Wicked kinship terminology

[Io]

I decided to give Simon from Omniglot a more detailed information on Bulgarian kinship terms and this is what I wrote to him, I thought y'all might find it interesting as well:

paternal brother: чичо
maternal brother: вуйчо
maternal brother's wife: вуйна

paternal sister/wife of paternal brother: стрин(к)а, чина in some dialects
maternal sister: тетка, леля
maternal sister's husband: тетин

brother-in-law
- баджанак (Persian loan) is brother-in-law only when you have two married sisters, the husbands are баджанак to one another
- your wife's brother is шурей
- your husband's brother is девер
- your sister's husband is зет (that also means son-in-law and husband of your husband's sister)

sister-in-law
- балдъза is your wife's sister
- снаха is your brother's wife (also daughter-in-law)
- зълва is your husband's sister
- етърва is wife of your husband's brother

wife's mother: тъща
wife's father: тъст
husband's mother: свекърва
husband's father: свекър

батко, vocative бате is what you call an older brother/male cousin or a male stranger that's a few years older than you, but that's something only kids would do.
кака, vocative како is the female equivalent.

A kid would also call a much older female/male stranger леля/чичо instead of madam/sir, but that's informal and a bit of a traditional/rural thing. It's also perfectly OK to call "леля X" or "чичо Y" a neighbour for example or a friend of your parents.

Unsurprisingly Serbian terminology is pretty much the same, however WTF:

grandmother - baba
grandgrandmother - prababa
gggmother - čukunbaba
ggggmother - navrnbaba

granddaughter - unuka
ggdaughter - praunuka
gggdaughter - čukununuka
ggggdaughter (see ggggson)

grandfather - deda
ggfather - pradeda
gggfather - čukundeda
ggggfather - navrndeda
gggggfather - kurdjel, kunđel
ggggggfather - askurdjel, askurđel
gggggggfather - sukurov, kurajber
ggggggggfather - beli orao (literally "white eagle")

grandson - unuk
ggson - praunuk
gggson - čukununuk
ggggson - bela pčela (lit. "white bee")

Any clue about the etymology of the words denoting anything beyond great-grand-XYZ?!

[Xephyr]

paternal brother: чичо
maternal brother: вуйчо
maternal brother's wife: вуйна

paternal sister/wife of paternal brother: стрин(к)а, чина in some dialects
maternal sister: тетка, леля
maternal sister's husband: тетин

What do you mean here?

[Astraios]

(Spouse of) sibling of parent?

[Io]

Astraios is right.

[finlay]

"paternal uncle"

[Io]

What's your point, Finch? Initially I wrote those in the lines of "father's brother", "mother's sister's husband" but that way they look even more confusing in English, to me at least.

[finlay]

No, they don't.

[ol bofosh]

I use "maternal" or "paternal" in reference to whether a relative is related to my mum or dad.

So, Lo, I'm curious, how come your conculture has need for so many words for relatives? They into genealogy?

[Vuvuzela]

I use "paternal" or "maternal" in reference to whether a relative is related to my mum or dad.

So, Lo, I'm curious, how come your conculture has need for so many words? They into genealogy?

a more detailed information on Bulgarian kinship terms

Wait, Buldaria is imaginary?

[ol bofosh]

Woops, thanks.

I just saw a load of words and thought "this must be a conculture."

So the Bulgarians (or Buldarians? lol) have a need for all these words?

[Torco]

Wait, Buldaria is imaginary?

nope... it LIVES! in our hearts.

[Rui]

What's your point, Finch? Initially I wrote those in the lines of "father's brother", "mother's sister's husband" but that way they look even more confusing in English, to me at least.

I would interpret "paternal brother" and "maternal brother" instead as a half-sibling on your dad's/mom's side, rather than your dad's/mom's brother.

Basically, "paternal" is not equivalent to "dad's", and similarly with "maternal"/"mom's". Paternal/maternal X means that X is the relation to you, while dad's/mom's X means that X is the relation to your mom/dad.

[Radius Solis]

What's your point, Finch? Initially I wrote those in the lines of "father's brother", "mother's sister's husband" but that way they look even more confusing in English, to me at least.

I would interpret "paternal brother" and "maternal brother" instead as a half-sibling on your dad's/mom's side, rather than your dad's/mom's brother.

Basically, "paternal" is not equivalent to "dad's", and similarly with "maternal"/"mom's". Paternal/maternal X means that X is the relation to you, while dad's/mom's X means that X is the relation to your mom/dad.

To perhaps simplify your explanation.... your "maternal X" is your X. The adjective just specifies which side of the family you're talking about:
Alice: I saw my uncle today.
Bob: Oh yeah? Which uncle?
Alice: My maternal uncle.

[Niedokonany]

Unsurprisingly Serbian terminology is pretty much the same, however WTF:

grandmother - baba
grandgrandmother - prababa
gggmother - čukunbaba
ggggmother - navrnbaba

granddaughter - unuka
ggdaughter - praunuka
gggdaughter - čukununuka
ggggdaughter (see ggggson)

grandfather - deda
ggfather - pradeda
gggfather - čukundeda
ggggfather - navrndeda
gggggfather - kurdjel, kunđel
ggggggfather - askurdjel, askurđel
gggggggfather - sukurov, kurajber
ggggggggfather - beli orao (literally "white eagle")

grandson - unuk
ggson - praunuk
gggson - čukununuk
ggggson - bela pčela (lit. "white bee")

Any clue about the etymology of the words denoting anything beyond great-grand-XYZ?!

Ўо жэж курва!

The Skok's dictionary only really explains one of them:

čukun-(baba/deda/unuk) is a distortion of Latin secundus; other attested variants: sakun-, šekun-, šakun-, šikun-, sukun-, kušun- (with a metathesis), cukun-.

Quite a few look like Turkisms or sth.

beli orao

I thought Serbs just used the same national anthem melody as we do, now it turns out they're descended from our national emblem as well.

Many of the Bulgarian kinship terms resemble archaic, nowadays obscure Polish terms ( świekier, dziewierz, szurzy, zełwa, jątrew).Generally, our system has undergone a lot of simplification (towards what's called the 'Eskimo system'). Incidentally, you've reminded me to finally download the other volumes of a bulgarian etymological dic from uztranslations.

[Bristel]

Hmm, now I know what 'beli orao' means.

[Xephyr]

Finlay and Chibi are right. Your mother's brother is your "maternal uncle". "Maternal brother" isn't a thing.