Family, It’s Complicated: On the Etymology of Kinship-Related Words

drzewo_genealogiczne_gettyimages-495855103.jpg, default, Tree, photo: Getty Images

Although the contemporary family model tends to be more complex than ones from the past, there are fewer and fewer names describing kinship, and many have disappeared altogether. We examine which terms we have inherited from our ancestors from centuries ago and which have not survived.

Language serves to name the reality around us and changes along with it, adapting to the needs of its users. We can observe this in the naming of family relationships: in the past, when ancestry held primary economic and social significance, family member names constituted a rich set of lexemes that allowed for a precise indication of the degree of relationship between relatives.

Today, the functioning of the family and its role have undergone significant changes. Blood ties no longer determine social status or make family members dependent on each other. Marriages are entered into by choice, not solely for economic gain. The role of women, the process of inheritance, and the form that the smallest social unit can take have also changed.

The changes that have occurred over the centuries in family relationships have been reflected in language. It’s worth mentioning not only what has been forgotten, but also, above all, what has survived to this day.

Mać, matka, mama

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Let’s start from the very beginning. One of the first sounds a child can pronounce, most likely through imitating sucking at the breast, is the syllable ‘ma’, and it is from this syllable that, perhaps in all languages of the world, the word for ‘mother’ is derived. In Proto-Slavic, the word ‘mama’ arose from the reduplication of this first infantile sound. Reduplication, or the repetition of morphemes, is a derivational device characteristic for the formation of words denoting familial kinship as well as for children’s speech, hence: mama, tata, baba (‘mom’, ‘dad’, ‘granny’) (as well as other words from child speech, such as siusiu or lala [‘pee pee’, ‘dolly’]).

Mama is an affectionate (but not diminutive) term for ‘mother’ (matka), ‘a woman who gave birth to a child and also usually raises it – in relation to that child’ (source: WSJP). If we want to trace how the word matka came to be, we should first go back to the Proto-Indo-European era (about five thousand years ago), when the name for ‘mother’ was formed from the base ma- by adding the suffix -ter, characteristic of the formation of kinship-related words, examples of which are the Latin pater (‘father’) or frater (‘brother’). The Proto-Indo-European mater was found its continuation in the Proto-Slavic form *mati, which in Polish took the form mać – the same form found today in vulgar insults, e.g., psia mać [literally ‘dog’s mother’, equivalent in meaning to ‘God damn’, trans.], but also in sayings: jaka mać, taka nać [an equivalent of ‘like mother, like daughter, trans.]. Other Old Polish words derived from the Proto-Slavic form *mati, meaning macierz (‘mother’ or ‘matrix’) and maciora (‘mother’, contemporary equivalent: ‘sow’), found in ancient literary texts. Over time, mać, macierz and maciora began to differentiate semantically and stylistically. Today, macierz (outside its use inspecialized fields such as biology or mathematics) primarily means ‘homeland’, while maciora means ‘female pig or boar’ (source: WSJP). In the 15th century, a diminutive version of the form mać appeared – matka, created using the form *-ъka. According to Krystyna Długosz-Kurczabowa, ‘the vocabulary for degrees of kinship is characterized, among other things, by the fact that diminutives and pet names often undergo expressive neutralization and require constant refreshing and renewal’. Therefore, from the word matka, which lost its diminutive nature, further hypocoristic (endearing) forms began to be created: matula, matuleńka, matusia.

A different person is mamka (‘wet nurse’), meaning ‘a woman who breastfeeds another woman’s child for a fee’ (source: WSJP). It’s worth noting that in this case, the form -ka does not create a diminutive, but rather indicates mamka’s similarity to mama – the fact of the former fulfilling the function of the latter.

From the Proto-Slavic *mati, the form *matjecha was also created, and then, around the 14th century, transformed into macocha (‘stepmother’), meaning ‘father’s wife in relation to his children from a previous marriage’ (source: WSJP).

Ojciec, tata, papa

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The words ojciec (‘father’) and tata (‘dad’) also originate from children’s language. Just as the word for ‘mother’ in various languages was derived from the universal morpheme ‘ma-’, so when it came to the name for a ‘man who fathers a child and usually raises it – in relation to that child’ (source: WSJP), it was derived from various syllables imitating children’s speech, even within the same language. In Polish, these are the syllables ot and ta; in other languages, for example, pa (German: papa), at (Latin: atta), or ab (Hebrew: abba).

‘Over the centuries, these simplest words underwent transformations and interacted with each other’, wrote Długosz-Kurczabowa, which is why today’s word ojciec (‘father’) may seem far removed from its original form. It most likely comes from the Proto-Indo-European *at-, a diminutive of which was *atǐkos. In Proto-Slavic, after various phonetic processes, the word took the form *otьcь – Old Polish ociec, today’s ojciec. This is an emotionally neutral word; affectionate diminutives include, for example, ojczulek and ojczunio. However, as Długosz-Kurczabowa notes, ‘we are witnessing the decline of the word ojciec as a family term; children do not address their parent using the form ojcze (used only in the Lord’s Prayer – Ojcze nasz, and in reference to monastic priests)’.

Currently, the name tata is much more frequently used. This word, like mama, arose through the duplication of a syllable from children’s language. Since the 18th century, the form papa has also been recorded – a word borrowed from French, which today can only be found in books.

The name ojczym (‘stepfather’) – ‘the mother's husband in relation to her children from a previous marriage’ (source: WSJP) – also derives from Proto-Slavic, specifically from the word *otьčiti, meaning ‘to make a father’ (source: WSJP).

Ancestors

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In a family, we distinguish between ascendants and descendants – the former are our ancestors in the direct line, thanks to whom we are born, and our descendants are the ones who owe their lives to us. Our ascending ancestors will therefore be babcia, dziadek and pradziadkowie (‘grandmother’, ‘grandfather’, and ‘great-grandparents’, respectively).

Babcia (‘grandma’) is a derivative of the word baba, which arose from the doubling of the syllable ‘ba’ characteristic for children’s speech. This syllable was also fertile in other languages, but words derived from it differ in their meanings: the English word ‘baby’ for ‘small child’, German Bube – ‘boy’, and Italian babbo – ‘father’. Polish baba meant ‘mother of the father or mother in relation to their child’, but also ‘married woman, old woman’, ‘quarrelsome woman’ (source: SEJP Długosz-Kurczabowa). From the form baba (meaning a family member), hypocoristic derivatives arose, such as babka, which was quickly neutralized, and the one most popular today, babcia – once a term of endearment, today emotionally neutral.

The word dziad (‘grandfather’) is a native word derived from the Proto-Slavic *dědъ. Its original meaning was ‘an old man who holds a place of honor in the family’, then ‘father of one’s father or mother’ (source: SEJP Długosz-Kurczabowa). Over time, the word dziad became deprecating, and today we use dziad to refer to a beggar or generally to refer to a man negatively. The derivative dziadek has survived as a name for a family member. Formerly a diminutive, it lost its expressive form over time. To express an affectionate attitude toward a grandfather, we would rather say: dziadzio, dziadunio, dziaduś, or dziadziuś.

We can create derivative forms of babcia and babka as well as dziad and dziadek using the prefix pra-, derived from the Proto-Slavic *pra, meaning ‘forward, forward, in front, before’ (WSJP), in order to refer to our grandparents’ parents or, in the case of prababka (‘great-grandmother’) and pradziad (‘great-grandfather’), to the progenitors of the family.

Descendants

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Mothers and fathers have male descendants, synowie (‘sons’), or female descendants, córki (‘daughters’). Syn (‘son’)comes from the Proto-Indo-European form *sū-nŭ-s, derived from the verb sū, ‘to give birth’, so structurally it means ‘born’. Córka (‘daughter’) is a diminutive of córa, which, like syn, is a native, pan-Slavic word. The original meaning of córa is unknown; today it is a word with a pompous undertone, while córka, formerly a diminutive form, has become a neutral word.

In a family, a child can also be a pasierb (‘stepson’) or pasierbica (‘stepdaughter’) – respectively, ‘son or daughter from a husband’s or wife’s previous marriage’ (source: WSJP). These words derive from Proto-Slavic forms. The morpheme *pa- meant ‘similar,’ and the verbal noun *sŕ̥bъ – meaning ‘one who sucks, a child’ – comes from the Proto-Slavic *sŕ̥bati, ‘to suck, to lap’ (WSJP). Most likely, then, pasierb originally meant ‘a child not breastfed by oneself, not one’s own child’; from this lexeme, by adding the suffix -ica, used to create feminine equivalents of masculine forms, the derivative pasierbica appeared.

Today, we call the son or daughter of our son or daughter using the same word as in the 14th century – wnuk (‘grandson’ or ‘grandchild’). This is a lexeme of uncertain etymology. Interestingly, the feminine form, wnuka, has not survived, and neither have the Old Polish words wnęk and wnęka. Today, we’ll say wnuk or wnuczek (‘grandson’) and wnuczka (‘granddaughter’).

A daughter or son in relation to another child of the same parents is a siostra (‘sister’) or brat (‘brother’). Brat originally meant ‘member of a community (a large family, clan, tribe)’ (source: SEJP Boryś), and its meaning in terms of was secondary. Similarly, siostra – besides meaning ‘daughter of the same parents’ – meant ‘a relative of a further degree; a woman belonging to the same clan or generation’ (source: SEJP Boryś). A sister or brother can be rodzeni in relation to another child when they share both parents with that child, or przyrodni (‘half-siblings’) when they share one parent with that child.

Agnatic or enatic

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Although the above forms, the nomenclature of relations in direct line, have transformed over time, changing, for instance, in terms of their emotional undertones, their meanings have not changed – they are still used to refer to the same family relationship as before. However, in the case of words for collateral kinship and affinity, the situation becomes somewhat more complicated.

Ciotka (‘aunt’) is a ‘sister of the mother or father’. Like mama or tata, the word came into existence through the process of syllable duplication. It comes from the Proto-Slavic *teta, and in Polish, after phonetic transformations, it took the form ciota, subsequently replaced by the diminutive ciotka, which has now lost its diminutive character. A derivative of ciotka is ciocia, formed analogically to the words babcia or mamcia.

Today, in familial and legal relations, it doesn’t matter much which parent a relative descends from – unlike in the past, when inheritance played a significant role and the distinction between the paternal, agnatic line (Pol. po mieczu) and the maternal, enatic line (Pol. po kądzieli) was important. Hence, a father’s brother was a stryj or stryjek, while a mother’s brother was a wuj or wujek. Although they are still occasionally differentiated today, the form stryj has mostly been replaced by wuj.

Today, wujek (‘uncle’) is also used to refer to ‘aunt’s husband’, although the latter was formerly called pociot. The meaning of the word ciotka (‘aunt’) has also expanded, replacing the words formerly used to refer to a wife of a stryj – stryjna or stryjenka – and of a wuj – wujna or wujenka.

Kinship

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Old photographs of family members from 1890 to 1950, photo: Steve AllenPhoto / Getty Images

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We can be bound to a family not only by blood ties but also by legal rights resulting from the marriage of a family member.

In the words denoting the spouses’ parents (in relation to the other spouse), the distinction between the husband’s parentsor the wife’s, one that was previously clearly marked in language, has disappeared. Thus, a cieść or teść was the wife’s father, and a świekier was the husband’s father; analogically, a ćcia or teściowa was the wife’s mother, and a świekra was the husband’s mother. In the 17th century, teść (‘father in law’) and teściowa (‘mother in law’) began to replace these forms, blurring the linguistic precision.

A husband’s siblings were formerly dziewierz (‘brother in law’) and zełwa (‘sister in law’); in the 17th century, they started to transform into szwagier and szwagierka (‘brother in law’ and ‘sister in law’, respectively). A wife’s siblings could be szurza (‘brother in law’) and świeść (‘sister in law’) – also replaced by szwagier and szwagierka in the 17th century. The word szwagier comes from German, most likely disseminated either by the bourgeoisie or by people from the western parts of Poland. Later, the term jątrew would be used to refer to a brother’s wife or the wife of a husband’s brother; today, these are bratowa and szwagierka (both ‘sister in law’), respectively. A sister’s husband, formerly called a zięć or a swak, is now called a szwagier (‘brother in law’).

A daughter’s husband has been called a zięć since the 16th or 17th century. It’s a native word, derived from the Proto-Slavic *zętь, and its original etymological meaning is ‘a relative belonging to the same clan’. A son’s wife is a synowa (formerly snecha).

Who else can be a member of our family? The children of our siblings: a brother’s son, bratanek (‘nephew’) (formerly synowiec in relation to the father’s brothers), or a brother’s daughter, bratanica (‘niece’) (formerly synowica in relation to the father’s brothers). Analogically, a sister’s son is a siostrzeniec (‘nephew’) or siostrzenica (‘niece’). We may also have rodzeństwo cioteczne, who are the children of our aunt. Nowadays, that’s we also call the children of a wuj or stryj (‘uncle’); the terms rodzeństwo wujeczne and rodzeństwo stryjeczne are no longer commonly used. Today, we also use the word kuzyni (‘cousins’) to talk about distant relatives, which is a borrowing from the French language that replaced the formerly used pociotki.

Blood is thicker than water?

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Photograph of an entire family, 1916, photo: Art Marie / Getty Images

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Besides the changes described above that have occurred over the centuries, new terms have emerged that help define the relationships that exist in our contemporary reality. Examples include the ‘reconstructed’ (rodzina zrekonstruowana) or ‘patchwork’ family (rodzina patchworkowa), ‘in which at least one parent has had a previous relationship or marriage, and children come from both their shared relationship and from previous relationships, and sometimes include former partners and their relatives’ (WSJP). There are also monoparentalne, i.e. single-parent, families – with an independent mother or father – and związki kohabitacyjne, i.e. the so-called informal, or consensual, relationships. New terms for kinship are also emerging, such as the colloquial stary (literally ‘old man’) meaning ‘father’ or ‘husband’, as well as new expressive variations, such as siora (a colloquial word for ‘sister’).

We’re increasingly finding that, contrary to popular belief, family is chosen, and those connected to us by blood aren’t necessarily our closest relatives. Although perhaps the changes that have occurred over the years in the naming of family members may also indicate that in some cases, the distance between relatives is... shortening?

Sources: SEJP Boryś: Boryś, W. (2005). Słownik Etymologiczny Języka Polskiego. (Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language). Kraków: Literackie Publishing House; SEJP Długosz-Kurczabowa: Długosz-Kurczabowa, K. (2005). Słownik Etymologiczny Języka Polskiego (Etymological Dictionary of the Polish Language). Warsaw: Polish Scientific Publishers PWN; WSJP: https://wsjp.pl/ (Great Dictionary of the Polish Language).

Translated from Polish by Michał Pelczar

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