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Disclaimer * I do not speak or read French *

In researching French Canadian church records for burials, I have come across a volume that uses the same phrase as part of the standard script where other volumes have provided a relative temporal reference (e.g., décéde le hier jour). I have spent hours trying to figure out what this phrase means but between the cursive script and my lack of knowledge, I just can't figure it out. I take the meaning to be a non-specific phrase, like "died in recent days". I have four examples below that all should say the same thing (but the third one may be a variation); "décéde [something] jours". Can anyone give me a hint as to what the [something] is?

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This looks to me like décédée depuis deux jours for the first and second ones, décédée depuis quatre jours for the third one, and décédé depuis deux jours for the last one.

The meaning would be "dead since two days" (for a female), "dead since four days" (for a female) and "dead since two days" (for a male), respectively.

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  • Insofar as I can make them out, I agree. :) (I feel strongest about the third one...) Since the asker mentioned that s/he doesn't speak French, it might be good to provide a translation in this answer: "Passed away two/four days ago."
    – Luke Sawczak ♦
    Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 4:33
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    How did you read that? Oo'
    – Mistalis
    Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 12:49
  • @Mistalis I have sloppy handwriting myself ;)
    – qoba
    Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 14:49
  • Thank you so much!! "depuis" was the word I couldn't figure out. This is a big help to me :)
    – Donald Byrd
    Commented Mar 30, 2017 at 15:05

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