"Marc Verhaegen" <marc.verhaegen@...>
wrote:
> OK, thanks! As always, very informative! --Marc
> 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
Cyril I think speaks of Proto-Greek *aia as Grandmother. Could this
be from the same source?
John