Daily Ancestorgermanus
Germanus in Latin records means full or own; frater germanus is a full brother, born to the same two parents.
As an adjective germanus means full, own or true, and it describes brothers and sisters. Frater germanus is a full brother and soror germana a full sister. Used alone as a noun, germanus simply means brother.
Wiktionary notes it is unrelated to Germanus, a German. When a record says germanus, it is telling you the two siblings shared both parents, which helps when a parent married more than once.
As seen in a recordLatin marriage register, Austria, 1800s
Testes: Georgius Wendlhofer, frater germanus sponsi
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "germanus." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/latin/germanus. Last checked 2026-10-12.