Re: [tied] Re: kinship systems

From: Piotr Gasiorowski
Message: 2946
Date: 2000-08-03

 
----- Original Message -----
From: Marc Verhaegen
To: cybalist@egroups.com
Sent: Thursday, August 03, 2000 9:40 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] Re: kinship systems
 
 
It was indeed ava in later Latin. But it's a good point: the derivation is not so straightforward as that of lupa or equa (after all, a grandmother is not simply a female grandfather). Avia is of adjectival origin (< 'belonging to a grandfather'), like patria from pater (another such pair is patri:tus 'inherited from one's father' and avi:tus 'ancestral'). However, the most important point is this: both avus and av(i)a refer indiscriminately to paternal and maternal grandparents.
 
Piotr
 
Piotr: Latin has avia 'grandmother', but that's a straightforward derivation from avus 'grandfather'.
 
Straigthforward: wouldn't that be ava?    --Marc