Spanish language help

[JohnRich 4]

Please help me interpret what this Mexican gravestone says - see the attached image.

The first line is the man's name.
The ending which starts with "su esposa..." means: "His wife and children dedicate this in his memory".

But I'm confused about the way the birth and death dates are written in the middle section. For example; "EL 15 DE 9 DE 1856". That apparently means "Born in December, 1856". But there are two numbers in there which could be the day of the month. This is the format used on many of the headstones, and it confuses me. What's the interpretation for that?

This is from an old cemetery along the San Marcos River in Texas, containing all Hispanic (most likely Mexican) graves, from a period of about 1900 to 1925.

I'd like to understand what I'm seeing here. Can you help?

[poe62 0]

I think it's the 15th of September 1856 to blah blah blah...

De is "of" so that's my interpretation.

~Nikki
http://www.facebook.com/poe62

Irgity Dirgity

[Remster 30]

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This is the format used on many of the headstones, and it confuses me. What's the interpretation for that?

Pretty much every country except the US (not being political) uses a day month year format (as opposed to the US month day year) when giving dates.

Remster

[jcd11235 0]

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"EL 15 DE 9 DE 1856". That apparently means "Born in December, 1856".

El = The
De = of

EL 15 DE 9 DE 1856 = The 15th of the 9th of 1856 -> September 15, 1856

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[JohnRich 4]

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"EL 15 DE 9 DE 1856". That apparently means "Born in December, 1856".

El = The
De = of

EL 15 DE 9 DE 1856 = The 15th of the 9th of 1856 -> September 15, 1856

Aha! Thank you for that deciphering! The two numbers are the day and month - makes perfect sense.

I've managed to figure out the other inscriptions. "D.E.P." seems to be very common on Mexican tombstones, which is short for ""Dedican Este Recuerdo", which means "dedicated in memory of". On this one (image Cemetery 6s.JPG attached) it's redundant, because it's both written out, and abbreviated. And the dedication is "Su esposa e hijos" - "From his wife and children". Nice touch.

There were several of these in the cemetery also: image Cemetery 2s.JPG attached. It's a concrete ball, with seashells and baubles stuck in it. I've seen the seashell technique in a few places before.

Also common were monuments in the shape of tree trunks. There's a story there. A fraternal organization called Woodmen of the World (WOW) supplied those in the early 1900's, free. So I think many people joined the organization just to get the free tombstones. WOW stopped the practice shortly, as it was too expensive.

For a challenge, try translating the image in Cemetery 3s, below.

[tigra 0]

DEP = Descanse en Paz or Rest in Peace

[LisaH 0]

The headstone says:

The persons name/ date and:

From your wife and kids we dedicate this memorial piece (the headstone).

Be yourself!
MooOOooOoo

[JerryBaumchen 1,466]

Hi Remster,

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Pretty much every country except the US (not being political) uses a day month year format (as opposed to the US month day year) when giving dates.

When I was in the US military ( a couple of lifetimes ago ) they also used that method; I do not know about current practice.

That only leaves the US civilians, who seem to not want to conform to the rest of world.

JerryBaumchen

PS) I still use the system I learned in the military. It's the best

[jcd11235 0]

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"EL 15 DE 9 DE 1856". That apparently means "Born in December, 1856".

El = The
De = of

EL 15 DE 9 DE 1856 = The 15th of the 9th of 1856 -> September 15, 1856

Aha! Thank you for that deciphering! The two numbers are the day and month - makes perfect sense.

I've managed to figure out the other inscriptions. "D.E.P." seems to be very common on Mexican tombstones, which is short for ""Dedican Este Recuerdo", which means "dedicated in memory of". On this one (image Cemetery 6s.JPG attached) it's redundant, because it's both written out, and abbreviated. And the dedication is "Su esposa e hijos" - "From his wife and children". Nice touch.

I'm pretty sure that DEP stands for Descanse En Paz, which translates to Rest In Peace.


1st stone:

Sabás Cuerrero
September 15, 1856 ? -
October 31, 19?5 His
wife and children ded-
icate this memorial
RIP

2nd Stone:
I can't read the top word very well. It appears to be Nina, which could mean girl or be a name. Likewise, I can't do anything with the second line, which appears to (maybe) have letters truncated from either end. It looks to be at least the family name.

The next line appears to begin with Que, which means that, giving us:
Nina (Girl?)
Name
She was born (or, perhaps, who was born)
February 28, 1920
She passed away May 1, 1920

(Note that I translated Myo as Mayo = May)

She was about two months old when she died.

Please excuse any translation errors. Hablo español un poco solamente.

Math tutoring available. Only $6! per hour! First lesson: Factorials!

[chiquita24 0]

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"EL 15 DE 9 DE 1856". That apparently means "Born in December, 1856".

El = The
De = of

EL 15 DE 9 DE 1856 = The 15th of the 9th of 1856 -> September 15, 1856

Aha! Thank you for that deciphering! The two numbers are the day and month - makes perfect sense.

I've managed to figure out the other inscriptions. "D.E.P." seems to be very common on Mexican tombstones, which is short for ""Dedican Este Recuerdo", which means "dedicated in memory of". On this one (image Cemetery 6s.JPG attached) it's redundant, because it's both written out, and abbreviated. And the dedication is "Su esposa e hijos" - "From his wife and children". Nice touch.

I'm pretty sure that DEP stands for Descanse En Paz, which translates to Rest In Peace.


1st stone:

Sabás Cuerrero
September 15, 1856 ? -
October 31, 19?5 His
wife and children ded-
icate this memorial
RIP

2nd Stone:
I can't read the top word very well. It appears to be Nina, which could mean girl or be a name. Likewise, I can't do anything with the second line, which appears to (maybe) have letters truncated from either end. It looks to be at least the family name.

The next line appears to begin with Que, which means that, giving us:
Nina (Girl?)
Name
She was born (or, perhaps, who was born)
February 28, 1920
She passed away May 1, 1920

(Note that I translated Myo as Mayo = May)

She was about two months old when she died.

Please excuse any translation errors. Hablo español un poco solamente.

[JohnRich 4]

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DEP = Descanse en Paz or Rest in Peace

That's it! Thank you. I had a sense something was wrong with my first idea.

[JohnRich 4]

jcd11235 and chiquita24 - Thanks to you also for figuring out that weird one from 05_Cemetery_3s.JPG.

The confusing part is:
YFALL
ECIO
ELID
EMYO

I don't think those are separate words - that's just all they could fit on one line on the cross. So it's probably actually several words that should run together in some combination.

Gosh, a two-month old baby. The young ones always get to me. I hate to see those.

Like young Matilda here (below), dead at age 14 years and 3 months - never even made it out of childhood.

[chiquita24 0]

Well "Y fallecio" means "and died"

but I don't know what El Ide means, but Myo-I'm assuming is "Mayo"-May

[chiquita24 0]

Matilde Guerrero
Sept 4th, 1916
At the age of 14 yrs and 3 months

And something like "her parents remember this"

Sad how some die so young!

[jcd11235 0]

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I don't know what El Ide means, but Myo-I'm assuming is "Mayo"-May

I read that as El 1 de M(a)yo, or May 1st.

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[chiquita24 0]

ahhh! I think you're right, now that I look at it again!

[jcd11235 0]

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I think you did pretty good.

Thanks.

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[lippy 918]

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SUS PADRES DEDICA ESTE RECUERDO

= Her parents dedicate this reminder [to her].

If you think Spanish is tough, try teaching English to a Spanish-speaking person. I don't know how many times I've said 'lo siento, yo no lo entiendo tampoco pero asi es'

I got nuthin

[JohnRich 4]

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The confusing part is:
YFALL
ECIO
ELID
EMYO

Well "Y fallecio" means "and died"
but I don't know what El Ide means, but Myo-I'm assuming is "Mayo"-May

I read that as El 1 de M(a)yo, or May 1st.

By gosh, you guys are great at figuring this out. I don't remember enough of my high school Spanish to even begin to piece together the possible word combinations there. But you've done it! Thank you.