avunculus

Latin

Etymology

By surface analysis, avus +‎ -unculus. Actually from an n-stem noun suffixed with -culus, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂ewh₂-on-, a dialectal diminutive of *h₂éwh₂ō (“grandfather, adult male relative other than one’s father”) (whence also Proto-Celtic *awontīr (“uncle”) and possibly Proto-Germanic *awô (“grandfather”), from *h₂éwh₂os (“older male relative”)), whence also avus (“grandfather”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /aˈu̯un.ku.lus/, [äˈu̯ʊŋkʊɫ̪ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /aˈvun.ku.lus/, [äˈvuŋkulus]

Noun

avunculus m (genitive avunculī); second declension

1. maternal uncle, mother's brother
2. mother's sister's husband
3. great-uncle

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	avunculus	avunculī
Genitive	avunculī	avunculōrum
Dative	avunculō	avunculīs
Accusative	avunculum	avunculōs
Ablative	avunculō	avunculīs
Vocative	avuncule	avunculī

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Romanian: unchi, unchiu
• North Italian:
  • Old Venetian: avoncoli (plural, hapax)
  • ⇒ Romansch: aug, ô, oc (Sutsilvan)
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old Franco-Provençal: uncle, onclo, hunclo
    • Franco-Provençal: onclle, oncllo
  • Oïl:
    • Bourbonnais-Berrichon: ouncle, onclïe, onquille
    • Norman: aonclle (Guernsey), oncl'ye (Jersey), onque
    • Old French: oncle (see there for further descendants)
• Occitano-Romance:
  • Old Catalan: avoncle, avonclo, oncle
    • Catalan: oncle, onclo
  • Old Occitan: avoncle, auncle, aoncle, oncle
    • Occitan: oncle
• Ancient borrowings:
  • → Albanian: ungël, ungj

See also

• amita (“paternal aunt”)
• matertera (“maternal aunt”)
• patruus (“paternal uncle”)

References

• ALF: Atlas Linguistique de la France^[1] [Linguistic Atlas of France] – map 941: “oncle” – on lig-tdcge.imag.fr
• “avoncle” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “avunculus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 25: Refonte Apaideutos–Azymus, page 1252

Further reading

• “avunculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “avunculus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• avunculus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• avunculus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.