There are many common words to describe our familiar relations, including “mother,” “father,” “brother,” and “sister.” Families might also have special nicknames, sometimes borrowed from a language of origin — “nona,” “tia,” or “pop pop,” for example. And then there’s a whole host of family vocabulary words that come from scientific, anthropological, and even legal terminology. Let’s examine those linguistic family trees.
Matrikin and Patrikin
The important root of these words is “kin” — a way to refer to family, or one’s relations. “Kin” appeared in English around 1200 by way of the Old English cynn, meaning “family, race, kind, sort, rank, nature.” The prefixes matr- and patr- come from Latin, and refer respectively to one’s maternal and paternal relatives. So your cousins on your mom’s side would be your matrikin, and those on your dad’s side would be your patrikin.
Brother-german and Sister-german
What’s important here is that lowercase “g” on “german” — this has nothing to do with the country in Europe. If a brother or sister is “german,” it means they share the same parents. It comes from the Latin word germānus, meaning “having the same parents.”
Double Cousins
Double cousins share the same four grandparents. This would be possible if, for example, your mother’s sister and your father’s brother met at their wedding and also had children. Their children are your double cousins.
Genetrix
“Genetrix” is an anthropological term for “mother,” and more specifically, a biological mother. It comes from the Latin gignere, meaning “to beget.”
Machatunim
Machatunim is a Yiddish term to describe the parents of your child’s spouse. You could say they’re your child’s in-laws, or your son-in-law’s parents, but machatunim has a nice flow.
Consanguine Brother and Consanguine Sister
These are legal terms, describing siblings who share a father but have different mothers. “Consanguine sister (or brother)” is a more specific way of describing a half-sibling. Contrast this with “stepbrother” and “stepsister,” which are the terms for the child of a stepparent, or “uterine sister” and “uterine brother,” which refer to siblings who share the same mother, but have different fathers.
Parallel Cousins vs. Cross Cousins
A parallel cousin is “one of two cousins who are the children of two brothers or sisters.” Let’s break that down: It means the child of a father’s brother (for example, your paternal uncle’s child), or the child of a mother’s sister (your maternal aunt’s child).
Alternatively, a cross-cousin is “one of two cousins, especially of the different sex, who are respectively the children of a brother or sister.” In other words, your father’s sister’s child, or your mother’s brother’s child. These terms are primarily used in anthropology.
Feature image credit: kate_sept2004