Category Archives: Dimitrakakis

Beware of Translation Tools!

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Knowing how important notary contracts are in finding information about our ancestors, I was very excited when Gregory Kontos of Greek Ancestry brought me a book published by Pepi Gavala, Archivist at the General State Archives of Greece, Sparta Office.[1] This book is not just a synopsis, but a full extract, of contracts from the collection of the notary, Georgios Chartoularis, 1833-1835.

Gavala, Pepi. Notary book of Georgiou Cartoularis of Lakedaimonos, 1833-1835. Sparta, 2016

I used the index to find entries of interest to me, and Gregory provided a synopsis of the contracts.

Here is an example: Contract 388, page 365-366; year 1834.
In the parish of Stavros in Mystras. Martha, daughter of the late Diamantis Dimitrakakis and wife of Anagnostis Dimakos. Martha had property which was part of her dowry. She wanted to sell the property to build a house  in Mystras. Martha’s brothers and her nephew gave permission for her to sell the property to another nephew, Ilias Michalopoulos.  It is unclear whether Martha’s brothers actually owned the property with her, or if they just gave permission for its sale.
Martha’s two brothers were: Theodorakis and Dimitrakis Diamantopoulos, sons of Diamantis [note: they took their father’s first name as their surname!]
Martha’s nephews [sons of her two sisters who are unnamed, but I now have her sisters’ married names]: Diamantis Panopoulos; and Ilias Michalopoulos the one to whom she sold her property.
Permission was given by Martha’s brothers, Theodorakis and Dimitrakis, and her nephew, Diamantis Panopoulos, to sell her property to her nephew, Ilias Michalopoulos.
The contract explains exactly where the property was located in Vitinarias, Mystras.

I was curious to learn some details about the property being sold, so I typed the contract into both Deepl and Google Translate. I was both surprised and confused when the word, αυτάδελφος, (relating to Martha’s brothers) appeared with different translations.

I looked in my Collins Greek-English dictionary and the word was not there.

I checked the dictionary, Λεξικό της ελληνικής ως ξένης γλώσσας, and the word was not there.

Babel Fish gave me the message: “failed translation.”

Microsoft/Bing translated the word as: self-brother (what does THAT mean?)

Systran: translated the word as: colleague

Βικιλεξικό: produced several definitions:  self- brother <ancient greek  αὐτάδελφος <αὐτός + ἀδελφός αυτοδελφος male (female cousin and cousin) brother (from both parents).

By this point, I was truly frustrated. Having the exact relationship is critical in genealogy research and I had many variations. Finally it dawned on me that this word, αυτάδελφος, used in 1833, may be obsolete in modern Greek. Giving it one last try, I went to the Google search bar and typed:  What is the definition of αυτάδελφος? A “new to me” website, WordSense gave this definition: (rare) brother-german, full-brother. And under related words and phrases was: see αδελφός (masc.) (“brother”)

Intrigued, I clicked on brother-german, and found this definition: A full brother: a brother born to the same mother and father, as distinguished from half-brothers, step-brothers, or ‘brothers’ established through relationships such as wardship. 

I went back to Greg and he confirmed that αυτάδελφος is obsolete and no longer used.  He also said that old documents may use the term αθταδέλγη as full sister. Another colleague pointed out that ετεροθαλής is a half-brother.

Now I know why the printed and online dictionaries of MODERN GREEK do not have αυτάδελφος (it’s not a modern word!), and why online translation services mistranslated it.

Important lesson learned:  when translating old documents, do not rely on online translations. They’re okay to get a general idea of the context of the document, but when it comes to important items such as relationships, ask Greek Ancestry for translation help. If Greg had not done the translation and I had relied solely on the translating tools, the relationships in my family tree would have been totally wrong, leading not only to misinformation but to utter confusion when corroborating evidence from various sources.

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[1] Gavala, Pepi. Notary book of Georgiou Cartoularis of Lakedaimonos, 1833-1835. Sparta, 2016. Contract #388, page 365

Greece 2019 – Barsinikos–On Top of the World

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On February 13, 1859, Panagiotis S. Lerikos of Agios Ioannis, Sparta, married Eleni Dimitrakakis, daughter of Giannakis, of Barsinikos. They are one set of my paternal great-great-grandparents.

Mitropolis of Sparta, Marriage Index Book; Book: Sparta, 1852-1859; Entry #524; License Date: February 13, 1859 Marriage Date: not given; Groom: Panagiotis Lerikos, no father listed; residence: Agios Ioannis; Bride: Eleni Dimitrakakis, father: Giannakis; residence: Mystras Church: Agios Georgios; First marriage for both bride and groom; Photographed by Carol Kostakos Petranek, July 2017

With this union, my family tree climbed further up the towering Taygetos mountains to the tiny village of Barsinikos where the Dimitrakakis family were original inhabitants. Barsinikos was the Ottoman name, changed to Taygeti in 1955 when the Greek government ordered the abolition of Turkish village names. Follow the red switchback road southwest of Mystras on the map below to see the location; goat and sheep trails eventually became paths, which today are roads, paved and unpaved. Yes, I do drive that road and yes, it is scary!

I visited my “new” cousin, Joanne Dimitrakakis who was born in Barsinikos, and spent a peaceful afternoon on top of the world.

Outside Joanne’s guest house, Arxontiko Taygeti, overlooking Sparta

We had lunch at the home of Christos Kakaletris, descendant of another original Barsinikos family. During Ottoman occupation, natives fled into the highest possible locations for refuge. Although there was forage for their sheep and goats, there was no flat land to cultivate crops. The mountain winters and inhospitable terrain must have brought challenges that we cannot imagine. After the Revolution of 1821 when it was safe to leave, they migrated from these upper mountain settlements into lower villages:  Barsinikos families relocated to Mystras, Parori and Magoula.

Lunch with Joanne and Christos at his ancestral home in Barsinikos. This is the second floor. The lower level was a taverna operated by his father and grandfather.

The marriage record above gives Eleni’s residence as Mystras; however, the Church of Agios Georgios is in Barsinikos. It is evident, then, that her family was originally from Barsinikos (as she married there), but she had already left and was living in Mystras by 1859. The original church which the Dimitrakakis family would have helped to establish was one small room, and this larger church was built in the early 1900s. There is a date of August 1918 on an icon frame.

Agios Georgios Church, Barsinikos.

Collage of interior of Agios Georgios Church, Barsinikos

Notation on frame of an icon with the date of August 1918

Along with the requisite church, Barsinikos had a one-room schoolhouse which Joanne attended as a child. It closed in 1965 due to lack of students.

Barsinikos schoolhouse

Although the families of Barsinikos have left and the village is now deserted, many like Christos and Joanne have kept their ancestral homes. During religious holidays, summers and festivals, people return. They sit on verandas and absorb the breathtaking vistas and cool mountain air which sustained their parents and grandparents. Although life has changed, their heritage is preserved.

View from Christos’ veranda; Sparta is below