Church records from the 1700s-1800s such as those found in the Bischöfliches Zentralarchiv in Regensburg, Bavaria, Germany, will often times list the type of farmer of the person in the record. If you're researching other areas of Germany, the word for farmers have different meanings. On this page, I've assembled an alphabetical listing of several types of words used to describe farms and residents in Bavaria. I do not know if all of these terms are still used today.
In Bavaria and other parts of Germany, most farm houses were and still are located inside the village. Attached to the house is the barn. The space in front of the house and barn is called the Hof (courtyard). Cows, pigs, and other farm animals live inside the barn. Outside the village, land was divided up into fields where farmers grew crops. A farmer may have owned several pieces of field - these pieces were not necessarily connected to the other pieces. Some farmers also owned sections of woodland (woods or forests). Cows and sheep were taken to graze in the fields.
In the days when Dukes ruled the area, they owned all the farmland and woodlands. Farmers had to pay the Duke to use his land to grow crops or to cut wood for his oven. A farmer could not hunt in the Duke's woods since the Duke had his own forestry workers; these workers were called Jäger (hunters).
Retired farmer. Also: Ausnähmer, Ausnehmer. See Austrägler
Retired. Austräglerseheleute = retired married couple
This term is still used today to describe farmers who own farm land. (Latin: coloni / colonia / colonus / colono). A 1/2 Colonus would be a 1/2 Bauer or 1/ 2 farmer (owning half a farm).
Reinhard Riepl dictionary, "Wörterbuch zur Familien- und Heimatforschung in Bayern und Österreich" page 79:
coloni(a) s. [siehe = see] colonus
colonus (coloni) Bauer, Gütler, Kleinhäusler, auch: Siedler, Ansiedler (Neuansiedler)
Translation of the German words to English:
Bauer = farmer owning land
Gütler = farmer owning smaller than 1/4 farm and more than 1/32 courtyard
Kleinhäusler = owner of a small house or estate with little or no land ownership
also: Siedler = settler; Ansiedler = settler; Neuansiedler = new settler
"Einödbauer" (isolated farmer) are farmers who owned an "Einöde" (isolated property) which means the farmer owned a farm outside of town. (See also solani / solanus / solanius; sometimes spelled sellanus).
Einwohner (Latin: incola) was a resident or citizen.
In Latin, the word for Häusler (house owner) is "Aedicularius" or "Aedicularii." Häusler can be written as Haeusler without the umlaut. A Häusler owned or rented a small house, mostly without land or with a small garden in a small area such as the size of a 1/16 farm; they had no horse. The 1/16 and 1/32 farmers were also called Häusler even though they owned very little land.
People living in these small homes had very little money or income. They may have worked as farm hands or had a profession such as weaving.
Modern German dictionaries in the 21st century translate Häusler as "cottager." What is a cottager? According to modern English dictionaries, a cottager is a person living or vacationing in a cottage. In historical context, farmers in the 19th century did not have vacation homes. Their "cottages" were very small one-story houses and were located in a Dorf (village). People living in these small homes were not wealthy and were only above the status of an Inwohner (resident). There are some regional differences, though, where in some areas of the Bavarian Forest, Häusler referred to a person that owned a larger farm called Gütler, Kleinhäusler, Haustatt, and Lehen (fiefdom).
Latin: semicoloni. Halbbauer means "half farmer" meaning the farmer owned a one-half [1/2] farm. A Halbhölfer owned a half courtyard. (See "Hof")
A person hired to do farming and receives housing in exchange for work. Tenant.
A "Hof" translates to "courtyard." A courtyard can be the space of ground that is in front of the house and farm buildings. A person living in a small house with a garage can call the area in front of the garage a hof. In the book by Riepl (see the source section below), he described in great detail about the "Hoffuß" and all the different sizes of farms from the 1700s. The Hoffuss (or Hofmaß) was a classification of assets according to the size of farms which determined the taxes and labor services owed to owners of its manor. Riepl wrote about Lehensnehmer, Ganzer Hof (called "Maier"), Halber Hof (half hof) or Hube, Drittel-Hof, Viertel-Hof (or "Lehner") or halbe Hube, Achtel-Hof (Sölde), Sechzehntel-Hof (Leer-, Bausölde), Häusler, Zweiunddreißigstel-Hof (bloße Sölde).
Glass grinder.
Glassschleiferseheleute = glass grinder married couple
These people were very poor. They lived in small houses in only one room. The people worked mostly as Tagelöhner (day laborers). "Inleute" were married couples. "Inmann" was a male roomer, while "Inweib" was a female roomer.
Besizter, Besitzen = owner
An Inwohner was a male inhabitant; an Inwohnerin was a female inhabitant (Latin: incolonissa). The Inwohnerin and Inwohner did not have voting rights and they inhabited only a room in the house (such as a farm hand that lived in one room of a farmer's house). Also: Hausinwohners
Farm laborer. Sometimes abbreviated as "ldw. Arbeiter"
Leer means empty, but these three terms do not mean an empty house or empty farm. It means the person owned only a house but did not own fields or property. Several families could live in this type of house at one time if the house had enough rooms. For instance, the house could be divided into ½ parts (for two families) and 1/3 parts (for 3 families), and so on. Each family owned their own part of the house.
"Einödbauer" or "Söldner"
In some areas of Germany, Söldner can mean "soldier" or "mercenary" (Latin: soldarius), but in Bavaria a Söldner was a Kleinbauer (small farmer). (Latin: Soldanus / solarius / soldarius). Söldner can also be written without the umlaut, as "Soeldner." In some places, it can be written as Seldner. See also Solanus / Solani.
A Soeldner (small farmer) owned some fields and farm animals. To find out how large the farm was, take a look at the land records. For residents of the Oberpfalz ("Upper Palatinate" in English), these records are kept at the Staatsarchiv Amberg.
In some areas of the Oberpfalz, a Söldner had enough income from the farm to sustain the family.
In Niederbayern (Lower Bavaria) and the Oberpfalz - regions of Bavaria in the Bayerischer Wald (Bavarian Forest) - a Söldner was so poor that he could not live solely off the farm and so worked as day laborers or craftsmen. Some examples of the day laborer profession are weavers, shoemakers, and tailors: German: Weber (weaver), Schuhmacher (shoemaker), and Schneider (tailor). Latin: Textoris (weaver), Sutoris / Sutor (shoemaker), and Sartor (tailor).
Around the village of Roding, a Söldner were "Vollbauern" (full farmers).
Around Freyung and Waldkirchen, the Söldner could not live off the farm and so he had to also work as a day laborer (Tagelöhner).
Generally speaking, a Soeldner owned about 10 Tagwerk (a measurement of land). A Tagwerk (literally translated to "day work") was earlier known as a Wiese (a meadow) and was the size of a field that one man could mow in a day from sunrise until sunset. Later, a Tagwerk was the size (Ackergröße) of a field that a farmer could mow in a day using 4 horses.
A Söldner came in many sizes! In some areas, farmers were referred to as ½ Soeldner (half farmers) and ¼ Soeldner (quarter farmers). As farms were divided among the children and descendants, those farmers were called 1/8 Soeldner (one-eighth farmers), 1/16 Soeldner (one-sixteenth farmers), and 1/32 Soeldner (one-thirty-second) farmers. 1/32 farmers owned only about two small fields the size of one-half to one Tagwerk. The size of the property determined whether the farm was large enough to provide for the family.
A Tagelöhner or Taglöhner (day laborer) was a person that generally had no skilled profession, had very little money and owned no property. He worked at a day-to-day job, such as working as a hired hand on a farm (as needed) and did seasonal work. He received a small wage and food as compensation. Latin: operarius
A Vagabund is a "Herumziehender" or one who walks around and begs for food or money. The person doesn't own a house.
A Viertelhöfler Söldner was a "quarter" farmer that owned a Viertel-Hofes (a one quarter [1/4] courtyard).
Residential building; house
Sources
Reinhard Riepl (Finkenweg 26, 84478 Waldkraiburg). Wörterbuch zur Familien- und Heimatforschung in Bayern und Österreich. 2004. Druckerei Lanzinger, 84564 Oberbergkirchen. ISBN 3-00-013252-X. 451 pages. 2nd edition. Email: R.Riepl@t-online.de. This dictionary is a "must have" for anyone interested in family and local history in Bavaria and Austria.
Personal research by Georg J. Blau
Several dictionaries - Latin and German, printed and online
Page updated 17 Jan 2025