks. |
Hi,
Derelictus, a, um is the Perfect Passive Participle of the verb derelinquo, derelinquere, dereliqui, derelictum, which means to forsake, abandon, desert, leave behind. However, the way it is used in death records is more nuanced. It means left behind in the sense of “surviving”. As an example, “Joannes maritus derelictae Mariae” should be translated as “John, the husband of the surviving Mary”. The way John abandoned/deserted Mary was by dying and leaving her a widow.
Your question brings to mind something I saw and heard when I was in high school and had a summer job working at a Chicago Catholic Cemetery, Holy Cross in Calumet City. I posted the story on the Forum earlier but will retell the story since it does show a young widow’s feeling of an abandonment after the death of her husband. The grave had been dug and the burial vault placed within it. At that time all burial prayers took place at the grave site and a lowering device was set above the grave to prepare for the burial ceremony. The casket was then placed on the lowering device. In this particular instance the priest had finished saying the prayers of the internment ritual when the young widow began to yell “John, take me with you! John, take me with you!” She then threw herself on the casket but in doing so triggered off the lowering device. As the casket began to descend into the grave the next words out of her mouth were “Not yet, John, not yet!” It sounds like a joke but it is a true story of something that actually happened.
I cannot speak to your second question about how abandonment was viewed and treated in late 19th and early 20th Century Poland. What I am able to say however is based on my knowledge of Polish culture both in Europe and in the United States during that time. Abandoning a spouse, no matter how unhappy the marriage may have been, was something that rarely if ever took place. A married couple took very seriously the portion of the vows which stated “for richer or for poorer, for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, until death do us part”. Couples understood that no matter the circumstances of an unhappy marriage they almost always would stick it out. Unhappy spouses rarely received much comfort from their relatives. A common refrain was “You made your bed, now lay in it”. The Catholic Church’s solution to unhappy marriages was not abandonment or divorce but rather the seeking of a declaration of nullity. However, the grounds for the Nullification of a marriage were so limited and the process was so involved that most people rarely sought to use that as a solution. Literal abandonment would have been referred to as "wstyd"—a disgrace in the village or in the parish.
I hope the above answer helps you.
Wishing you continued success,
Dave
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Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2023 1:24 pm
Post subject: uxor derel
Hello.
Thank you for the excellent explanation. I suspected there was more to it than the literal translation.
If you don't mind, I have a followup question. Since I am not a native Polish speaker, what would be the appropriately nuanced terms in Polish?
I also appreciate your anecdote.
Cheers,
Richard
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