The translator of The Count of Monte Christo threw me a curve. A girl whose mother is dead, calls her father's second wife her "mother-in-law". I looked up in French English dictionary, could not find French for "step-mother".
So I looked uo defintion of mother-in-law, and found French uses same word for both "mother-in-law" and "step-mother".
belle-mère
Nom féminin

(a) mother-in-law; stepmother

So the translator goofed and chose the wrong definition!

>French uses same word for both "mother-in-law" and "step-mother".

Perhaps because both are often viewed similarly? It's still not as bad as Italian, which uses the same word for nephew, niece and grandchild. Nipotesm gone mad.

uses the same word for nephew, niece and grandchild

Is this used even if grandparents speak of their own grandchildren...if not it certainly strips that extra sense of endearment that grandfolks have folk their grandkids, doesn't it? (beyond a uncle/aunt---niece/nephew, that is...or speaking of *other folks grandchildren).

>Is this used even if grandparents speak of their own grandchildren.


Well, all I can say is that my hosts used it all the time when speaking of their grandchildren - that was what confused me, since I initially thought that they were talking about a nephew.

Re:which uses the same word for nephew, niece and grandchild. Nipotesm gone mad.

from a biological veiw, you have as much DNA in common with your neices and nephews and you do with your grandchildren. In kinship terms, they are equal relations.

back in the bad old days, where 50% of your children might die before adulthood, and you might never live to see a grandchild, a neice or nephew was as good a relations to share you wealth with.

Remember, you siblings are closer related to you than your kids!

>from a biological veiw, you have as much DNA in common with your neices and nephews and you do with your grandchildren. In kinship terms, they are equal relations.


Which doesn't even come close to addressing the difficulties caused by using the same word for all three. Remember, this is a language that distinguishes between male and female cousins, cugino and cugina, yet does not distinguish at all between a nephew, a niece and a grandchild. And remember, this a question about words, not about biology.

that extra sense of endearment

Grandparents and grandchildren have that special bond because they have a common enemy.

well biology is kinship-- and they use the same word for people who have the same degree of 'common genes' even if they didn't know about genitics.

my neices and nephews and grandchildren all share the same amount of kinship.

in times past, i think this kinship might have been a factor. what with early deaths, and adult having serial monagomy, there would have been step families, and crossed relations all over the place.

recognizing kinship, was more important that sex of the kin.
--what is the word for grandparent? Old mother? or something similar? often it is, since often the person married to a biological grandparent was no relation (no kin) at all.

in a will or deed of testiment, neices,nephews and grandchildren might all be entitled to the percentage of the estate--

>well biology is kinship-- and they use the same word for people who have the same degree of 'common genes' even if they didn't know about genitics.

my neices and nephews and grandchildren all share the same amount of kinship.

Yeahbut®, male and female cousiins share precisely the same degree of kinship and yet Italian distinguishes between them. So it's not about using the same word for those with the same degree of kinship.

And some languages will have different words for parallel cousins (children of father's brothers or of mother's sisters) and cross cousins (children of mother's brothers or of father's sisters).

uses the same word for nephew, niece and grandchild

Is this used even if grandparents speak of their own grandchildren...?

Yes
You all can even play with the Italian meaning of "parenti", which is not "parents" but "relatives".

A simmetric problem is the word "cry" which means both
gridare (cry with sound)
and piangere (cry with tears)

Thanks, emanuela

i suspect that the language/words for relations bears upon how kinship is used in the society.

I suspect that different societies, depending on how they veiw kinship relationships, have different words for children (boys and girls) and nephews, and maybe even grandsons.

English is not just a language made up from other languages, its made up from other cultures. Clans and other societies that 'elect' a leader from the most qualified relation to the king- (as opposed to societies that have a strict pateral linage) this might have placed different needs than these other cultures to name kinship relationships.

As for cousins (boy cousin vs girl cousin) it might be nothing more than the word following a standard ending (a gender as it applies to language issue!)

We use 'children' (no gender) and boys and girls, or lads and lasses, and other terms. some are specific --some not. Parents and relatives, and the family- convey relationships, but in todays modern world, one can have 2 male (or 2 female) parents. Mother and father a more specific terms that let you know the sex --(and if mother and mother, the sexual orientation!)of the parents!