Family Names in Serbian
Welcome back!
I have a confession to make: every time someone says a noun describing somebody with a degree of kinship in Italian, I have to stop and wonder who they are talking about. This is because there is no apparent relationship between the noun and their role. English, in this, is a true blessing: mother-in-law is clear, isn’t it? In Italian, it is suocera! Where is the connection? I don’t know, and I am not a philologist, so I can only tell you that the origin of this word goes all the way back to the Latin language.
In today’s short episode, we will look at how the various familiar relationships are expressed in Serbian, at the same time comparing them with how they are found in English and Italian. Let’s get started!
First circle
- Father is padre in Italian and отац in Serbian. The more colloquial version, dad/daddy, is papà (which accent on the last syllable. Otherwise, it sounds like “the Pope”), and тата.
- Mother is madre in Italian and мајка in Serbian. Mom/mummy, instead, is mamma in Italian, and мама in Serbian.
- Son is figlio in Italian and син in Serbian, while daughter is figlia and ћерка.
- Brother is fratello in Italian and брат in Serbian (though this word can be used for many other cousin-level relationships!). Sister, instead, is sorella and сестра.
Second circle and beyond
Your son’s wife1 (daughter-in-law, so much simplicity and clarity!) is nuora in Italian and снаја in Serbian. Your daughter’s husband2 (son-in-law), instead, is genero in Italian and зет in Serbian. This last one, зет, is also used for the boyfriend of a female close friend of your group.
Both in Italian and in English, the brother of your mother and of your father are said in the same way (EN: uncle; IT: zio), and so is the sister of your mother/father (EN: aunt; IT: zia). Serbian complicates things a bit: your mother’s brother is ујак, while your father’s brother is стриц. Connected to them is your mother’s brother’s wife (ујна) and your father’s brother’s wife (стрина).
When it comes to the sister of either your mother or father, instead, they are both expressed in the same way: тетка (which is also used in dispregiative ways in some informal contexts). Her husband, then, is теча.
Let’s now come to the most delicate part of family relationships: the father/mothers-in-law! Once more, both in English and in Italian, the words are the same regardless of them being the wife’s or the husband’s parents (IT: suocero/suocera; EN: father-in-law/mother-in-law). Since being a gentleman is important, let’s start with the wife. The wife’s father is таст in Serbian, while her mother is ташта. As an adjective, ташта also indicates a conceited, vain person (IT: vanitosa), while таст means nothing else. The husband’s father is, instead, свекар, while his mother is свекрва.
We all know, especially in Italy, how the husband’s mother is the most problematic link in the whole marriage chain. She will never like her son’s wife, regardless of what, nor she will ever make a reasonable effort to be a positive presence in the relationship. The Serbian language gives us a hint of this fact being a more general thing, since све means “everything” (IT: tutto), while крв as a noun means “blood” (IT: sangue). Thus, the noun for the husband’s wife describes her as “all in blood”, and I guess it is not pointing at genetic code!
More examples
When trying to mention the wives of two male siblings, sisters-in-law, Serbian uses јетрва/е to describe them (to be clearer, this is the wife of your husband’s brother). The wife’s sister, instead, is свастика, the same noun used for the religious and, later, infamously popular symbol. The husbands of two female siblings, then, is expressed by шурак/шураци (here you see the second palatalisation in action). You will be comforted to know that, both in Italian and in English, this is much simpler: in English it will always be brother- or sister-in-law, while in Italian, it will always be cognato/cognata3.
What about nephews (IT: nipoti)? In English and in Italian, this could point both to a sister/brother’s offspring, or to a son/daughter’s one. Serbian wants to make things as clear as possible, thus introducing a different noun for each role. The brother’s daughter is братаница, from брат (IT: fratello; EN: brother); the sister’s daughter, instead, is сестричина, from сестра (IT: sorella; EN: sister). Finally, the brother’s son is братанац, while the sister’s son is сестрић.
Bonus content
While preparing this lesson, I stumbled upon this website, which listed several more examples. To avoid making this article impossibly long to consume, I’m adding a table here below:
| српски | Italian | English |
|---|---|---|
| Девер — мужељев брат | Cognato (Fratello del marito) | Wife’s brother-in-law |
| Заова – мужељева сестра | Cognata (Sorella del marito) | Wife’s sister-in-law |
| Својак – мужељеве сестре муж | Marito della cognata (sorella del marito) | Wife’s sister-in-law’s husband |
| Шурак – женин брат | Cognato (Fratello o cugino di primo grado della moglie) | Husband’s brother-in-law or first cousin-in-law (!) |
| Шурњаја | Moglie del cognato | Husband’s brother-in-law’s wife |
| Пашеног (or Паша, Пашанац, Баџа, Шогор) | Marito della cognata (sorella della moglie) | Husband’s sister-in-law’s husband |
| Свастић | Figlio della cognata (sorella della moglie) | Husband’s sister-in-law’s son |
| Свастичина | Figlia della cognata (sorella della moglie) | Husband’s sister-in-law’s daughter |
| Прија и Пријатељ | I suoceri tra di loro | Parents-in-law for each other |
This last example is fascinating because пријатељ means “friend” or “ally” (IT: amico, alleato). This reflects the fact that, in not too older times, the wedding was the signing of an alliance between the two parties. Furthermore, given how much parents-in-law often cause issues between the couple, it is funny how, on the opposite side of the spectrum, they are friends and allies between themselves!
Bottom line
That’s it for today, and I hope you enjoyed it.
In the next lesson, we will go back to phonetical transformations! Stay tuned!
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See you soon for another lesson.
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