Re: words for father and paternal uncle

floyd@bravo.imagi.net
Tue, 14 Nov 1995 14:35:05 -0600

tkocaoglu@ku.edu.tr (TIMUR KOCAOGLU) writes:
>
> Scott Thornberry cites the following words in Miwok languages for
> father (with an additional meaning for "paternal uncle):
> ?ap:a-
> ?api
...
> The common and the oldest words for father in Turkish languages (at
> present 21 literary languages from Turkey to Caucasus, Central Asia
> and as far as to the Bering strait) is:
> apa [pronounced as ah-pah] "h" is for the stressed "a"
> appa [ahp-pah]

Well I for one found that to be exceedingly interesting! In the
Yup'ik Eskimo language "apa" is grandfather, "ata" is father,
while "apii" and "atii" would be "his grandfather" and "his
father" respectively.

A paternal uncle is "ataata", which is also a stepfather.

Also the words are not necessarily literal. Not only my
grandchildren call me Apa Flo, so do my children and practically
everyone else I know who speaks Yup'ik (which I only know a few
words of...).

Floyd

--
Floyd L. Davidson           Salcha, Alaska           floyd@imagi.net