Re: Names for relatives in different languages « Reply #18 on Jan 27, 2006, 10:47pm »
Modern Eastern Syriac Aramaic
Father: Aba or Awa (Baba for Daddy). Mother: Imma (Prounounced Em-ma), and Yimma for Mommy. Son: Brona (The original is Bar). Daughter: Bratha (The original is Bartha). Grandson: Nawiga Granddaughter: Nawigtha Sister: Khatha Brother: Akhona Uncle: Ama (For Dad's brother and the A is letter Ayin) and Khala (For Mother's brother) Aunt: Amta (For Dad's sister and the A is letter Ayin) and Khalta (For Mother's sister) Grandfather: Sawa (Original is Saba) Grandmother: Sawta (Original is Sabta) Great grandfather: Sawa Rabba Great grandmother: Sawta Rabtha Cousin: We don't have a word for cousin, we usually say "Son/daughter of my aunt" and so on, let's say it's one of my aunt's daughters, I would say "Bartha d'khalti", and so on. Nephew: Same as cousin, we don't have a word for it, usually we say "Son of my brother/sister", so "Bara d'Akhoni/Khathi", or you could also say "Brona d'Akhoni/Khathi". Niece: Same as the above, but instead of son it would be daughter, so "Bartha d'Akhoni/Khathi". Husband: Zawga (Gawra in slang) Wife: Bat Zawga (Bakhta in slang) Spouse: Same as above.........
Re: Names for relatives in different languages « Reply #19 on Jan 27, 2006, 10:57pm »
Arabic,
Father: Ab Mother: Um Son: Ebn Daughter: Bint Grandson: Hafeed (It's a heavy H so 7) Granddaughter: Hafeeda (It's a heavy H so 7) Sister: Ukht Brother: Akh Uncle: Am (For dad's bro and the A is letter Ayin), Khal (For mom's bro) Aunt: Ama (For dad's sis and the A is letter Ayin), Khala (for mom's sis) Grandfather: Jid Grandmother: Jida Great grandfather: Jid al kabeer Great grandmother: Jida al kabeera Cousin: Same as Aramaic, they use Son/daughter of my uncle/aunt Nephew: Same as Aramaic, Son of my bro/sis. Niece: Same as above. Husband: Zawj Wife: Zawja Spouse: Same as above
Joined: May 2005 Gender: Male Posts: 60 Location: HauntedDodonaForum
Re: Names for relatives in different languages « Reply #20 on Feb 1, 2006, 7:37pm »
It seems that in most languages, the basis for the formation of the words for "mother" and "father" are those universal, almost innate baby-talk syllables; "pa-" or "ta-" (along with their voiced variants "ba-" / "da-") for "father" and "ma-" (or rarely "na-") for "mother".
Now, where a term different from the common baby-talk words has developped, it is usually being formed by adding a vowel prefix, most usually or initially, "a-". Indoeuropean language seems to makes the exception, at least as far as I know, by adding a suffix ("-ter"). Yet, it`s very interesting to see that the first and most common way of formation, (the "prefix way"), shows up in some IE languages too, regarding the term for "father". Take for example slavic otse/otats, gothic atta, latin atavus ("forefather", from which "atavism" derives).
Could the presence of such types be some kind of remnant from an early phase of the IE language, when probably there was no differentiation from other language families in forming these kinship terms, or it is just a matter of independent borrowings from various non IE languages?
I would appreciate if somebody here could provide an explanation or make any comment regarding my remarks.
Re: Names for relatives in different languages « Reply #21 on Feb 2, 2006, 1:39am »
It seems that the IE -ter was a kinship term, hence all the various "ters". The fact that some IE languages do it differently is just probable. Very rarely does a term go all the way across the board. The only one I can think of is "tri" for three, it seems to be present in every IE language. But, with other words, there are exceptions here and there, and sometimes the exceptions outnumber the words that conform to the pattern. I think that in the cases you presented, the languages "got a little creative" and created terms based on secondary terms (except that Latin did preserve "pater"). In the case of Gothic and Slavic, the secondary root seems to be "ta"-- you noticed that it's common in "daddy" words. It is conceivable that English someday replace father with "daddy", voilá the same would happen. It's already happening with "kid" replacing "child". In just 100 years of use, kid has spread like fire. And, to think, it really means baby goat... That should give future post-apocalyptic linguists something to think about. Why does English have this strange word for child? So, really it comes to a certain replacement of vocabulary rate in languages. I once saw an estimate, it was like 2% every 100 years-- it may vary for languages. Have you noticed how the words for legs, arms, body, head, hands tend to vary a lot among IE languages (as if the IE didn't have words for these!).
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