Daily Ancestorancilla
Ancilla is Latin for a maid or female servant; in older Latin it meant a slave girl.
Ancilla means a female servant. In parish registers it usually means a maid working in another family's house. In classical Latin it meant a slave girl, but church records use it for a hired servant.
When a mother in a baptism entry is called ancilla, the register may also name her employer or village, which is a lead to where she lived and worked.
As seen in a recordMother in a Latin baptism entry
mater: Anna Gross, ancilla in Neudorf
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "ancilla." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/latin/ancilla. Last checked 2026-10-01.