From: Peter P
Message: 22953
Date: 2003-06-10
> >(pop. and fam.) respect form to adress to a older man orFor the female connection in Hungarian maybe we should look at;
> >to an older brother.; respect word used by neffes
>
> nephews and nieces
>
> >for their uncles..
> >Etym.: unknown. look for comparation to SerboCroatin
> >"nenja" or Bulgarian "nena".
>
> Does your dictionary also contain "etym. unknown?"
> Mine only "compare with Bg. nenja and Sb. nena "mother."
>
> But let's also take this into consideration: in Hungarian
> "néni" ['ne:ni] means the femaie counterpart of the
> Romanian male "nene" (def. articled "nenea"). Except for
> the fact that the Hungarian néni is esp. an *aunt* and in
> general an older woman, whereas the Romanian "nene" can
> also be an elder brother, not only an uncle and an elder/
> older guy around. I don't know the etymology of the
> Hungarian néni, but I know that né-/nö- roots have
> family of words pertaining to "woman/women, feminine,
> female," "growth" and "Geschlecht", both in the sense
> of "gender" and "gens" (NB: noble = nemeS). I don't
> know whether "néni" is a derivation thereof or a mere
> phonetic-cum-semantic coincidence.
>
> So, take it easy, don't be in a hurry. All that
> glitters is not gold. ;)
>
> >Alex
>
> George