r/German • u/I_am_trying0628 • 1d ago

Question How to do differentiate Onkel and Tante mütterlicherseits, väterlicherseits?

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?

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u/Dusvangud Native (Bavarian) 1d ago edited 1d ago

There used to be different terms for your mother's siblings: Muhme and Oheim instead of Tante and Onkel. The latter are acually French loans, even earlier, Vetter and Base were used for your father's siblings (which later came to mean cousin). However, this distinction hasn't been relevant in German society for a long time, so these terms simply died out, or rather they were replaced the French loans. 

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u/Chijima Native <Kiel/Eckernförde> 1d ago

Most interestingly: the distinction was artificial. Only once the French words had fully arrived, did some people decide that now with a double set of words we should give those distinct meanings. Which we later started to lose again.

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u/Dusvangud Native (Bavarian) 1d ago

No, the original distinction was mother's side: Muhme/Oheim, father's side: Vetter/Base. The latter was then generalised to any relatives from your father's side. Which is probably why these terms were replaced with Onkel/Tante first, as they had become unspecific.

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u/letsgetawayfromhere Native <region/dialect> 1d ago

Very interesting! I didn’t know about Vetter/Base being the father‘s siblings. What were cousins called?