Latin date oddities

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VotM
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Latin date oddities

Post by VotM »

On several baptismal records, I'm encountering what appears to be an extra number in the portion of the date before the year. See the image below for specific examples. The second example suggests that the day precedes the month, but what is the significance of the number between the month and the year?
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PippoM
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Re: Latin date oddities

Post by PippoM »

That means "Indizione".
For an explanation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indiction
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VotM
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Re: Latin date oddities

Post by VotM »

Actually, I was referring to the "settima" in the first example and the "Octavii"(?) in the second example. Without those, the dates would appear to translate simply as "10 August 1789" and "13 January 1805", respectively.
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liviomoreno
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Re: Latin date oddities

Post by liviomoreno »

"settima indizione" = 7th indiction
"ottava indizione" = 8th indiction

An indiction is any of the years in a 15-year cycle used to date medieval documents throughout Europe, both East and West. Each year of a cycle was numbered: first indiction, second indiction, etc. However, the cycles were not numbered, thus other information is needed to identify the specific year.
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Re: Latin date oddities

Post by VotM »

<blush> When in doubt, follow the link... :-/

Thanks for the followup!
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