From: Marc Verhaegen
Message: 2971
Date: 2000-08-05
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