# Family-in-law



## Magmod

*Family-in-law*
Each language gives a different word for family-in-law. I’m sure there are historical reasons. 

 In English the in-laws are treated as part and parcel of the marriage contract. 

 In Spanish:
la familia política, (padre político) = _belle famille, ( beau-père_ etc) = family-in-law( father-in-law)
Well in your language, what sort of words do you call your family-in-laws, I mean the good, the bad and the ugly ones?"

Regards


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## geve

Interesting. Does the Spanish _familia política_ mean in-laws then? Maybe the name comes from the fact that it is important to maintain good relations with them. 

_In-laws_ is logical. They become your family because of a legal contract - as opposed to family by blood.

In French there is no mention of the law; we say _belle famille, belle-mère, beau-père_ etc. which literally means _beautiful family, beautiful mother, beautiful father _etc. We are the strange people really.


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## Primal

Well, what I just came up with in my head, and would make sense to my childish mind, would be because they are kind of the same thing _política_(politics) and laws are both man-made logistics, and they both are dealt with in courtrooms (or other big spaces with lots of people who think that they are important.)

I seem to have an inert gift for languages, so things between languages simply make sence to me, even if others have no chance of understanding them. I'm not saying that I'm right, I'm just saying that this is how I understand the language gap here.

Primal
P.S. Sorry for the babbling.


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## Magmod

geve said:


> . We are the strange people really.


 Yes, I agree with your translation Geve. Or simply in Spanish:

la familia política, (padre político) = _belle famille, ( beau-père_ etc) = family-in-law
 I'm surprised that in French not the exact words as in Spanish are used. This is because of the close relationship between the two languages. 

 However, can I conclude that:

política = *belle* = diplomatic, tactful, *polite *?
This agrees with what you have said, i.e. to be polite to the in-laws.

 Yes I agree that the French are strange. This is because the French have produced the best mathmaticians the world have ever seen, yet the French have to say for the single word of ninety:

four times twenty plus ten = 90 
Saludos


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## geve

For French, the dictionary says that "belle" is used here as a term of courtesy; and that it gradually replaced another term: "père par alliance" which would have been an equivalent of "father in law".

So we have the pragmatic people stating a fact (in-laws), those who choose to flatter the relatives imposed to them by contract (belle famille), and those who honestly admit that you have to bear with them (familia política).

It would be interesting to see what way other languages chose!



Magmod said:


> four times twenty plus ten = 90


We were tired and saw no need to invent a new term when we could very well combine existing ones.  Hopefully in Belgium and Switzerland they were less lazy, and came up with "nonante"!


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## betulina

Hi,

In Catalan we use the same general term as in Spanish ("la família política"), although we never say "el pare polític" for "father-in-law", for example, but rather "sogre". It's the same in Spanish and Italian, as far as I know. I would say "suegro" instead of "padre político". And the same for the rest of the family.


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## Jeedade

geve said:


> In French there is no mention of the law; we say _belle famille, belle-mère, beau-père_ etc. which literally means _beautiful family, beautiful mother, beautiful father _etc. We are the strange people really.


Well, in Dutch it is called "schoonfamilie", "schoonmoeder", "schoonvader" etc. While "schoon" usually means clean, it also has the meaning of beautiful


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## dn88

In Polish: "powinowaci".


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## doman

In Vietnamese is very short word : *Thông-gia*, means "union between families by marriage alliance" 

Others:

Mẹ chồng - Husband's mother
Mẹ vợ - Wife's mother

Bố chồng - Husband's father
Bố vợ - Wife's father

ect.

And the parents-in-law call each others by *Ông, bà thông gia *means Mr, Mrs Family-in-law. 
Is it funny ?


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## DrWatson

In Finnish I'm not sure if there is a specific term for the whole "collection of in-laws", but instead we have unique names for mother-in-law, father-in-law etc.

*anoppi =* mother-in-law
*appi = *father-in-law
*käly = *sister-in-law
*lanko = *brother-in-law
*miniä = *daughter-in-law
*vävy = *son-in-law


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## Lemminkäinen

In Norwegian you use the prefix *sviger-*, which apparently comes from German.


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## Lello4ever

In Italian we say *famiglia acquisita and parente acquisito*
*suocera =* mother-in-law
*suocero = *father-in-law
*cognata = *sister-in-law
*cognato = *brother-in-law
*nuora = *daughter-in-law
*genero = *son-in-law


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## Magmod

Lemminkäinen said:


> In Norwegian you use the prefix *sviger-*, which apparently comes from German


What percentage of the Norwegian Language that comes truly from German?

 I think in Arabic they call the father-in-law as my uncle as a sign of respect and affection.

 There is an Arabic saying: Aqarib akarib = relatives are scorpions


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## geve

It would be interesting if everyone said what the word used in their language means, or what connotation it has... For instance "powinowaci" in Polish, or "sviger" in Norwegian, does it bear an idea of "law" or something else?


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## Lemminkäinen

Magmod said:


> What percentage of the Norwegian Language that comes truly from German?



I'm not sure I understand what you mean here. I used 'apparently' because I just looked it up in the dictionary, and the etymology given was that it came from German.

*geve*, I'd love to tell you what it means, but I have no idea myself. I was hoping for some German-speaking person to come by and help out, actually  
The word is only used in in-laws compounds (*svigerfamilie* is "the in-laws"), and I don't know any similar words that could clear up its meaning.


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## Magmod

DrWatson said:


> * anoppi =* mother-in-law
> *miniä = *daughter-in-law


What does the *miniä* call her *anoppi?   *


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## Frank06

Hi,


Jeedade said:


> Well, in Dutch it is called "schoonfamilie", "schoonmoeder", "schoonvader" etc. While "schoon" usually means clean, it also has the meaning of beautiful


Just as an additional note, the schoon- in 'schoonfamilie', 'schoonmoeder' etc. is a literal translation of French belle/beau. It's been used since the mid 16th century. 
Quite to my surprise, also 'behuwd-'  is (or rather _was_) used: 'behuwdvader', 'behuwdmoeder'. 'Behuwd' lit. means 'married to', 'through marriage'.
I have been searching for older words, but so far I could only find 'zwager' which is still, though rarely, used in the meaning of brother-in-law. In Flanders, 'zwager' is considered to be rather obselete. 
This 'zwager' (or sweger, swegerhere, swegers, zweer) originally referred to _any of the in-laws_ and is obviously related to the German words.

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Lemminkäinen

Well, I found this in a language column:



> "Sviger-" er en eldgammel betegnelse, som kan finnes igjen i indoeuropeisk "schwekro-" (e.l.) og i fellesgermansk "schwegro-", og som derfor finnes i mange europeiske språk. Grunnbetydningen er imidlertid uklar.
> 
> "Sviger-" is an ancient description that can be found in Indo-European "schwekro-" (or similar) and the Germanic "schwegro-" and therefore exist in a lot of European languages. However, the basic meaning is not clear.





Frank06 said:


> I have been searching for older words, but so far I could only find 'zwager' which is still, though rarely, used in the meaning of brother-in-law.



Ah, and in Norwegian you have the words *svoger* and *svigerinne* (the -inne suffix is used for feminine nouns) which mean respectively brother-in-law and sister-in-law. 

They are synonymous with the terms *svigerbror* ('_sviger_ brother') and *svigersøster* ('_sviger_ sister').


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## Magmod

Lemminkäinen said:


> Ah, and in Norwegian you have the words *svoger* and *svigerinne*


 
 In Spanish:

Suegro = father-in-law
Suegra = Mother-in-law
 Which is derived from Latin *socer.*

 I don't know where the Latin is derived from?* *


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## Frank06

Hi,


Magmod said:


> In Spanish:
> 
> Suegro = father-in-law
> Suegra = Mother-in-law
> Which is derived from Latin *socer.*
> 
> I don't know where the Latin is derived from?* *


According to this and seconding Lemminkäinen, they are all derived from the same root. The Spanish and Portuguese (sogro) words are derived from _Vulg. Latin_ socrus [< socer (*edit*)].

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Binapesi

"-in-law" refers to "Kayın" in Turkish.
For example; Father in law -> Kayın-baba. (But not used often)
(*Kayın*: In law. *Baba*: Father.)

There is a speacial name for Mother-in-law in Turkish instead of Kayın-anne (never heard this said anyway); it's Kaynana. Short form of Kayın-ana.
(*Ana*: The former use of Anne(mother))

But generally "Kayın" isn't used. If you're to introduce your Father-in-law, you'd say "this is my housband's/wife's father." .. Or you'd just say "this is my father." if the one you're introducing to knows your real father.


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## jonquiliser

Lemminkäinen said:


> The word is only used in in-laws compounds (*svigerfamilie* is "the in-laws"), and I don't know any similar words that could clear up its meaning.


 


Lemminkäinen said:


> Ah, and in Norwegian you have the words *svoger* and *svigerinne* (the -inne suffix is used for feminine nouns) which mean respectively brother-in-law and sister-in-law.
> 
> They are synonymous with the terms *svigerbror* ('_sviger_ brother') and *svigersøster* ('_sviger_ sister').


 
Again, Swedish uses the same root. There's no word for "family-in-law" (I actually never heard that before in English either), the family memebers just have individual words:

Parents-in-law: svärföräldrar
Mother-in-law: svärmor
father-in-law: svärfar
brother-in-law: svåger
sister-in-law: svägerska

I don't know where this comes from and what meanings it has developped from. The only resemblance I see is with the verb to swear (att svära)... So svärord (swear word) looks suspiciously similar to svär-(whatever family member), but I doubt whether there is a link here.


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## Frank06

Hi,



Lemminkäinen said:


> Well, I found this in a





Lemminkäinen said:


> language column:
> "Sviger-" is an ancient description that can be found in Indo-European "schwekro-" (or similar) and the Germanic "schwegro-" and therefore exist in a lot of European languages. However, the basic meaning is not clear.



I tried to look it up in various dictionaries, but they basically state two things:
1. basic PIE meaning of *swekru- (or variants): well, "mother-in-law" (Kluge's, Van Dale's, Pokorny's dictionaries)
2. "Stammbildung unsicher"


Groetjes,

Frank


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## Chazzwozzer

Turkish *"kayın"* is claimed to be a loan from Mongolian *"ḳadum" *by some etymologists while many say there's no evidence for it.

*father-in-law*
*kayınbaba: Turkish + Arabic
kayınpeder =: Turkish + Persian
kayınata => kaynata: Turkish + **Turkish*

*mother-in-law
**kayınvalide: Turkish + Arabic
kayınana => kaynana: Turkish + Turkish

brother-in-law
kayın *_(yes, only "kayın")_*: Turkish
**kayınbirader: Turkish + Persian
**kayıneçe => kayınço (In modern Turkish: *_informal way used by brothers-in-law to call each other_*): Turkish + **Turkish
*
*sister**-in-law
**baldız*_ (a sister of a man's wife)_*: Turkish*_ (cognate: Mongolian *balçir*: little child, baby.)
_*görümce *_(a sister of a woman's husband)_*: Turkish*


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## dn88

dn88 said:


> In Polish: "powinowaci".



My in-depth analysis:

*teściowa =* mother-in-law
*teść **= *father-in-law
*szwagierka** (the sister of your wife or husband/the wife of your brother)* or* szwagrowa/bratowa (the wife of your brother) = *sister-in-law
*szwagier = *brother-in-law
*synowa = *daughter-in-law
*zięć = *son-in-law

Cheers


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## Lugubert

Frank06 said:


> I tried to look it up in various dictionaries, but they basically state two things:
> 1. basic PIE meaning of *swekru- (or variants): well, "mother-in-law" (Kluge's, Van Dale's, Pokorny's dictionaries)
> 2. "Stammbildung unsicher"


Examples from Hindi are _śvaśur_ 'father-in-law' and _śvaśru_ 'mother-in-law'.


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## Aurin

German:
Schwiegereltern - parents-in-law
Schwiegermutter- mother-in-law
Schwiegervater - father-in-law
Schwiegertochter - daughter-in-law
Schwiegersohn - son-in-law
Schwägerin - sister-in-law
Schwager - brother-in-law
angeheirateter Verwandter - relative-in-law


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## Magmod

Aurin said:


> German:
> 
> angeheirateter Verwandter - relative-in-law


 
  Don't you think this is a long word just to say: *auntie *( -in-law) or uncle?


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## Aurin

Magmod said:


> Don't you think this is a long word just to say: *auntie *( -in-law) or uncle?


 
Yes, I think so. But if you want to speak about all relatives-in-law together maybe it is shorter than enumerate them.


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## parakseno

The term "familie prin alianţă" is the Romanian equivalent of "family-in-law", but it's not very often used in everyday language. For the members of the family,
father-in-law - socru (m.)
mother-in-law - soacră (f.)
parents-in-law - socri (m. pl.)
brother-in-law - cumnat (m.)
sister-in-law - cumnată (f.)
son-in-law - ginere (m.)
daugher-in-law - noră (f.) (with the plural nurori)
are used.
Also, the father of one spouse to the parents of the other is "cuscru" and the mother is "cuscră".


For the father of the husband "socru mare" ("big/grand father-in-law") is frequently used and for that of the wife, "socru mic". Same for mother-in-law; "soacră mare", "soacră mică".


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## dn88

Just wanted to append something :

parents-in-law = teściowie


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## spakh

Chazzwozzer said:


> Turkish *"kayın"* is claimed to be a loan from Mongolian *"ḳadum" *by some etymologists while many say there's no evidence for it.
> 
> *father-in-law*
> *kayınbaba: Turkish + Arabic*


 
As far as I know Turkish 'kayın' comes from Arabic "kaim" (standing, replacing)and for example "kaim-i baba" is the original form of kayınbaba. It means a person who becomes new father of his son or girl's spouse. Turks accepted their father-in-laws as their new fathers and today many people say just "anne", "baba" (mother,father) for their mother and father-in-laws.

"kayınço" comes from kaim + çe(diminutive from Farsi).

Also baba is not a Arabic word as I know. It originates from Farsi.


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## Whodunit

Let me translate for you what my etymological dictionary of the German language says about _Schwieger-_:



> *Schwieger* (MHG _swiger_, OHG _swigar_, OE _swegar_, similar Goth. _swaíhrō_, OIce. _sv{çra_). This nous is, as respective words in other IE languages show (e.g. Lat. _socrus_, Russ. _svekrov'_, OInd. _śvaśrū́-ḥ_), is the feminine counterpart to the word for father-in-law mentioned at ↑Schwager, which had already been feminine in IE.


 


> *Schwager* The word being restricted to the German-speaking area, MHG _swāger_ "brother-in-law, father-in-law, son-in-law", OHG _suāgur_ "the wife's brother" (Dutch _zwager_, Danish _svoger_, Swe _svåger_ are loan words from MLG) corresponds phonetically to the OInd. adjective _śvāúura-ḥ_ "belonging to the father-in-law"_._ In the sense of "the one belonging to the father-in-law", it is thusly akin to the Proto-Germanic word *Schwäher* "father-in-law" (still used in some German dialects): MHG _sweher_, OHG _swehur_, Goth. _swaíhra_, OE _swēor_, OSwe _svēr_ correspond to synonymous Lat. _socer_ (from *_svecer_), Russ. _svëkor_, OInd. _śvāúura-ḥ_. Notice the feminine counterpart ↑Schwieger (in Schwiegermutter "mother-in-law"). In written German, 'Schwager' is only used for the husband of the wife's or husband's sister or brother in NHG. In older NHG, it was also a familiar address to non-relatives (part. under student influence) and thusly became a designation for the stagecoach driver in the 18th century.


 
Hope it helps.


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## geve

Another interesting fact about French is that we use the same term for in-laws and step-relatives, ie. _stepfather_ and _father-in-law_ both translates in _"beau-père"._ I wonder if that happens in other languages?


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## Chazzwozzer

spakh said:


> As far as I know Turkish 'kayın' comes from Arabic "kaim" (standing, replacing)and for example "kaim-i baba" is the original form of kayınbaba.


Interesting, really. Where did you hear this? 

Well, I have it on good authority that *"kayın" *is a Turkish word which can be traced back to 11th century.



spakh said:


> "kayınço" comes from kaim + çe(diminutive from Farsi).


So you say it's an Arabic-Persian combination?



spakh said:


> Also baba is not a Arabic word as I know.


Well, it actually is. Baba *(بابا)* in Arabic means "father," as just confirmed by an Arabic-speaking friend.


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## spakh

Chazzwozzer said:


> Interesting, really. Where did you hear this?
> 
> Well, I have it on good authority that *"kayın" *is a Turkish word which can be traced back to 11th century.
> 
> 
> So you say it's an Arabic-Persian combination?
> 
> 
> Well, it actually is. Baba *(بابا)* in Arabic means "father," as just confirmed by an Arabic-speaking friend.


 
I've got that from an etymology dictionary. 

Yes, kayınço is an Perso-arabic combination. 

'baba' may be Arabic(probably a loan word), but my references say it is from Farsi. Also there are very similar words for father in numerous languages, so it won't be surprising if it is from Arabic.


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## parakseno

geve said:


> Another interesting fact about French is that we use the same term for in-laws and step-relatives, ie. _stepfather_ and _father-in-law_ both translates in _"beau-père"._ I wonder if that happens in other languages?



Not in Romanian. The step-relatives have the word "vitreg" appended to them. Therefore your example would be in Romanian:
stepfather - tată vitreg
father-in-law - socru
It might be interesting to note that "vitreg", besides this meaning of "not of the same blood", also means (as a figurative meaning of the word) "hostile", "unfavorable".


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## Chazzwozzer

spakh said:


> I've got that from an etymology dictionary.
> 
> Yes, kayınço is an Perso-arabic combination.


Can you please tell me what etymological dictionary it is? I'd like to email and ask it to  Mr. Nişanyan, an Armenian-Turkish etymologist. According to him, *kayınço *is a Turkish compound.


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## AkErBeLtZ

In Basque, the relationship between the members of a family is called 'ezkon-ahaidegoa' (famili-in-law).
Mother-in-law = *Amaginarreba / Aubea*
Father-in-law = *Aitaginarreba*
Sister-in-law = *Ezkonarreba *(for men) and *ezkonahizpa* (for women)
Brother-in-law = *Ezkonanaia* (for men) and *ezkoneba* (for women)
Son-in-law = *Suhi*
Daughter-in-law = *Errain*


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## Nizo

In *Esperanto*, the prefix _bo_ (which comes from the French _beau_) is used to express the in-law relationship:  _bopatro_ (father-in-law), _bopatrino_ (mother-in-law), _bofrato_ (brother-in-law), _bofratino_ (sister-in-law), _bofilo_ (son-in-law), _bofilino_ (daughter-in-law).


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## MALLUS

In Catalan, we have these words for calling the different family members

pare = father (fam. "papa", not "papá" )
mare = mother (fam. "mama" not "mamá").
fill =  son
filla =  daughter
avi = grandfather
àvia = grandmother
nét = grandson
néta = granddaughter
cosí / cosina = cousin
oncle = uncle
tia = aunt
germà = brother
germana = sister
nebot = nephew
neboda = niece
sogre = father-in-law
sogra = mother-in-law
gendre = son-in-law
jove = daughter-in-law

pares = parents

Be careful: in Catalan, the word "parents" means "relatives" (false friend).

The word "jove" means also "young". Ex. Una dona jove = A young woman.

We can compare this words with Spanish and French, our nearest "brothers".

pare/padre/père
mare/ madre/ mère
fill /hijo/ fils
filla/ hija /fille
nét /nieto / petit fils
néta / nieta / petite fille
avi / abuelo / grand-père
àvia / abuela / grand-mère
oncle / tio / oncle
tia / tía / tante
nebot / sobrino / neveu
neboda / sobrina / nièce
germà / hermano / frère
germana / hermana / soeur

IMPORTANT: Do not forget accents when you write. Sometimes are diacritic. For exemple, "nét / néta" different word and different pronounciation than "net/neta" (= clean).

A curiosity: in Catalan, the plural of "germà" (brother) is "germans", but of course does'nt mind "People form Germany" .


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## apmoy70

In Greek:

Parents-in-law are generally referred to, as «πεθερικά» (peθeri'ka, _neuter noun, nominative, plural_).
Father-in-law: «Πεθερός» (peθe'ros) deriving form the classical one «πενθερός» (pĕntʰĕ'rŏs, _masculine noun_). From PIE base _*bʰendʰ-: to connect, tie_.
Mother-in-law: «Πεθερά» (peθe'ra, _feminine noun_).
Son-in-law: Γαμπρός (ɣamb'ros), deriving from the classical masculine noun «γαμβρός» (gāmb'rŏs, _masculine noun_)-->lit. _the groom_.
Daughter-in-law: Νύφη ('nifi, _feminine noun_), deriving from the classical feminine noun «νύμφη» ('nūmpʰē, with obscure etymology)-->lit. _the bride_.
Brother's wife: Νύφη ('nifi).
Sister's husband: Γαμπρός (ɣamb'ros).
Wife's/husband's brother: Kουνιάδος (ku'ɲaðos), a Venetian loanword (cugniado).
Wife's/husband's sister: Κουνιάδα (ku'ɲaða), a Venetian loanword (cugnada).


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## ilocas2

Czech:

*tchán* - father-in-law
*tchýně* - mother-in-law
*švagr* - wife's brother or sister's husband
*švagrová* - husband's sister or brother's wife
*snacha* - daughter-in-law
*zeť* - son-in-law

curiosity: there are only 3 words in Czech beginning with *tch* - tchán, tchýně and tchoř - polecat


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## missangelamb

Primal said:


> I seem to have an *inert* gift for languages, so things between languages simply make sence to me, even if others have no chance of understanding them. I'm not saying that I'm right, I'm just saying that this is how I understand the language gap here.
> 
> Primal
> P.S. Sorry for the babbling.




don't you mean innate?


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## ThomasK

dn88 said:


> In Polish: "powinowaci".


But what does that mean precisely ?



> švagr - wife's brother or sister's husband
> švagrová - husband's sister or brother's wife


 
That reminds me: there is _schoonbroer_ in Dutch (Flanders), but _zwager_ in the Netherlands - and I suddenly notice it has the same root as these Czech words !


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## ilocas2

ThomasK said:


> That reminds me: there is _schoonbroer_ in Dutch (Flanders), but _zwager_ in the Netherlands - and I suddenly notice it has the same root as these Czech words !



Yes, because *švagr* is loanword from German - *Schwager*


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