Gary J Sibio
Aunt: The sister of your mother or father.
Avuncle: Maternal uncle, your mother’s brother. From the Latin which distinguished between mother’s brother and father’s brother. It is rarely used but can be found in some anthropology texts or in papers dealing with royal lineages.
Brother: A male sibling. It is generally used to refer to a male sibling who has both parents in common but can also be used of a male who shares only one parent (half-brother), a good friend or someone with whom you have a lot in common.
Brother-Consanguine: A half-brother sharing the same father. It can be found in old legal documents and discussions of inheritance and succession. If the half-brothers share the same mother, they are called brothers-uterine.
Brother-German: A full brother, a male sibling with both parents in common. “German” has nothing to do with the country; it comes from “germaine” which originally meant “of the same parents.”
Brother-Uterine: A half-brother sharing the same mother. It can be found in old legal documents and discussions of inheritance and succession. If the half-brothers share the same father, they are called brothers-consanguine.
Cousin (First Cousin): The offspring of a pair of aunts and uncles. A first cousin’s children, grandchildren, etc. are also considered to be your first cousin but they are considered once removed, twice removed,….
Second cousins refers to the relationship between your children and the children of your first cousins. Sometimes used in conjunction with ‘removed’ to specify the number of generations back the relationship goes. For example, a second cousin once removed is the second cousin of one of your parents. A second cousin twice removed is the second cousin of one of your grandparents.
Cousin-German: See double cousin.
Double Cousin: A full cousin; they share all four grandparents. This occurs when a pair of sisters marries a pair of brothers.
Eam: An uncle who is your mother’s brother. In some dialects a variation, “eme,” was used of an uncle or friend as late as the 19th century.
Fadu: An aunt who is our father’s sister. It comes from the Latinamitaand fell into disuse when we borrowed the more general “aunt” and “uncle” from French.
Father: Your male parent.
FÅ“dra: An Old English term for your father’s brother.
Grandfather: The father of one of your parents.
Grandmother: The mother of one of your parents.
Grandparents: The parents of your parents regardless of gender.
Great-Aunt: The aunt of one of your parents. Additional “Great-“s are added for each additional generation you go back.
Great-Grandfather: The father of one of your grandparents. Additional “Great-“s are added for each additional generation you go back.
Great-Grandmother: The mother of one of your grandparents. Additional “Great-“s are added for each additional generation you go back.
Great-Grandparents: The parents of your grandparents regardless of gender. Additional “Great-“s are added for each additional generation you go back.
Great-Uncle: The uncle of one of your parents. Additional “Great-“s are added for each additional generation you go back.
Half-Brother: A male sibling with whom you share one of your parents regardless of which parent.
Half-Sister: A female sibling with whom you share one of your parents regardless of which parent.
Machetonim: From Yiddish, the parents of your child’s spouse; your child’s in-laws.
Modrige: An Old English word for your mother’s sister.
Mother: Your female parent.
Nephew: The male offspring of your brother or sister or your spouse’s brother or sister.
Niblings: Not yet found in the dictionary, it is a gender-neutral term for nieces and nephews.
Niece: The female offspring of your brother or sister or your spouse’s brother or sister.
Patruel: A child of your paternal uncle (cousin) or a child of your brother (nephew or neice). It originated in 1538 according to the OED and hasn’t been used in quite a while. It was used in considerations of royal succession.
Sister: A female sibling. It is generally used to refer to a female sibling who has both parents in common but can also be used of a female who shares only one parent (half-sister), a good friend or someone with whom you have a lot in common.
Third Cousin: The grandchildren of a cousin. Sometimes used in conjunction with ‘removed’ to specify the number of generations back the relationship goes. For example, a third cousin once removed is the third cousin of one of your parents. A third cousin twice removed is the third cousin of one of your grandparents.
Uncle: The brother of your mother or father.
Sources
- Okrent, Arika. 12 Jan 2014. Mental Floss: 11 Little-Known Words for Specific Family Members http://mentalfloss.com/article/54486/11-little-known-words-specific-family-members
- Wikipedia: Cousin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin
- Wikipedia: Kinship Terminology http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinship_terminology
© 2018 Gary J. Sibio. All rights reserved.
Public domain clip art courtesy of clker.com
Very interesting list, Gary. Several terms are new to me, although I’ve been exposed to lots of genealogy as my wife used to work with this. Your definition of ‘third cousin’ seems at odds with that of ‘second cousin’; I agree that second cousins describes the relationship between children of first cousins, but by analogy, third cousins describes the relationship between children of second cousins. And so on. My wife found that she had a sixth cousin (by the definition I described) a few miles down the road, although she grew up far from here.
Also, I am in the happy position of having three double cousins 🙂
Apologies: I must have misread, as I see upon re-reading that your definition of third cousin agrees entirely with my own 😮