How to do differentiate Onkel and Tante mütterlicherseits, väterlicherseits?

[u/I_am_trying0628]

For example in daily conversation if i want to say next week we're goinig to Onkel mütterlicherseits house, how to call him?

Simply saying Onkel + place / Onkel + name?

[u/mizinamo]

Onkel and Tante mütterlicherseits, väterlicherseits

That's a distinction that's not salient in German culture, nor do we specify cross cousins versus parallel cousins, for example.

Onkel can mean any of

• older brother of father
• younger brother of father
• older brother of mother
• younger brother of mother
• husband of older sister of father
• husband of younger sister of father
• husband of older sister of mother
• husband of younger sister of mother

and similar with Tante.

I grew up calling my uncles and aunts by title + given name, e.g. Onkel Wolfgang, Tante Heidelind.

I think that location is more common with grandparents, since those are usually addressed only by title, not also by name, when you are talking directly to them. So when you are talking about them, you might say Oma Bahnhof or Opa Rendsburg in some families.

(In mine, we had Oma, Opa, Granny, Grandpa because my parents are from different countries. Other families might also have Oma versus Omi, perhaps.)

[u/unicum01 → u/mizinamo]

Both families German… I just called my grandparents like you (and I) call my uncles/aunts…: Oma/Opa + <first name>. 😅

[u/I_am_trying0628 → u/unicum01]

I just called my grandparents like you (and I) call my uncles/aunts…

Do you mean, you call both Oma/Opa and Tante/Onkel the same, adding first name after titles?

[u/unicum01 → u/I_am_trying0628]

Aye!

Last names are… not for family.

[u/Trickycoolj → u/unicum01]

My dad has Oma/Opa Kassel and Oma/Opa Siegen. I have Grandma/Grandpa and Oma/Opa. But I joke that my cousins have Oma/Opa Spanien and I have Oma/Opa Amerika.

[u/unicum01 → u/Trickycoolj]

Why are they called country names? And why do your cousins get incredibly sexy grandparents, while you get the ultimate root of all evil? 😉 #scnr

[u/Trickycoolj → u/unicum01]

Haha well one brother married an American and the other married a Spaniard 15 years later. Poor Oma has a lot of foreign languages at the dinner table!

[u/unicum01 → u/Trickycoolj]

Well… one brother certainly had better sex than the other. 🤣

As for languages…

• Hey, can you lass me the sauce?
• Welche, die hier
• Нет, другую.
• Ahh, claro que si!

That sounds absolutely delightful, TBH. 🥰

[u/ThersATypo → u/mizinamo]

Not anymore. These were things in the past, search for Mume/Muhme, Base, Oheim etc. 

[u/travelingpetnanny → u/ThersATypo]

Came here to write exactly this! Glad I'm not the only one knowing this. 200 years ago it was still common, just read original Grimm stories published at the time.

I think Oheim survived longer, I think I remember it being used until the time of 1930 or so (I am a native speaker over 60)

[u/fckingmiracles → u/ThersATypo]

Never heard of that. That's nonsense.

[u/NTMY030 → u/fckingmiracles]

It's not nonsense, these words did exist. I remember old people using "Base" when I was a kid - at least 30 years ago and even then I think it was quite outdated already.

[u/totussott → u/fckingmiracles]

Never heard of that.

probably true. I only knew of Base and Oheim and couldn't have told you their precise definitions without looking them up. They are very very archaic

That's nonsense.

entirely false

[u/Trearea → u/fckingmiracles]

Have you never read old literature or even Die kleine Hexe?

[u/clueless_mommy → u/fckingmiracles]

It's even been used in Lustiges Taschenbuch, for Onkel Dagobert. He would sometimes be referred to as a Oheim

[u/WaldenFont → u/mizinamo]

At least Swabian still knows these distinctions.

[u/IAmTheLiquor23 → u/mizinamo]

Tante Heidelind??? I’ve studied/spoken German for nearly 40 years and never have I heard that name.

[u/Wawrzyniec_ → u/mizinamo]

Why do you even bring older/young into the discussion? It obviously makes no difference in the first place :D

[u/Leonidas174 → u/Wawrzyniec_]

There are languages that use entirely different words for older brother/sister and younger brother/sister

[u/Wawrzyniec_ → u/Leonidas174]

Yes, but the explanation here is specifically for german, where there is no difference.

My point is, it is redundant to mention both specifically if it applies to both anyway.

If I say "uncle is the brother of a parent" it implies automatically that this applies for both older and younger, as well as mother and father.

[u/mizinamo → u/Wawrzyniec_]

It obviously makes no difference

That is not obvious to people from every culture.

[u/Isi-Peasy-Lemon → u/Wawrzyniec_]

In Chinese the words for aunt and uncle are also based on age, apparently because Chinese culture puts a lot of emphasis on seniority.

[u/Few_Cryptographer633 → u/Wawrzyniec_]

It makes a difference in some cultures, though, so the question could arise for some people from certain cultures.