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Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais - UFMG Faculdade de Letras - FALE Lus Cludio de Andrade Melo

English Kinship Vocabulary

Belo Horizonte 2011 Lus Cludio de Andrade Melo

English Kinship Vocabulary

A monograph by Lus Cludio de Andrade Melo as a requirement of graduation course in English, focused in Linguistics, at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, under Professor PhD Jlio Cesar Vitorinos coordination.

Belo Horizonte Faculdade de Letras - UFMG 2011


Summary
Keywords: Comparative Linguistics, Historical Linguistics, English Etymology, Kinship Vocabulary. This present paper proposes to relate Proto-Indo-European roots in the English kinship vocabulary to highlight the importance of Comparative Linguistics as a research methodology. Comparing this set of lexicons from Proto-Indo-European to the Present Day English, focused on kin vocabulary starting from Ancient origins, it provides an analysis about the current state of the English language, and it also re-confirms the theory of IndoEuropean as a Proto-language of many Western Linguistic families.

Abstract
Palavras-chave: Lingstica Comparada, Lingstica Histrica, Etimologia, Vocabulrio de Parentesco. Esta presente monografia prope relacionar as razes Proto-indo-europias no vocabulrio de parentesco da lngua inglesa para destacar a importncia da Lingstica Comparada como metodologia de pesquisa. Comparando-se este conjunto de lxicos, desde o Proto-indo-europeu at o Ingls moderno, delimitados no vocabulrio de famlia que se inicia em eras antiqssimas - Pr-Histria; tambm reconfirma-se a teoria do Indo-europeu como a proto-lngua da maioria das famlias lingsticas ocidentais.

Abbreviations
< - coming from Adj - Adjective(s) Adv - Adverb(s) Arm - Armenian Av - Avestian c. (Circa di) - around a date. cf. - (Latin confer) to compare or consult. Czech - Czech Dan - Danish Du - Dutch Fr - French Fris - Frisian Ger - German Goth - Gothic Grk - Greek IE - Indo-European (Linguistic Family) Ir - Irish It -Italian Iug - Yugoslavian > - resulting in Lat - Latin Lith- Lithuanian M - Middle ME - Middle English MHG - Middle High German NE - Contemporary English O - Archaic OE - Old English OHG - Old High German ON - Scandinavian (Old Norse) P I E - Proto-Indo-European Pol - Polish Port - Portuguese Rum - Rumanian Russ - Russian Skt - Sanskrit Span - Spanish Sw - Swedish

6 Iur - Juridical language Toch A, B - Tocharian A and B

AD - Anno Domini. Used to designate number of years in the Gregorian calendar1. BC - Before Christ. Used to refer to previous years of the supposed birth of a Historical Jesus. * - This mark accompanying words or root words assigns a theoretically reconstructed vocabulary, attested indirectly by historical affiliated languages.

Contents

Introduction ............................................................................................................................. D eterm in ation s .............................................................................................. Kinship: From Proto-Indo-European to Modern English ..... E n glish P h on ology: A H isto rical P ersp ective ...................................................................... T h e G rea t V ow el S h ift .............................................................................................. Analysis: The Kinship Lexicon ............................................................................................... Conclusion................................................................................................................................ References ........................................................................................................................... Index.......................................................................................................................................

7 9 13 15 18 20 48 51 54

Cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar.

Introduction

The language, in abstract form, is a clear system of symbols acquired by men of each generation as a cultural heritage. It is a social pact that they spontaneously opposed to languages and cultures of other groups of men. There are no people unable to say: - That other people have a different language... I speak or do not speak that language, I understand or do not understand it. (Jackson, 1957: 3) In the XVIII century and throughout the period of Romanticism in Europe, the idealisation of a vernacular European language which would still represent the Mother of all modern languages boosted the Comparative Linguistic approach. In parallel with the India colonisation by Europeans, the first studies appeared and deepened the Linguistic researches of Sanskrit: Paulinus of St. Bartholomews Sanskrit Grammar in Rome, 1790 and H. Th. Colebrooks in Calcutta, 1805. Therefore, the first Compared Grammars were produced. August Friedrich Schlegel developed a linguistic typology which understands the languages by three distinctive groups: isolating (Chinese), inflectional (Indo-European) and agglutinative languages (Turkish).

In the early nineteenth century Franz Bopp (Mainz - German, 1791-1867) studied the relationship linking Sanskrit to the Greek, to Latin, to Persian and to Germanic Linguistic system (Bopp. ber das der Conigationssystem Sanskritsprache, in Vergleichung mit der jenem Griechischen, Lateinischen, Persischen Sprache und Germanischen - 18162). He was not the only one, nor the first one to notice similarities of Linguistic roots in such diverse linguistic branches; before him Sir William Jones, (England, 1746 - 1794 Calcutta) as an Eastern languages researcher, raised claims about the possibility of a Common European Ancestral Language. In the Asiatic Society (CalcuttaIndia) at February 2nd, 1786, W. Jones (who was also a lawyer) delivered his famous speech:
The Sanskrit language, whatever be its antiquity, is of a wonderful structure; more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either, yet bearing to both of them a stronger affinity, both in the roots of verbs and in the forms of grammars, than could possibly have been produced by accident; so strong, indeed, that no philologer could examine them all three, without believing them to have sprung from some common source, which, perhaps, no longer exists.

But it was Bopp who exquisitely realised that relations among languages could become subject of a specific Science: Comparative Linguistics. He founded the scientific comparative method in the XVIII century. This researcher was looking for the original language of Scandinavia and eventually he developed a scientific method of comparing languages. In the context of Comparative Linguistics, this monograph proposes to account the vocabulary with Indo-European roots appointing family relation in English. The
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English title: About the Sanskrit Conjugation System compared with Greek, Latin, Persian and German Language.

Comparative approach, systematically, looks for correspondences among the phonetic systems of the compared corpora. It is focused on IE languages in order to associate linguistic features shared by most of the Western societies concerning Kinship lexicon. Concisely, it is the delimited intended target presented in this paper.

Determinations

In our time, English language is the greater representative of the Indo-European linguistic family in the Western world: it is the native language of approximately 350 million people in the XXI century. English is one of many direct descendant languages of Proto-Indo-European, therefore in our days the Indo-European daughter-languages accounts about, as Saussure3 would say, the linguistic substance of nearly half the Earths population. English language is set by Linguistics as a Germanic one. It means that the native language of England is related (belongs to the same Linguistic family of German, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and some dead languages as Gothic and Old Norse) to the Northern European languages. Indo-European, according to WATKINS (2000, p. 8), is the name given to a huge and very well-defined linguistic family that includes most of the languages from past to present in Europe, also the languages found in most of Iran, Afghanistan and extending up to the half Northern Indian Subcontinent. Proto-Indo-European is used here, in an exact context, referring to the hypothetically reconstructed language which dates back Neolithic
3

Saussure, F. Cours de Linguistique Gnrale. Payot: Paris, 1916.

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Age (Pre-History). There is no direct certification concerning P I E. It is a very well structured Hypothesis based on Comparative Linguistics, Indo-European Linguistics, Archaeological and Historical evidences linked to those IE languages; sometimes they are called daughter-languages. Geographically, the Indo-European world expanded from Northern Europe Scandinavia - to the South - Italy and Greece; from the East in Asia - India - to Western borders of Europe - Iceland and Ireland. Linguistically, it has spread over other continents - North, Central and South America, Australia, Africa - through the colonisation process in the XVIII and XIX centuries. England spread Her Majestys language in Canada, the USA, Australia, South Africa and some Caribbean Islands. Spanish conquerors inflicted their language through Central and South American territory overwhelming hundreds of Native languages. Portuguese colonisers spread their language through Brazilian territory also suppressing hundreds of native speakers. Historically, the Proto-Indo-European dates back to Pre-History age being located within an estimate from 6000 BC to 3000 BC, according to Marija Gimbutas who in 1956 presented the "Kurgan Hypothesis" at an International Conference in Philadelphia4, USA. With this theory, she was the first researcher to join Archaeological and Linguistic knowledge to try solving the problem about the origins of the speaking peoples during Proto-Indo-European period - which she named "Kurgans" because of their distinctive way of burial. They buried the corpses in deep pits forming small mounds on the ground - the
4

Marler, Joan. Gimbutas: Life and Work. Pacific Graduate Institute. January, 1995.

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word kurgan means grave, tomb in Slavic. It has the same meaning in Turkish. This fact denotes religiosity and care for the dead ones in Human culture since Pre-Historic times. Although it is considered inappropriate in the main branch of Archaeology to interpret ideology of Pre-history societies, it became obvious to Marija, through researches in Archaeological sites, that many aspects in the Ancient European way of life confirmed a sophisticated religious symbolism. Furthermore, Gimbutas devoted herself to an exhaustive study of Neolithic images and symbols to try to discover their social and mythological significance. To achieve this, it was necessary to increase the focus of Archaeology including Historic and Descriptive Linguistics, Mythology and Comparative Religious Studies. She called this interdisciplinary approach of Archaeo-Mythology. Proto-Indo-European lexicon reconstruction is only possible, because there are no physical sources, through the Linguistic Comparative method applied into different languages present in distinct areas, which is called different Linguistic corridors; therefore we quote Sanskrit and Danish. Such Geographically distant languages testify a common origin of almost all modern languages of Europe and languages in parts of Asia. This ancestral language (a proto-language) we call in a classical form: Proto-IndoEuropean. Bias in Comparative Linguistics, since Franz Bopps About the Conjugation System5, constituent words and vocabulary of "dead languages" were rebuilt through a comparative methodology. As it is a broad subject which is based on Linguistics, Archaeology, Historic Linguistics, Philology and Hermeneutics, the limited perspective approached here concerns
5

Bopp. F. ber das Conigationssystem der Sanskritsprache, in Vergleichung mit jenem der Griechischen, Lateinischen Persischen und Germanischen Sprache - 1816.

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topics revised as major problems: while some English words have roots going remarkably faithful to Proto-Indo-European as father < (coming from) P I E * ptr other words have adverse etymological origins as daughter-in-law, which differs greatly from P I E word *snuss daughter-in-law. Another fact is while Proto-Indo-European words bloomed appointing the kinship between the woman and her partner's family, there are few terms that name the relationship between the husband and his wife's family. So what are the etymological origins of English words as son-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, motherin-law, father-in-law among others in the kinship English vocabulary? Such terms are absent from the original Proto-Indo-European lexicons, therefore they were generated in the daughter-languages, and according to Saussure, in times long after the propagating motion of linguistic waves 6 (SAUSSURE, 1916: p.238). The Comparative Linguistics importance concerning these words, from the ProtoIndo-European family vocabulary to the English lexicon, is to enable a detailed Historical analysis of the current state of the English language starting on Ancient origins; and theoretically re-confirm the Indo-European as a Proto-language for most of the Western linguistic families. While a common linguistic source is realisable for most part of Mankind, it is also clear we all share the same Habitat, we belong to the same - and single Race, and we have similar Social patterns which highlight how close human beings are. Linguistics has an important role in solving Historical quests, in dissolving prejudges and supporting researches to promote a better understanding among our Species: the Mankind.

Saussure, F. Cours de Linguistique Gnrale. Payot, Paris:1916. p 238.

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Kinship: From Proto-Indo-European to Modern English

The kind of Proto-Indo-European clan is named "joint family" contrasting to other Anthropological classes or social organisation patterns, as Matrilineal system for example: the Lycians described by Herodotus7. These clans - or these joint families - were characterised by the enormous power of a patriarch, the relatives were grouped under this head of the clan *ptr. Emile Benveniste8 (1995: p 203) mentions the fact that Serbia still had, on the XIX century, families in rural areas with these structural features. Their sons did not leave the clan when they married, so no new families were founded. In ProtoIndo-European world, usually, when the unions happened they introduced the woman within the "big family". In Neolithic times, it is elicited by Archaeology, those unions sought for exogenous women from other clans. For this reason, in many Indo-European languages the word for marriage corresponds to lead the woman - cf. Lat vxorem dvcere, Skt vadh, Av vdayeiti, Grk (also meaning a married woman or weds gift), Goth dy-weddio, all of them originally coming from the Indo-European root *wedh- to lead according to Benveniste (op. cit. 1995: p. 240). This fact would result in disrupted relation
7 8

In: E. H. Blakeney. The History of Herodotus. London. Everymans Library. 1910. Vol 1, p. 89) Benveniste, E. O Vocabulrio das Instituies Indo-europias. Campinas: Unicamp, 1995.

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with the woman's clan. Coming from a tradition of kidnapping women, the action of combining the couples' union avoided violent conflicts in the Proto-Indo-European world. They went by, then, through union agreements which finally resulted in the disruption of the women and their original families. Therefore there is an absence, or a very limited presence of terms describing the relationship between a man and his womans clan in the original Proto-Indo-European vocabulary. The words describing family relations, in general, belong to the more stable levels of the languages. In Indo-European linguistic families there is an important collection of these lexicons dating from the highest Antiquity. The inventory of them was established on the late XIX century, in a very well-known work by the German Linguist Delbrck (Bertold Delbrck, 1842 1922). To exemplify the Comparative method, it is presented the lexical analysis of kinship vocabulary from the Proto-Indo-European terms to the Contemporary English constituents. It is understood that primarily using languages encompassed in different linguistic corridors, it contributes to the reaffirmation of the Indo-European as Proto-Language of most languages in Europe and Central Asia. Furthermore, it reinforces the importance of Comparative Linguistics as a tool for Diachronic Linguistic researches.
9

Delbrck, B. Indogermanische Verwandtschaftsverhltnisse. 1890.

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English Phonology A Historical Perspective

English language is part of the Germanic linguistic family. Following BARBER (1993, p. 83), it is stated that this group is divided into three subgroups: the extinct East Germanic - containing Gothic, Vandals, Burgundians and other tribes; North Germanic containing Old Norse and Scandinavian; West Germanic - containing English, German, Dutch and Frisian. Within these Germanic areas there are many dialects, as naturally there are dialects in England. Historically these dialects are divided in Britain among three major areas (since from the Old English times): Northumbria An ancient dialect of Northern England, Mercian an ancient dialect located between the rivers Humber and Thames, Kentish an ancient dialect located in the Southeast England. It is possible to reconstruct the Historic phonological changes in English. This reconstruction is done through original attestations based on linguistic corpora from the researched period. External and internal linguistic evidences are important points for the basis of theories which may explain some phonological changes. External evidences - or extra-linguistic - are Historical data - usually coming from Archaeology - that confirms propositions applied to Language research. Internal evidences would be texts and papers that provide samples of the language studied

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at one specific point or throughout its History. Concerning diachronic phonological changes in English, since the rise of the AngloSaxons in Britain - V century - until the consolidation of a National language in England when the advent of the printing - XV century - marked huge volumes of attestation through this age, the British language passed through a History of big changes. They were resulted by invaders and settlers in the British Isles. It is History of diversity and cultural richness with Ancient origins - the Celts, Roman rides, Vikings and Norman invasions. The Celts invaded Britain around the year 1000 BC, when this great tribe spread across Europe 10 Spain, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and the UK - while the Netherlands was taken by the Frisians. In the year 55 BC the first Roman occupation came. The Latin language was introduced in Britain and even afterwards the Roman Legions departed - the collapse of the Roman Empire happened in the early V century AD - Latin remained a major influence up to XVIII century, mainly through the church and social institutions: The Law, Education and Sciences. The first Germanic tribes, according to SWANN (1996),

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History and Critical Archeology claim that there is no linguistic, archeological or genetic evidences to prove definitely which region Celtic people came from. Hallstatt culture (Southeast of Salzburg - Switzerland) or La Tne culture (North of Lake Nechltel - Switzerland) as the original area of the Celtic peoples has no absolute and final attestation. This concept would derive from a mistake made by the Historian Herodotus 2,500 years ago, in a commentary about the "Keltoi" Greek word to generalise the Celts - Herodotus located them in the headwaters of Danube, which he believed it was close to the Pyrenees Mountains. A Historical exact definition is that the Celts origins dates back to the development processes concerning the Iron Age. Archaeological data testify they were responsible for handling the introduction of Iron metallurgy in Europe. Not being a cohesive civilization, it was subdivided into different peoples: the Belgians, Gauls, Britons, Scots, Hollanders, Eburones, Galatians, Trinovantes and Caledonians. During the development of the Roman Empire, many of these people were responsible for naming the provinces that comprised the Roman domains (cf. Julius Caesar's De Bello Gallico). Around the Fifth century, Celts crossed the limits of the rivers Rhone, Danube and Sano. The presence of weapons and chariots attest the process of Celtic conquests in Southern Europe. After extending to other parts of Europe, they were fought by the forces of Roman Empire until an isolation in the west of Britain. Celtic society was organized by clans, where several families shared the fertile lands, but they preserved the individual property about the cattle. The hierarchy of their society was composed by: nobles, aristocracy (cattle owners), free men, servants, craftsmen and slaves. The priests, known as Druids, held great prestige and influence in Celtic societies.

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arrived in Britain between 410 AD and 600AD. In the VII century there was a mass colonisation of Angles and Saxon people arriving from Denmark and Germany, Jutes and Frisians from Netherlands. The native Celtic tribes were moved to remote areas - Ireland, Scotland and Wales. From the VII century AD to the year of 1100 AD, historically, it is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon period. During the VIII and IX centuries there were Vikings incursions. In 876 AD Wessex was attacked by three Danish kings (Vikings), Northern England and Scotland have been attacked by people from Norway - also known as Vikings. SWANN (1996, p. 96) specifies that in 1014 AD the Viking king Sveinn settled a Northern court in England - Jorvik (modern York - North of England). During this period, Danish and British mingled peacefully in Northern England and Scotland. Several Danish words were introduced in the North of Britain dialects. In the XI century there was the Norman invasion, it marked the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. The Normans introduced a variety of French (Norman French), which overflowed great influence in the English language until today. This is the period that Historians call Middle English (1100 AD 1450 AD). According to SWANN (1996), Britain was culturally subdued by the Normans: Norman language, Norman laws. Educated people were polyglot on that time, they wrote in Latin, Norman French and Middle English. From 1450 to 1750 AD - which includes the Renaissance, the Elizabethan Era, the age of Shakespeare, the advent of the Press in England - the role of the Church that used Latin and French declined, therefore English became the language of Government and Science. Big social changes happened in England through this period. Thus, a National language reinforced identity, independence and social patterns in Britain.

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This short summary about the History of English language involves internal and external linguistic evidences. It shows the results of cultural contacts which have influenced so profoundly, phonologically and lexically, the language of England. These facts may point to the reasons why the speech and the writing in English language became so distinct, so different; the differences among the phonemes and the linguistic signs in English.

"The Great Vowel Shift"

A linguistic change for which there is no defined proposal as contact with other languages as the cause of linguistic transformation is one, which characterises the current English pronunciation. This spelling, many times, corresponds to the pronunciation of the so-called "Middle English" (the English spoken by at least half of the XV century). 'Great Vowel Shift', was named so by the Danish Linguist and researcher Otto Jespersen (1860 1943). According to Jespersen, it occurred in a systematic way and it is seen as a kind of chain reaction. In fact, regarding the Middle English (located between 1100-1450 AD) the tonic vowels became all long in open syllables, regardless whether they were derived from long or short vowels in Old English, and resulted in descendants diphthongs - forming a vowel followed by a semi-vowel. Tonic long vowels are indicated not by chance and often as a repeated vowel, e. g.: oo, ee, or followed by another close phonetic vowel as: ea, oa, ou, which / ou / is a borrowing from French, where it indicated / u / as it still does now. It was a gradual process which began in Chaucer's11 time (early XV century) and continued
11

Geoffrey Chaucer: poet, writer, philosopher and astronomer. The first poet to be buried on the Westminster Abbeys Poets corner. UK. Author of Canterbury Tales.

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through the age of Shakespeare (early XVII century) extending through late XVII century. The articulation point moved upward in the mouth of English speakers. The long vowels, which began pronounced at the top, could not be moved farther up and then they became diphthongs. According to BARBER12, this change began with the diphthongisation of two close vowels: ME and ME , and then moved up into the space left. ME / / changed from / u: / to / u /, this diphthong became wider / u / in Chaucers age, and in Shakespeare time it lengthened again reaching / a /. ME / / changed from / i: / to the diphthong / Ii /, this diphthong slowly became wider / i / in Chaucers time, finally in Shakespeares period it became /ai/. Referring to Geoffrey Chaucers (c. 1343 AD - 1400 AD), and William Shakespeares (c. 1564 AD 1616 AD) literary works to illustrate those Historical periods, it just symbolises some literally registers produced between XIV and XVI centuries. It is listed the phonetic representation of each period concerning the English pronunciation; for further information we suggest the I P A official site 13 at the World Wide Web. We do not declare and do not assume that we have selected bellow Chaucers and Shakespeares spelling and idiolect (personal pronunciation and prosody), it is just a synchronic spelling pattern contrasting to Present day English: Words sample bride cut food goat
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Chaucers work / bri:d / / ku:t / / fo:d / / g:t /

Shakespeares work / brid / / kut / / fu:d / / go:t /

Present Day / braid / / kt / / fu:d / / gt /

Barber, Charles. The English Language: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University. 1993, p 191. 13 International Phonetic Association: http://www.langsci.ucl.ac.uk/ipa/

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green house knee make meat wife

/ gre:n / / hu:s / / kne: / / ma:k / / m:t / / wi:f /

/ gri:n / / hus / / kni: / / m:k / / me:t / / wif /

/ gri:n / / hus / / ni: / / meik / / mi:t / / waif /

The Kinship Lexicon:


Ancestors Lat (nominative) antecessrs > OF ancestres > ME ancestres > NE ancestors. OE: ealdfoederas is composed by eald old (from a P I E root *al- to grow) + foederas fathers (cf. father). Use and date: First occurrence in XIII century, attested in Chaucers Canterbury Tales
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spelt auncestres in Middle English. Attested in Robert of Brunne. Handlyng Synne. Roughburghe: F J Furniwall. 1.303 AD. p. 9. spelt ancestree contrasting to Chaucer (Opus Cit.) spelt auncestres. Other information: Words for ancestors in IE languages are from sources meaning born before, going before, elders, fore fathers. Grk means fore fathers, ON forfer , Dan forfoedre, SW frfder, ME forfadres, Du Voorvaderen all of them literally mean fore fathers, OE ealdfoederas is plural of ealdfoeder grandfather, OHG, MHG and Germ formed with alt(old) plus Vorden (former). Skt pitaras means fathers according to Etymological Dictionary of English Language15. Derivates: ancestral (adj), ancestry (noun), ancestress (noun).
14 15

Chaucer, Geoffrey. Canterbury Tales. London: S.N.1394 AD Skeat W.W. Etymological Dictionary of English Language. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1953.

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Bachelor Uncertain Etymology. Skeat16 and Oxford17 present a possible origin in MLat baccalrius a labour man in an estate, although its source and connection are doubtful. OF bacheler a young man aspiring to knighthood > ME bacheler unmarried young man. Use and date: XIV century. ME. Attested in Robert of Gloucester 18. pp. 77, 228, 453, and in Chaucer. Canterbury Tales. Prologue, p. 80. Other Information: In Neo-Latin languages it is found: Fr bachellier, Provenal baccalar, It baccalaro. From Romance root *baccalris > Span bachiller, Port bacharel. Celtic root *bakalkos means shepherd, OIr bachlach means peasant. Symmetric lexicon: see Spinster. Bride NE bride < ME bryde < OE bryd < Teutonic root *briz. P I E root *mr-ti means promised; cf Skt bravmi promised and Celtic root *mr I say, I promise. PanGermanic word: OHG rt, Ger Braut, O Frisian brd, Old Saxon brd, ON brr, Goth brps, Du bruid, Sw and Dan brud. Phonetics: P I E *m > NE / b / - loss of a nasal consonant. Use and date: Attested in ME - XV Century - spelt bryde in Prompt. Parv.19, p. 50 and in William Caxtons The Golden Legend. 2.62220.
16 17

Op. Cit. 1953. Onions C. T. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford: Claredon, 1.966. 18 Robert of Gloucester. Chronicles. Oxford: T.Hearne 1.298 AD 19 Father Galfrido (Fratre Galfrido, Grammatico dicto). Promptorivm Parvvlorvm sive Clericorvm Dictionarius Anglo-Latinvs Princeps. A. Way, Camden. Circa di 1.440 AD 20 Caxton, W. The Golden Legend. London: S.N. 1.483 AD. Re-printed F. S. Ellis & W. Morris. London. 1.892

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Other Information: Original P I E vocabulary lacks words for bride and groom as it just used terms for man (*uiros) and woman (*gwen ), as attested by Historical IE languages. cf Grk, Skt, Av, Ir. Symmetric lexicon: see Groom. Brother The Proto-Indo-European root *bher protect or bear possibly relates to *bhrter as the protector of the sisters. This P I E word is widespread in the daughter-languages, it is witnessed in all IE linguistic families: OE brthor, ME brother, OHG bruodar, MHG brooder, Ger Bruder, Grk , Skt bhrtar, Av bhrtar, Ir brth(a)ir, ON brir, Dan broder, Sw broder, Lith broterlis, Russ brat, Pol brat e Czech brat. Lat frater is also a Pan-Germanic word. Phonetics: The sound of the voiced oclusive aspirated consonant P I E *bh > b (resulted in) English voiced consonant / b /, as through all Germanic group (Grimms law First rotacism); -th is a regular phonetic evolution from P I E *t. -th present in English brother as an analogy to mother, father where the regular phonetic evolution is /d/ according to Verners Law. cf OE fder and OHG fater: (Grimms Law - Second rotacism). Use and date: XIV Century atestted in Chaucer. Cantebury Tales, 1.394 AD. Prologue. Other information: The Greek word was frequently related to a member of a brotherhood , while the word verbatim means from the

same womb indicating brother by blood. Span hermano and Port irmo are words derived from Latin germanvs < germen sprout, germ in the expression frater germanus. In Tocharian A- pracar and B- procer (/c/ is always a palatised /ts/).

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Derivatives: half-brother (noun), brother-in-law (noun), brotherhood (noun), brotherlike (adv), brotherly (adv), brotherliness (noun). Symmetric lexicon: see Sister.

Cousin: as a stricter sense of first cousin or cousin-german. XII century Middle English, from OFr cosin, cf. Fr cousin nephew, kinsman, cousin < Latin consobrinus cousin and originally meaning the mother's sister's son (con"together" + sobrinus nephew) cousin on mother's side. Phonetics: cousin has a French model adapted to English spelling. Use and date: ME attested in Robert of Gloucester. Chronicles. p. 91, l. 2019 and in Chaucers Cantebury Tales.A.113. It is spelt kosin in Political Songs.p. 343. c. 1.310. Other information: Many I E languages (Irish, Sanskrit, Slavic and some of the Germanic languages) have separate words for some of the eight possible "cousin" relationships, for example: Latin which along with consobrinus mother's sister's son, had consobrina mother's sister's daughter, patruelis father's brother's son and atruelis mother's

brother's son, amitinus father's sister's son, and so on. OE distinguished fderan sunu father's brother's son, modrigan sunu mother's sister's son, OHG fetirun sunu father's brother's son, heimessun father's sister's son, muomunsun mother's brother's son and feteintother mother's sister's son. ON broerungr, broerunga, Skt bhrtvya, matvasey, OHG fetirun sunu, heimessun, Russ dvojurodnyi brat, dvojurodnaja sestra, means specifically fathers brothers son (or daughter) and fathers sisters son (or daughter) and so on, as these are phrases containing words for son/daughter + brother/sister

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+ father/mother. Pol kuzyn, kuzyna, Czech bratranec, sestrenice expresses cousin by paternal lineage. It. cugino, Dan. kusine, Pol. kuzyn also follow the French model. Ger. Vetter comes from O.H.G. fetiro "uncle". Spanish and Portuguese words primo, prima relate with Lat primvs probably from phrases with sobrino, sobrina relating degree of kinship (primvs = first). Words for cousin tend to drift to "nephew" on the notion of "father's nephew, used familiarly as an addressing term since early XV Century, especially in Cornwall, UK. Derivatives: The phrase kissing cousin is a Southern U.S. expression around 1940s, apparently denoting "those close enough to be kissed in salutation"; Kentish cousin (1.796 AD) is an old British term for "distant relative". Daughter The reconstructed P I E word *dhugter has obscure root connections. The root dhu- may indicate milk, agreeing with the Sanskrit word duh milk. Therefore *dhugter may refer to the one who milks; the girl responsible for milking, according to a determined social function in the family. Phonetics: P I E dh > d (disaspiration) > t in Germanic group according to Grimms Law. Pan-Germanic word: OE dohtor, ME doughter, OHG tohter, MHG tohter, Ger Tochter, in Scandinavian: ON dttir, Dan datter and Sw dotter. Use and date: XIV Century. In Old English occurred dehtren- plural. cf. Homilies, I 247; deter occurs in Allit Poems, ed. Morris, ii 270. Other information: In ME literature varies doghter, doughter, douther, dohter, dowter and the plural dohtren occurs in Layamon, i 124, l. 2.924. In Grk , Skt duhit,

Av dugdar, Persian duxt, Lith dukt and in Slavic languages: Russ dochri, Pol crka and

25

Czech dcera. Concerning the parents vocabulary, the word child usually expresses the same meaning of daughter even in Modern English, just like the word girl. This application is also present in many others Indo-European languages. Latin word indigena means born in, native, and the Irish word ingena (ogam) means girl. Letton has the word meita for girl. Derivatives: daughter-in-law (noun), daughterless (adj). Symmetric lexicon: see Son. Descendant Lat dscendere come down > OFr descendre > ME desceden > NE descendant. Words for descendant in IE languages are from obvious sources as born from, coming from, coming after. ME offspring (as a compound name) af (from) plus spring meaning which springs from. Lat d (down) and scandere (to climb) = descending. Use and date: XIV century. Attested in Robert of Brunne. Handlyng Synne. Roughburghe: FJ Furniwall.1.303 AD. pp 134 and 243, spelt descenden. Other information: ON ofspringr was model to OE and ME ofspring. OHG aftar-kumft, MHG afterkunft, Ger Abkmmlige are compound names of after and come. Dan efterkomere, Sw avkomlingar, Du afkomeligen also follow this model. Ir aui is plural of aue (grandfather) also used for descendants, Grk having birth from. Family Lat familia > OF famille > ME familie > NE family. Lat familia originally meant the body of servants, household, derived from Lat famvlvs servant. OE hwan family follows the OHG model hwo husband. Pan-Germanic word: OHG hwiski family, MHG

26

hiwische family, Ger familie follows the Lat model. Goth heiwa-frauja master of the house also means family. Use and date: XV century. Attested in Caxtons The Golden Legend. London: S.N. c. 1483 AD, spelt famylye. Other Information: Ir teglach, Welsh teulu (formed after OIr tech house) also means family. Grk , means house and family in a wide sense they share the same meaning (house = family) e.g.: The Royal House or The House of Atreus. Skt kula means family, and also herd or crowd, Av nfa means navel and family, kinship. Father P I E root pr (cf. BUCK): *ptr, Skt- pitr, Av. pitar, Grk (patr), Toch A pcar, Toch B pcar, Lat pater, O Ir. athir, Arm. hayr. Phonetics: f < *p according to Grimms law; a < *H2, cf. Grk a, Lat a, Skt i. -th by analogy to mother, brother. As the regular evolution is /d/ according to Verners law, for this syllable - ther should be stressed. cf. OE fder (with the regular evolution according to Grimms law), OHG fater (regular form within the Second Rotacism). Pan-Germanic word: OHG- fater, MHG- vater, Ger- Vater, OE- fder, ME- fader, ON- fair, Dan- fader, Swfader. Use and date: The word *ptr dates back to Antiquity (Pre-History). In Middle English the spelling fader is universal attested by Chaucers works, cf. Canteburry Tales. p. 222. XIV century. fader also appeared in the English Bible of 1.551 AD. Other information: From nursery language, P I E *atta / *tata reflects affectiveness between parents and sons expressed in language since Pre-Histoy times, and it lingers on in

27

modern languages without a big lexical variation: Skt tats, Hitite attas, Grk

, Lat atta/tata, Goth atta. In Italian the word babbois synonym for pappa < Lat padre. In Modern English the use of Pa is universal may be dued to loan from NeoLatin languages, cf. French, Span, It and Port. Derivatives: father-in-law (noun), godfather (noun), fatherland (noun), fatherhood (noun), fatherless (adj); fatherly and also father-land (obsolet) is a term borrowed from Dutch. cf. Curiosities of Literature, History of New Words by I. DIsraeli, the word fatherland occurred in England before that in 1.623 AD. Symmetric lexicon: see Mother. Grand daughter and Grandson. XIV Century c.1300 AD. Compound nouns formed after the OFr pair grand-pre, grandame. OFris. neveu "grandson, descendant," from Latin nepotem (nominative nepos) "grandson, descendant," < P I E *nepot- "grandchild," and in a general sense "male descendant other than son" cf. Skt. napat "grandson, descendant", OPers napat"grandson", OLith nepuotis "grandson", OE nefa, Ger Neffe "nephew", OIr nia "son of a sister". grandson was used in English in both senses of nephew or grandson until the meaning was narrowed in XVII Century, and also used as an euphemism for "the illegitimate son of an ecclesiastic" in England during the XVI century. Phonetics: cf grandfather, son and daughter. Date and use: XVI century. grandson, grand daughter are compound names after French model grand pre, They were terms with extended structures received from OF during the XIV century.

28

Other Information: In OE suna sunu, suna dohtor; dohtor dohtor; dohtor sunu, also in ME, Grk, ON, Dan, Sw the terms grandson, granddaughter are expressed by sons daughter, daughters daughter and so on. Words similar to childs child also are common in Grk and in Gothic barnbarna. *nept (P I E) and *nepit (P I E) are reconstructed words based on the following languages: grandson OE- nefa ME- neveu OHG- nevo; enichil MHG- enenckel Ger- Enkel Skt- npt Av- napt Grk- ON- sonar-sonr; dttur-sonr Dan- snnesn; datterson Sw- sonson; dotterson grand daughter OE- nefi ME- nece OHG- nift MHG- niftel Ger- Enkelin Skt- putri; duhitr Av- napt Grk- ON- sonar-dottir; dottur-dttir Dan- snnerdatter; datter-datter Sw- sondotter; dotterdotter

Hence words for grandson and granddaughter are the same to nephew and niece as seen in Lat nepos, neptis; Italian nipote grandson, grand daughter, niece and nephew. Rumanian nepot, nepota also used in both senses of grandson and nephew. French petit fils attested by XIII century. Grandfather The word grandfather is a direct borrowing from French grand-pre, it was a process started at the time of the Norman domination in England dated at 1100 AD, under Norman language and government there were many changes in England concerning the Old English vocabulary, once this language became politically forbidden (Old English period c. 450AD 1100AD). OE presented ealdfoeder old father.

29

Phonetics: The P I E term *awos > Lat avvs, Goth awo, O Prussian awis (these are direct descendants from P I E), all of them mean grandfather. The English word, partially, kept the Norman French spelling and meaning cf Father. Use and date: XVI Century. Grauntsire is attested in XV century where graunt was an adoption from Old Frisian, current earlier in ME - XIII to XVI centuries. Graund-father is attested in Berners, Froissart, vol. 1 C3. The French model uses the lexicon father or mother with adjectives meaning great - grand-pre. Other information: There is indirect relation between P I E *awo and NE uncle (cf. s.v.). It is possible to reconfirm the use of specific words meaning the fathers or the mothers father grandfather and grandmother in P I E world. Either it is reconstructed *awo beginning from words present in all correspondent forms in Neo-Latin languages: av (Port), avolo (Ital), abuelo (Span) among others; ON afi is also related with the P I E word. In Modern Italian the traditional word avo is replaced by nonno (man) and nonna (woman): they are pet names of nana type. In other IE languages grandfather and grandmother may be expressed by terms as: fathers father, mothers father and fathers mother, mother s mother as present in ON four-fair, four-mour, Sw farfar; morfar (fathers father; fathers mother) and Homer Greek . The Greek word is an appealing name and a nursery term. Hitite huhha kept an old laringal phoneme /h/, which disappeared in other languages, but it manifests itself indirectly through tone changes or changes of vowel quantities. Armenian haw has a secondary aspiration marked as a more recent phenomenon than in the case of Hittite. Etymologically the Armenian haw assumes an old initial vowel. Other languages use the lexicon father or mother with adjectives

30

meaning great, old, or best as in French grand-pre. This French structure was the model of the Rumanian tata mare (mare= great), ME grauntsire and Ger GrossVater also followed the French type. Irish senatyr and OE eald foeder have the same structure as sen and eald meaning old. Sanskrit pitmaha means paternal grandfather, where maha means great. Therefore pitmahi means paternal grandmother according to Delbrck (Op. Cit. p 474) both are compound nouns that are explained after an imitation from other compound name, formed by specular duplication mahmaha very large, almighty; it points to a later time of this designation. Furthermore, the Sanskrit word does not agree with Iranian, Avestian, Old Persian that have a different word - nyka grandfather and the Modern Persian - niy grandfather. Symmetric lexicon: see Grandmother Grandmother For the word grandmother in P I E there are linguistic traces about the use of the word *awos also for women. OHG ano, MHG ane relate to Latin anus (old woman), they are pet names of anna type. In OE the original word is ealdmdor which means old mother compound by eald. In English, again there was a French language influence which resulted in grandmother < grandmr. ME grandame came from Old French grauntsire. Dutch grootmeder and German Grossmutter were also modelled after the French language. Phonetics: cf grandfather e mother. Use and date: XVI century. Grandme > Graun Dame in XIII century. Grandame occurs in St. Marharete, ed. Cockayne p.22, l32. Graund-mother is attested in Fabyan, Vol. 1, C 124; ed Ellis, p 102.

31

Other information: Greek is a pet name contrasting to and mother, and later means grandmother. In Latin there was avia and later ava. Either Port av, Span abuela, French aeule are related with diminutive forms of Latin. ON amma is a pet name originated as an endearing term. Therefore, either it is possible to infer the word *anos old woman as a P I E one, cf OHG ana, Grk , Lat anus (old woman), Prussian ane, NE nanny, Hitite hanna. Skt mtmahi is also a compound name. Av nyk. Scandinavian group: ON mur mir (mothers mother) and mur fair (fathers mother), Dan bedstemor, Sw farmor and mormor (fathers mother and mothers mother). In Slavic group there is no distinction between fathers mother and mothers mother: Russ babuka, Pol babka, Czech baba, as well as in English, Port, Span, Italian, and others Modern IE languages. Symmetric lexicon: see Grandfather. Groom: in the stricter sense of a man newly married. Old Saxon brdi > OE brydguma > ME grm, maybe from Du grom (meaning offspring,children). The form groom is corrupted, altered by assimilation in Contemporary English from the word bridegroom. In XII century, groom meant a boy, while in XIV century it meant a servant man or a man. groom is a word of difficult etymology. A possible development could be ME grm < MDu grom > Du bruidegom. Even though, it is a Pan-Germanic word: OHG brtigomo, Ger Brutigam, ON brigumi, Icelandic brigumi, Sw brudgum, Dan brudgom, Du bruidegom, OE brydguma, NE bridegroom. In older authors it is also found the spelling (ME) bredgome,

32

Date and use: XIII century. Attested in Robert of Gloucester21, especially in the sense of a horse attendant according to Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. In XIV century attested in Ayenbite of Inwyt22. p. 233. (c 1.340 AD). Other Information: Despite the difficult etymology, groom may present the OE root gr (to grow) plus a Teutonic suffix mo. According to quotations from XII to XIV centuries the original sense seemed to be a boy. It is also spelt bredgome in Kentish and all Northern England dialects. In original P I E vocabulary there is no such term as bridegroom or bride. Historical IE languages simply point to the use of terms as man and woman. cf Grk, Skt, Av, Ir. Symmetric lexicon: see Bride. Husband Late OE hsbonda < ON hsbondi the master of a house, cf Dan hs (house) and bond (dwell), band is a contraction of ON *bandi, buandi as a use of ba, bua (dwell, to have a house) equally present in OE. Date and Use: XIII century attested in OE husebondi: Homilies. Ed Morris, I, 247. In ME it is spelt housbonderye in P. Plowman23. B. I, p. 57 Canterburry Tales. 9172 (E1.296). Other information: Husband is not an original OE word, as it was borrowed from Scandinavian languages (cf ON). Words for husband in IE languages is commonly represented by the use of words meaning man, at least in oral and colloquial language. P I
21 22

and

housbondrye in Chaucer.

Robert of Gloucester. Chronicles. Oxford: T.Hearne 1.298 AD. Dan Michel of Northgate. Ayenbite of Inwit (or Remorse of Conscience). London: R. Morris. c 1.340 23 Piers Plowman. The Vision of William. London: S.N. 1.362 AD

33

E used the word *uiros (man) cf. Celtic *wiros, Proto-Germanic *weraz, Lat vir. Lat maritus > It marito, Fr mari, Sp and Port marido. Derivatives: husbandry. Symmetric lexicon: see Wife.

In-Law: Father-in-law, Mother-in-law, Brother-in-law, Sister-in-law, Daughter-in-law, Son-in-law. XIV century. Use of phrase in-law attached to a kinship noun to denote connection by marriage (c 1.300 AD) formed after Anglo-Norman: en-ley > OF en loi(de mariage). All these English compound names follow the French type: 1) Father-in-Law XIV century. Formerly used also for stepfather, meaning father in canon of the law contrasting to father by blood. Attested in Chaucers Legend of Good Women. p. 2.272: . . .Un to his fadir in lawe gan he preye. c. 1.385 AD. P I E *swkuros, formed by a compound name from a reflexive pronoun *swe. Use and date: ME fadyr in lawe and brother in lawe quotable from circa di 1.300AD, cf. frr en loi in English parliamentary records of 1.386 AD, Rot. Parliaments III, p. 216b. father-in-law is attested in Chaucers Philomene (XIV century), Cantebury Tales and Legend of Good Women, all spelt fadir in lawe. Shakespeares Richard III, V. III 8I spells: Noble Father in Law . . . 1.594 AD. Other information: P I E word *swkuros father-in-law would relate a woman to her husbands father (pter famili). Therefore, originally it was only used by the wife toward

34

her husbands father or mother. cf. Vedic Sanskrit, Homeric Greek and Slavic, elsewhere the differiation is lost. The original P I E words named the family relationship only denoting the connexion between the wife and her husbands family. Terms for the relationship between the husband and the wifes relatives are from later origin. This kind of kinship has been constructed by words denoting relation by marriage, or by coined phrases with a common element, analogous to the expression in-law. OE swor, ME fadyr in lawe, OHG swehur, MHG sweher, Ger SchwiegerVater, Skt vacura, Av Xvasura, Grk , ON verfadir, Dan svigerfar, Sw svrfar, Russ svekor, Pol wiekier, Czech svekr. 2) Mother-in-Law XIV century. Attested in Promp. Parv. 341/1 24, spelt moodur in lawe. ME also spelt moer of law. 3) Daughter-in-law

XIV century. PIE *snusos is a reconstructed word attested in distant IE linguistic areas: Skt snus, Grk , 4) Son-in-law Ger Schnur, OE snoru, OSlavic snuxa.

XIV century. ME. There is no term for son-in-law" in the origins of P I E, because there is indication of relation disruption between the family of the woman and her man. Through linguistic comparisons of the daugther- languages, it is reconstructed the root *gem marry, cf Lat gener, whence the Portuguese word genro son in law and Spanish yerno < Lat gener.
24

Father Galfrido (Fratre Galfrido, Grammatico dicto). Promptorivm Parvvlorvm sive Clericorvm Dictionarius Anglo-Latinvs Princeps. Camden: A. Way. Circa di 1.440 AD

35

5)

Brother-in-law

XIV century. ME. Despite many phonetic difficulties to attest the word son-inlaw in P I E original vocabulary, it is possible to consider *daiur a P I E word. It is a reconstructed based on the following languages: OE tacor, Skt devar, OHG zeihhur, Grk , 6) Lit dieveris, OSlavic deverb, Lat levir. Sister-in-law

XIV Century. ME. P I E *gl[u]s sister-in-law (Husbands sister) is reconstructed based on IE languages: Grk , Mother Anciet Indo-European root *m, cf. *mter (WATKINS. 2000), probably starting from a nursery word -ma. In Skt mtar, Av. mtar, Grk , Toch A mcar, Toch B mcer, Lat mater. Phonetics: Pan-Germanic word OHG muotar, MHG muoter, Ger Mutter, OE mdor, ME moder, ON mir, Dan moder, Sw moder. Hence the long vowel o < P I E . th<*t. t would be the expected result applying the Grimm's law, in Middle English it is spelled moder , cf. Chaucer, Canteburry Tales. 5261 (B841). It is difficult to define how the spelling mother came to be the standard form, perhaps by analogy with fader, or maybe due to dialectal influence according to Etymological Dictionary of English Language25. Use and date: P I E root *ma and the word *matr dates back Ancient period (Pre-History). Lat gls, Russ zolov-(ka), O Slavic zlva.

25

Skeat, W.W. Etymological dictionary of English Language. Oxford. Claredon Press. 1953.

36

Other information: In other IE groups, as Armenian, the word has changed and loosen the original t due to rotacism, Toch A and B has kept the original P I E *t but it was palatised in mcar (c = ts). In Lat mater, Ir mthir, Lith mote (also married woman), Russ mat, Pol matka, Czech matka. From nursery language: *m/*mma, starting from a Proto-IndoEuropean -ma type word. The Armenian word mair has changed and lost the -t due to rotacism. Modern Persian presents mma, Lith mam, Russ mma, Ger Mamme. Derivatives: mother-in-law (noun), godmother (noun), step-mother (noun), motherland (noun), motherhood (noun), motherly (adj), motherliness (noun), motherless (adj), also cf. Matrix and matron. Symmetric lexicon: see Father. Nephew and Niece The English word nephew was a loan from OFr neveu (c. XIII century). It would attest the P I E word *nepos. It still misses elements for the reconstruction of the term niece in the P I E original vocabulary. The English word niece derives from OFr nice, this word is linked to Lat neptia. In OE there is nift linked to the Germanic root *neftiz. It also attests the P I E root *nept (changing from grandson to nephew) and *nept (changing from grand daughter to niece), these were attested by IE daughter-languages within different lexicons: nephew OE- nefa ME- nefa OHG- nevo MHG- brderson Ger- Neffe niece OE- nift ME- nece OHG- nift MHG- brdertochter Ger- Nichte

37

Grk- Skt- bhrtrya, bhrtuh putra brothers son, sisters son Av- bhrtruya ON- nefi Dan- brodersn; sstersn brothers son, sisters son Sw- brorson; systerson brothers son, sisters son Lat- neps Old Lithuanian - nepuotis Russ- plemjannik Pol- synowwiec; bratanek brothers son, sisters son Czech- synovec; bratrovec brothers son, sisters son

Grk - Skt- svasry Av- bhrtruy ON- nipt Dan- broder datter; ssterdatter Sw- brorsdotter; systerdotter Lat - neptis Lithuanian - nepte Russ- plemjannica Pol- synowica; siostrzenica Czech- bratrovna; net

Phonetics: ph in nephew is a substitute for the older phoneme /v/, often written with u in Middle English. Use and date: Nephew: XIII century, In Robert of Gloucester26. p. 169, l. 3529 it is spelled neveu XVI Century; attested in Chaucer. Legend of Good Women, l. 2659, spelled nevew. Niece: ME (spelled nece), attested in Robert of Gloucester. p. 353 l. 7252. Spelled neyce in King Alisaunder, l. 1.712 Other information: Apart from phrases or compound names meaning brothers son, sisters son, both terms belong to the Indo-European branches related to *nepot, in some languages with interchange between nephew and grandson. In Germanic, Slavic and Celtic groups, the words mean nephew, indeed it always refers to the sisters son, where it becomes the residual use of the word Nepotism, as we shall see it. In Sanskrit bhrtrya means brothers son and also cousin. In Russian plemjannik is nephew where plemja means clan, family. The modern Persian word nave always refers to grandson; for nephew Persian employs descriptive compound names son of the brother and son of the sister. *neps also could mean granddaughter in P I E original vocabulary. It is a
26

Robert of Gloucester. Chronicles. Oxford: T.Hearne. c. 1.298 AD

38

possible reconstruction through records in some Indo-European languages which use this same word as described above. The Comparative Method, in a way that proves it out, according to the compared corpora which came from different languages, different societies and since long ago, presents that words derived from P I E *nepos show such variation between grandson to nephew. Nevertheless it is not a vague term in meaning; in this case the word describes an affective and privileged relation between grandfather and his grandson, between the maternal uncle and his nephew, and consequently also with the mother, as Benveniste27 brilliantly concluded:
In a study of case, by Joseph Loth about the meaning of *nepos in Latin inscriptions from Old Britain, showed that this word always appoints the sister's son; Nepos, therefore, has the same meaning as its counterpart in Celtic nia (Irish) and nei (Welsh) designating the sisters son; while "the brothers son" in Irish is mac brathar (descriptive term). (...) When designating "nephew", Nepos often contains an affective value: the nephew is a spoiled, loose, and profligated child. This connotation implies a certain kind of special relationship between the nephew and the brother of his mother, since the Antiquity.

*nepos is a P I E word with defined meaning despite the variation between nephew and / or grandson depending on the resulted lexicon in the I E daughter-languages. Orphan Late Lat orphanus parentless child Contrasting to Lat orbus < > OFr orfene > ME orphan > NE orphan. (orphan, literally deprived from

Grk

bereft). The Germanic root *weis < P I E root *weidh- separate (the same root as in widow) > Pan-Germanic model: OHG weiso, MHG weise, Ger Waise. ON four-lauss and

27

Benveniste, E. O Vocabulrio das Instituies indo-europias. Campinas: Unicamp, 1995. p. 232.

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mour-lauss literally fatherless, motherless, Dan forldrels and Sw frldralst mean parentless, OE stopcild stepchild Use and date: ME. Chaucer. Boethius - translation London. bII. p. 3, line 21 spelt orphelin ( OF ), c 1.380 AD. Sir T. More. Works. London: R.Robson. 1.535 AD. p. 173 spells orphanes. Other Information: P I E *orbho- bereft of father also deprived from root *orbh- to change allegiance, to pass from one status to another cf. Hittite harb- change allegiance, Lat orbus bereft, Arm orb orphan, OIr orbe heir, Goth arbja, OFris arbed and OE earfo hardship, suffering, trouble, Skt arbhah weak, child and antha fatherless. In Neo-Latin languages: It orfano, Span hurfano, Port rfo, Fr orphelin, Rum orfan. Derivatives: Orphaned; orphaning. Parents The word parentes was introduced in Middle English (ME) through Latin. Ages before that, at the time of Roman occupation in Britain many communities have become bi-lingual (Celtic, Latin and Old English. Later on, Latin and Middle English) according to SWANN 28 (2000). The word is also present on Fr.parents (formerly parents and relatives), according to BUCK (104) the French word parents > ME parents > NE parents. Lat: parentes (Present Participle of pario, -is, -ere used as a noun (plural) < P I E root per1 to produce which passed to Lat *par- > parns, parentes.

28

Swann, J. History of English. London: Routledge, 1996.

40

Phonetics: f Germanic < P I E *p, according to the Grimms law; a < * H2, cf. Lat. a, Skt changed to i. Lat parentes, Grk. , Skt pitaru, Av pitar < P I E root per1 to produce which passed to Lat *par- > parns, parentes. Accepting the Swann's view, the word underwent a final syncope effect, due to the initial English accent. Accepting Buck's thesis, it kept the French spelling with a simple adaptation to English pronunciation. Use and date: It dates back to ME. XVI century attested on Geneva Bible, 1.561, Ephes. VI. I. Spelt parentes according to Etymological Dictionary of English Language. Oxford. Claredon Press. 1953. Other information: OE ealdras (originally parents) > ME eldren. Germanic group: OHG altiron, MHG altern, Ger Elter, ON fegin, Dan foroeldre, Sw frldrar. The Indo group: Skt pitaru and Av pitar. In the Slavic group there is a variation: Russ roditeli, Pol rodzice, Czech rodice. Despite the presence of the term parents in many IE languages, there is no such word in original P I E vocabulary. In some linguistic families it is represented by verbs like beget or bear. In Greek , and > (to beget, to bear) these words have a semantic value as parents. These facts point to a possibility of naming the relation Husband-Wife and Marriage, as an Institution, in periods much later than the P I E world in its origin. Derivatives: parental (adj), parentally (adv), parentless (adj). Relatives Late Lat relativvs > OFr relatif > ME relatif > NE relatives. OE cynn > ME kyn > NE kin mean family in a wide sense, also relatives (colloquialy). cf OE cynnes men, ME kinnesmen, NE kinsmen, kinsfolk.

41

Use and date: XIV century - attested P. Plowman29, C. IV, p. 391, spelt relatif . Other information: In IE languages, the words designating relatives are from such notion as common birth, common blood, related, belonging to the family as Lat cognat (con= together, (g)ntus= born). OHG mg, MHG mgen, OE mgas means son-in-law or related. ON mgr means father-in-law or son-in-law or relative. NE relations, related (adj) with specialised application for family connection came from OF model (relative) < Lat relativvs pertaining to. Generally the word relation is attested earlier than OFr and probably it was used in a wider sense.

Sister P I E word *swesor probably comes from the roots *swe- one's own + *ser- woman. Attested in OE sweostor, swuster, ON systir, Sw syster, Dan sster, in all cases from ProtoGermanic *swestr (cf. O Fris swester, MDu suster, Du zuster, OHG Schwester, Goth swistar). Phonetics: Regular maintenance of an IE wheezing plus a semi-vowel (glide w). The root ter (suffix) may be analogous to other kin lexicon, probably it was introduced in Common Germanic in a previous period than the first rotacism occurred, because it kept the old structure *-ter. *sweso is one of the most persistent and unchanging root words recognisable in many modern IE languages (cf. Skt svasar-, Av shanhar-, Lat soror, Russ sestra, Lith sesuo, OIr siur.)
29

swester, Ger

Piers Plowman. The Vision of William. London: S.N. 1.362 AD

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Use and date: First it occurred in East Anglia and Northern texts. OE spelled sweostor. ME suster attested in Chaucer. Cantebury Tales. 873 (A871). Rarely appeared as syster or sister in ME texts. cf. CHAUCER, CAXTON and Prompt Parv. Other information: In ON systikin, Dan sskende, Sw syskon are collectives derived of systir. Usually special or diversified expressions for brothers and sisters are uncommon in IE languages. In Greek and both means sister. is used for

brothers and sisters likewise Latin fratres and in Sanskrit bhrtaru (according to Panini). In Spanish hermana came from Latin germna used with soror present in Italian sorela. The word irm (portuguese) also derives from the Lat expression soror germana sister by blood. In Toch A and B ser, and in Pol siostra. Derivatives: half-sister (noun), sister-in-law (noun), sisterhood (noun), sisterly (adv), sisterlike (adv). Symmetric lexicon: see Brother. Son P I E root *su, *sunu > OHG sun(u) > OE sunu > ME sune > NE son. Possibly, this root projects an abstract meaning of birth or offspring as it is presented in Skt snus. Phonetics: Regular maintenance of IE wheezing and nasal phonemes. Germanic series: OHG sun(u), MHG sun, Ger Sohn, OE sunu, ME sune, ON sunr. In Skt sna. Use e date: XIV century. Middle English, attested in Chaucer. Canteburry Tales. 79 spelled sone, probably as a dissyllable; the older form is sune. Other information: Gothic snus, ON sunr, Dan sn, Sw son and Lith snus reflects the P I E root. In Slavic group there was a vowel shift: Russ sn, Pol syn, Czech syn. In Grk . Most of the words for son in Indo-European languages are inherited from parental

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speech. In those languages the words for boy is naturally used by parents with a semantic value as son. In some Greek dialectics offspring replaces . In Avestian there was a zero-grade in -h (hunu) later this word was applied only for evil offsprings coming from evil beings, the Avestian word pura replaced it. Derivatives: son-in-law (noun), son-ship (noun, as a coined word). Symmetric lexicon: see Daughter. Spinster MDu spinster > ME spinster, spynstere. Old meaning: a woman engaged in weaving, to spin, until the XIII century. It was formed from the verb spin plus the suffix ester (N E model ster), possibly from MDu. Use and date: XIV century. ME, attested in P. Plowman30. T. V. W. B.v. p. 216. ME often spelt spynnster or spynstere. Starting on XVII century: a single woman (especially one beyond the legal age of marriage), attested in J. Roberts. The Spinster. p. 349 (Oxford English Dictionary vol X). Derivatives: spinsterdom, spinstership, spinsterhood (noun), spinsterly (adv), spinstry (noun as the occupation of spinning). Symmetric lexicon: see Bachelor.

Step- (as a Germanic element prefixed to kin words to express a degree of affinity resulted from the remarriage of a widowed parent): Step-father, Step-mother, Step-child, Stepson and Step-daughter. X century in OE stopcild. The root *steupo- as an ancient Proto30

Piers Plowman. The Vision of William. London: S.N. 1.362 AD

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Germanic element STEP- is prefixed to terms of relationship e.g.: father, mother, son and so on - to form designations of family relationship from a re-marriage or a state of foster child. Phonetics: Pan-Germanic word: NE stepfather, ME steopfoeder, OHG stiuffater, Ger Stief Vater, O Fris stiapfeder, Du stiefvader. cf. father. Date and Use: X century. O E. Homilies. 971 Blickl . 45. Other information: The primitive sense of Step - was strictly to indicate orphan by the use of OE stopbearn, steopcild. Stepfather and Stepmother might be rendered one who becomes a father or a mother to an orphan. Germanic series for Stepfather: OE stopfoeder, ME stepfader, OHG stiuffater, MHG stiefvater, Ger StiefVater started in words for stepchild as originally meaning orphan. In ON stjpfair strictly means a man who has married ones mother, after ones fathers death. Lat vitricvs stepfather has a doubtful etymology, may be it is an extension of P I E root *witero in Skt vitaram (more distant). Lat noverca stepmother is a derivative of novus > ones new mother (Ernout-Meillet. p 680).

Uncle and Aunt Concerning paternal uncle and paternal aunt, maternal uncle and maternal aunt in Indo-European languages it is not an easy task to define models and conceptions of this kinship even through researches of Anthropology. It shows up a problematic issue relating the mothers brother and his pupil, and the relation between the maternal grandfather and his grandchildren. Bellow it has been selected, in parallel, expressions with original

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meanings differing paternal and maternal uncles and aunts. For the word uncle in IE languages there are derived forms, sometimes diminutive forms of P I E *awos (cf Lat avvncvlvs small grandfather). Then, in these languages the word *awos originated kinship names which varies from uncle to grandfather, analogous to P I E *nepos varying from nephew to grandson. Following the maternal lineage, therefore, it may refer to the mothers brother as uncle or as grandfather. For aunt, it seems to have been no common form for this word in original P I E vocabulary (the words in Port tia, Span tia and Italian zia were loans from Greek aunt).

Date and use: uncle is dated around XII century, from OFr oncle < from Lat avvncvlvs mother's brother, a diminutive of avvs grandfather from P I E root *awograndfather (cf. Arm hav "grandfather," Lith avynas "maternal uncle", Welsh ewythr uncle. OE used eam usually as maternal uncle, when paternal uncle was fdera which represents the Germanic form of the root, cf. Du oom and OHG oheim maternal uncle, Ger Ohm uncle. Also started from French model are Ger, Dan, Swed onkel. First record of Du uncle is from 1838 AD, Welsh uncle (in 1747 AD) was the first cousin of one's parent. aunt from Anglo-French aunte c.1300 AD < OFr ante (Fr tante is a variant), from Lat amita paternal aunt is a diminutive of *amma (a nursery word, cf. Grk mother, ON amma grandmother, Ir. ammait old hag). OFr aunte is a variation of Lat amita that has a P I E root *am- present in many nursery words according to WATKINS31 (2000: 3). Use in Literature: Uncle, XIII Century (Middle English) attested in Robert of

31

Watkins, C. The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. 2000.

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Gloucester32, p.58, l. 1337. In Shakespeares King Lear, 1.4 p.117, the word nuncle is due to the phrase , , , my nuncle. . . , corrupted from mine uncle. Aunt, XIII Century (Middle English) attested in Robert of Gloucester (op. cit.), p.37, l.871 spelled aunte. Other information: A differential choice of lexicons still prevails in Irish, Danish, Swedish, Lettish, and partly in Slavic languages as listed down, but it does not differ paternal, maternal uncle and aunt in Neo-Latin languages, Modern English, German, Russian and others. A general tendency was to give up this differentiation using the same terms for uncle, aunt on either sides of the family:

Paternal Uncle Grk Lat patrvvs Ir brtir athar ON four-brir Dan farbror Sw fasbror OE faedera ME uncle OHG fetiro MHG vetere Skt pitrya Pol stryj

Paternal Aunt

Maternal Uncle

Maternal Aunt

amita siur athar four-systir faster faster fau aunt basa base pitrasar ciotka

avvncvlvs brtir mtar mur-brir morbror morbror eam eme heim heim mtula wuj

matertera siur mthar mir-systir moster moster mdrige aunt mustera muome mtrasar ciotka

Non distinguishing IE languages for paternal and maternal uncle and aunt: NE uncle aunt

32

Robert of Gloucester. Chronicles. Oxford. T.Hearne. c. 1.298 AD

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It zio Span tio Port tio Rum unchiu Fr oncle Ger onkel Russ djadja Chzec strc

zia tia tia mtu tante tante tetka teta

These words are commonly used also to name uncle and aunt by marriage or uncle-in-law, aunt-in-law. The Latin word avvncvlvs mothers brother was extended to French oncle > Middle English uncle > NE uncle, and German onkel. Either, there are some terms derivate of words for father and mother forming phrases as fathers brother, mothers brother, fathers sister and mothers sister as showed in Sanskrit and Avestian. Widow P I E *widhew as a feminine word derived from the root *weidh- separate, attested in Skt uidhu solitary, to lack and in Lat dvidere separate. Phonetics: IE /*dh/ > / d /, according to Grimm`s Law: OE widuwe, Gothic widuw. Teutonic model shows the second rotacism / t / > Anglo-Saxon / d /. Pan-Germanic word: OHG wituwa, MHG witeve, Ger Witwe, OE widuwe, Gothic widuw came from P I E model *widhew. Use and date: XIV century. ME. Attested in Chaucer. Cantebury Tales. 255, 1.173 spelt widwe. In ME also spelt widowe, weodvwe, wudwe, wydewe. Other Infomartion: The Indo group presents Skt vidhav and Av viav that followed the P I E root. Lat cognate vidua > It vedova, Fr veuve, Span viuda, Port viva. Grk is a feminine word for empty. The Slavic group: Russ vdova, Pol wdowa, Czech

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vidova, Prussian widewu, Old Slavic vdova also follow the P I E root. *widhew is an important word in IE kinship vocabulary; it is attested in different linguistic areas. However, there is no such word widower in P I E original vocabulary, since the man just took another woman when his former one died in Proto-Indo-European society. Whatever happened in this case the man kept his social status, therefore it did not require a special word to name the man who lost a woman. When the man died, the woman fell in a difficult and precarious situation located in middle of a strange clan. It demanded someone to be occupied defending her and her offspring rights in case of conflict. This paper was naturally assumed by her "partners father" or the *pter (the head) of her original clan, and sometimes by the woman's brother. This was the person who also received the name of *awos and this function created a strong bond of trust, as much as for the woman as for her offspring. Symmetric lexicon: widower. Wife Proto-Germanic root *wibam- > OE wif (meaning woman) > ME wife (spelled /wif/) meaning a married woman, where the Teutonic type is * wi neuter, which formed the Germanic root *weib. Pan-Germanic word: OHG wib, MHG wip, Ger Weib (Frau), Old Frisian wif, ON vf, Dan viv, Icelandic vf, Du wijf, OE wif, ME wife > NE wife (spelled /waif/). Use and date: Attested in ME - XIII century - spelled wif and wyf in Chaucer. Canterbury Tales. 447, (A445, 1.171)

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Other Information: P I E root *gwen- > OE cwn (either meaning woman, wife or prostitute). P I E *gwen and *esor originally just meant woman, contrasting to *uiros (man). In IE languages the use of words meaning woman is quite common. NE spouse < Ofr spuse. Lat spnsa bride > Fr pouse, It sposo, Span and Port esposa. Symmetric lexicon: see Husband.

Conclusion
The historical development of English language was structured on cultural diversity. The mix of different words originated in Ancient different peoples (Angles, Saxons, Frisians, Celts, Romans, Danish, Swedish and other Northern tribes) produced many words in British English, as loan from foreign languages. Another aspect of linguistic historical change is the internal development. It occurs when a vernacular word suffers change of meaning through time. The word spinster in XIII century meant a woman engaged in weaving, in spinning, as in XVII century it meant a single woman. Either the word groom meant a boy in XII century; while in XIV century it meant a servant man, a horse attendant, or simply a man. Kinship vocabulary, usually, belongs to the more steady level of lexicons in Western languages. In English, there is a set of words derived from P I E roots as they are still faithfully structured on this theoretically reconstructed language. Therefore it is

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important to analyse this vocabulary since its Old European roots to Modern languages, in order to understand better the linguistic phenomena involved in language changes through Ages. Nevertheless, it is expected in any natural language the presence in contrast of Ancient roots and expressions against renewal vocabulary and loans: Father and mother are Ancient IE words related to P I E *ptr and mter. Son relates to P I E *sunu, as daughter is based on the reconstructed word *dhugter which also relates to OE dohtor, OHG tohter. Brother is a widespread word in IE languages, it relates to P I E *bhrter and to OE brthor. Sister comes from OE swestor, related to P I E *swesr also present in OHG swester. Nephew relates to P I E *nepos, also present in OHG nevo and resulted in OFr neveu, too. Niece first was introduced in ME as a direct loan from OFr nice, derived from Lat neptia. Some words suffered Historical changes. The word uncle relates to P I E *awos which also resulted in Lat avvs grandpa, and avvncvlvs (uncle) that passed to OFr oncle, and finally to ME uncle. The symmetric word aunt has no P I E related word. It appears as a XIV century renewed vocabulary in Britain, based on Anglo-French aunte, also resulted from OFr ante (from Lat amita). A semantic change operated in uncle, as originally it meant only a maternal uncle. Widow relates to P I E *widhew, which is an important reconstructed word. It is present in all IE languages without many morphic changes, and it attests the changing of social status when a woman loses his man since Pre-History, perhaps starting in Neolithic age. The P I E root is also present in OHG wituwa and OE widuwe. It has a clear IE structure attested in many different languages through Eastern and Western areas.

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The renewal vocabulary in English language happened profusely through XIII and XIV centuries, when Norman invasions took course in Britain. Many OE (Angle-Saxon) lexicons has been lost. Old French influenced deeply English vocabulary until XVII century: Ancestor came from ME ancestre, that relates to OF ancestre derived from Lat antecessrs. Bachelor came from OFr bacheler, that passed to ME bachelor. Cousin came from ME cousine related to OFr cosin. Descendant came from ME desceden, derived from OFr descendre which relates to Lat dscendere. Family came from ME familie that relates to OF famille and derives from Lat familia. Grandfather and Grandmother are direct loans from the compound names grand-pre, grandame (OFr) around XIV and XV centuries. Orphan came from ME orphan, that relates to OFr orfene, derived from Lat orphanus (parentless). Parents came from ME parentes derived from OFr parents, which relates to Lat parentes. Relatives came from ME relatif , that relates to OFr relatif derived from Lat relativvs. Husband was a direct loan from ON hsbondi (master of a house) c XII century, introduced into Late OE hsbonda which passed to ME husbnd. Some words were changing through an Internal Development in English language, starting from Germanic roots present in the Low Germanic branch (German, English, Dutch, Frisian): Bride was developed after Proto-Germanic root *briz, which passed to OE bryd, and then to ME bryde finally reaching NE bride. Wife came from ME wife, related to OE wif developed after the Proto-Germanic root *wibam-, this Germanic word followed the Teutonic root *wi. The Germanic prefix Step- started on the Proto-

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Germanic root *steupo-: OE presented steopfoeder (step-father) and OE stopcild, (foster child) c. X century, which passed from ME steopfoeder to NE stepfather. These last three kinship words appeared as renewal vocabulary in Germanic linguistic family as they had no synonyms in original P I E lexicons.

References
ADRADOS, Francisco Rodriguez. Linguistica Indoeuropea. Madrid: Gredos, 1995. BARBER, Charles. The English Language: A Historical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 1993. BENVENISTE, mile. O Vocabulrio das Instituies Indo-europias. Campinas: Unicamp, 1995. BRUNNE, Robert of. Handlyng Synne. Roughburghe: FJ Furniwall.1.303AD IN: Etymological Dictionary of English Language. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1953. BUCK, Carl Darling. Dictionary of Selected Synonyms in the Principal Indo-European Languages: A contribution to the History of Ideas. Chicago: University Press, 1949. CAXTON, William. The Golden Legend. London: S.N. 1483. (Re-printed by F. S. Ellis & W. Morris. London. 1.892 AD). IN: Etymological Dictionary of English Language. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1953.

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CHAUCER, Geoffrey. Canterbury Tales. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985 DELBRCK, Berthold. Indogermanische Verwadtschaftsverhltnisse. S.L : S. N, 1890. __________________ . Einleitung in das Sprachstudium. S.L : S. N, 1882.

FORTSON IV, Benjamin W. Indo-European Language and Culture. Massachusetts: Blackwell, 2010. GALFRIDO, Father. (Fratre Galfrido, Grammatico dicto). Promptorivm Parvvlorvm sive Clericorvm Dictionarius Anglo-Latinvs Princeps. Camden: A. Way. Circa di 1.440 AD IN: Etymological dictionary of English Language. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1953. GIMBUTAS, Marija. Proto-Indo-European Culture: The Kurgan Culture during the Fifth, Fourth, and Third Millennia B.C. In: Indo-European and Indo-Europeans. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1956. GLOUCESTER, Robert of . Chronicles. Oxford: T.Hearne. c. 1.298AD IN: Etymological Dictionary of English Language. Oxford. Claredon Press, 1953. NORTHGATE, Dan Michel. Ayenbite of Inwit (or Remorse of Conscience). S.L.: R. Morris. c. 1.340AD IN: Etymological Dictionary of English Language. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1953. ONIONS C. T. The Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1966. PARTRIDGE, Eric. Origins: An Etymological Dictionary of English. London: Routledge & K.Paul, 1958. SAUSSURE, Ferdinand. Cours de Linguistique Gnrale. Payot: Paris, 1916.

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SWANN, James. History of English. London: Routledge, 1996. SKEAT, Walter W. Etymological dictionary of English Language. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1953. VILLAR, Francisco. Los indoeuropeos y los orgenes de Europa. Madrid: Gredos, 1991. WATKINS, Calvert. The American Heritage Dictionary of Indo-European Roots. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. WEEKLEY, Ernest. Concise Etymological Dictionary of Modern English. London: Secker & Warburg, 1952.

INDEX
Abbreviations 5 Introduction 7 Determinations 9 Kinship: PIE to Modern English 13 English Phonology: A Historical Perspective 15 The Great Vowel Shift 18 Analysis: The Kinship Lexicon 20 Ancestors 20 Bachelor 20 Bride 21 Brother 22 Cousin 23 Daughter 24 Descendant 25 Family 25 Father 26 Grand daughter 27 Grandson 27 Grandfather 28

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Grandmother 30 Groom 31 Husband 32 In-Law, Father-in-Law 33 Mother-in-Law 34 Daughter-in-Law 34 Son-in-Law 34 Brother-in-Law 34 Sister-in-Law 35 Mother 35 Nephew and Niece 36 Orphan 38 Parents 39 Relatives 40 Sister 41 Son 42 Spinster 42 Step-Father & others 43 Uncle and Aunt 44 Widow 47 Wife 48 Conclusion 49 References 52

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