We very often have a serious problem naming our cousins. Is he or she a first cousin twice removed, or a second cousin once removed? In (most?) modern languages we obviously lack the richess of the old languages, where one had a different word for each member of the family.

We are trying to remediate to this linguistic poverty with a mathematical solution. Is that realistic?

When I talk about my cousin "n" removed living in Detroit, I say that she is the daughter of my mother's uncle, or the daughter of the brother of my maternal grandfather. Just two words in Latin: magna amitina, the female form indicating that my cousin is female indeed.

In Latin there isn't that much confusion. You just call them by the right name. they had a name for an aunt from mother's side, and another for the aunt from father's side.

Because of my graphic limitations, I first give the schema indicating with letters each of the family members, and below their name in Latin. Although this may be a risky undertaking for me, I also give a translation in English of some of the words used.

---

                  Paternal  A  Maternal
                      side /|/ side
                          / | /
                         /  |  /
                        I   B   I
                       /   /|/   /
                      /   / | /   /
                     /   /  |  /   /
                    Q   K   C   K   Q
                   /   /  / | /  /   /
                  /   /  /  |  /  /   /
                 W   R  L   D   L  R   W
                /   /  /   /|/   /  /   /
               /   /  /   / | /   /  /   /
              Z   X  S   M  *  M   S  X   Z
              |   |  |   |  |  |   |
              |   |  |   |  |  |   |
              Y   T  N   E  N  T   Y
              |   |  |   |  |  |   |
              |   |  |   |  |  |   |
              U   O  F   O  U
              |   |  |
              |   |  |
              P   G  P
              |
              |
              H

You are the star in the middle!

---

	Male	Female
A	Abavus	Abavia
B	Pro avus	Pro avia
C	Avus	Avia
D	Pater	Mater
*	Ego: that's you!
E	Filius	Filia
F	Nepos	Neptis
G	Pronepos	Proneptis
H	Abnepos	Abneptis
	Paternal side	Maternal side
I	Pro patruus Pro avunculus	Pro amita Pro Matertera
K	Patruus magnus Avunculus magnus	Amita magna Matertera magna
L	Patruus Avunculus	Amita Matertera
M	Frater	Soror
N	Ex fratre nepos Ex sorore nepos	Ex fratre neptis Ex sorore neptis
O	Ex fratre pronepos Ex sorore pronepos	Ex fratre proneptis Ex sorore proneptis
P	Ex fratre abnepos Ex sorore abnepos	Ex fratre abneptis Ex sorore abneptis
Q	Pro patruelis Pro matruelis	Pro amitina Pro consobrina
R	Magnus patruelis Magnus matruelis	Magna amitina Magna consobrina
S	Patruelis Matruelis	Amitina Consobrina
T	Ex patruo/Amitina nepos Ex patruo/Amitina neptis	Ex matruele/Consobrina nepos Ex matruele/Consobrina neptis
U	Ex patruele/Amitina pronepos Ex patruele/Amitina proneptis	Ex matruele/Consobrina pronepos Ex matruele/Consobrina proneptis
W	Magnus pro avinus Magnus pro avinus	Magna pro avina Magna pro avina
X	Pro avinus Pro avina	Pro avinus Pro avina
Y	Ex pro avino nepos Ex pro avina neptis	Ex pro avino nepos Ex pro avina neptis
Z	Abavinus Abavina	Abavinus Abavina

(any corrections are most welcome)

---

Latin	English
Pater	father
Mater	mother
Frater	brother
Soror	sister
Abavus	grandfather of grandfather
Abnepos	son of a great grand child
Nepos	grandson
Neptis	granddaughter
Pronepos	great grandson
Consobrina	full cousin from mother's side
Patruelis	full cousin from father's side
Matruelis	son of uncle from mother's side
Patruus	uncle from father's side
Avunculus	uncle from mother's side
Amita	aunt from father's side
Matertera	aunt from mother's side

Ils sont fous, ces Romains! (Asterix)

This web site is the collective work of the subscribers to the mail list BELGIUM-ROOTS-L founded June 1998 by Georges Picavet (see our members page and the copyrights page for more info) Q:\webbeta\rw_belgiumroots\sci\genealogy\kinship_latin.html (br_sci) This Global file was last updated 18/01/2007 23:48:43 CET and uploaded Thursday, 18-Jan-2007 16:14:09 MST