Gothic Script – an introduction

Learning to read Gothic script is necessary for anyone who wants to work with handwritten texts from before 1875, whether you’re a researcher, student, genealogist, etc.

Gothic script was the official script in Denmark and its dependencies and colonies until 1875.

The Gothic alphabet can be found both in printed and handwritten records. It can be a challenge to read, even for people who can read Danish, but you can learn to read it with a little patience.

Gothic script was used for both print and handwriting.

The printed script is quite simple to learn because once you can distinguish and recognize the different letters, they look the same every time.

Handwritten texts in Gothic script are a greater challenge than printed texts. This is due to the fact that every person had his or her own personal style of writing. Writing was also a tool for work and sometimes the text was written in a hurry, just like today.

In addition, the style of writing developed through the centuries. Texts from the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries look very different.

Until 1875, Gothic handwriting was the official script used by authorities and taught to children in school. After this, they switched to using Latin letters.

But even after 1875, you can encounter Gothic script in the archives. There was a certain adjustment period to the Latin font type.

During the 19th century, people had learned to write both alphabets in school. But the Latin script was mostly used for highlighting names and foreign words. Gothic script was used in everyday life.

Practice makes perfect!

For people who understand little Danish or none at all we recommend starting by taking the German Script Tutorial provided by Brigham Young University. The tutorial was developed for an English speaking audience to learn how to read texts written in Gothic script in the German language, but since the script is virtually identical to Danish Gothic script (both printed and handwritten), it is a very useful learning tool regardless of the language being German and not Danish.

German Script Tutorial (Brigham Young University)

When you have taken the tutorial, you should continue practising with texts in Gothic script and a table of Danish Gothic letters. You can start with a text in printed Gothic and continue with a text in Gothic handwriting from the archive.

Below you find other ressources including examples of Danish Gothic alphabets.

The names of old currency units can be difficult to interpret. Coins had different names through the centuries and the name was often abbreviated with a special symbol.