Tuesday, February 16, 2010

RELATIONS

We have a lot of kannada speaking relatives, also deshasthas(!) and I do enjoy asking them if they can describe relatives as aptly as we can do in our Thanjavur marathi! In fact, the very word tells all about how the person is related, there is no need of any description!
Perhaps, we inherited these words also from our ancestors from Maharashtra and preserved and continued to use them!

Here are a few of them....

Bappa / बप्पा ..... Father

Amma/ Aayi अम्मा / आई... Mother

Aayi Bappa आई बप्पा... Mother Father

Bahin बहिन ... sister

Bhau भाऊ ... brother

Kaka काका ... father's brother/ Paternal Uncle

Vadil वडिल .. .. refers to father's older brother, also refers to father

Maushi मौषी ... Maternal Aunt/ mother's sister

Atya अत्या ... Paternal aunt/ father's sister

Mama मामा ... Maternal Uncle/ Mother's brother

mami मामी ... mama's wife

Vahini वहिनी.... Sister-in-law


Bhaoji भओजी .... older brother-in-law...that is, elder sister's husband or husband's older brother






These are the simple straightforward relations. Directly related to a parent.








9 comments:

  1. Mangesh Sir DeshpandeOctober 21, 2011 at 9:00 AM

    For SHREE GANESH/GANAPATEE/GAJANAN ,we call GANAPATEE BAAPPAA.[ almost like a father.].In Goa ,too.BUT GOAN`s call their younger pat.uncle BAAPPAA.MAYEE/MAEE is for SAVATRA/STEP mother.IN southern Maharashtra we call our elder sister AKKA,a Kannad influence,where as in the rest of Maha.it is TAAEE/TAAYEE.ANNA is used in S.Maharashtra for the elder brother,the rest,its DAADAA.

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  2. what do you call atya's husband(mama or kaka)?

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  3. Atya's husband would be Mama. Because Kaka would mean father's brother but atya is father's sister! But mother's brother(mama) could have married father's sister so that relationship would be legit.
    So atya's husband would be mama and maushi's husband would be kaka

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  4. mangesh sirdeshpandeJuly 19, 2012 at 1:50 AM

    Brother in law is bhaujee but actuak word is mehunna...but in to day`s pramaann marathi if some one refers to his mehunna it denotes ..his wife`s brother.also mehunni for a feminine.Atya`s hubby is addressed as a BHAUJEE,here.Note:- mother`s side is always with letter M..like mataa,maa,mamaa,mamee,mavshi[mother`s sis]and her hubby mavsaa.sometimes Aatobaa is used for aatya`s hubby ,but NOT in his presence.you have given saadoo..some say saadbhau...but you have not given the words for vyaahee,vihinn...vyaahee is one`s daughter-in-law`s father ..and vihinn,her mother...these words have come from skt.vivah..wedding.widow is vidhvaa and widower is vidhoor.mother`s side cousins are mame bhau/bahinn and mavas bhau/bahinn...but father`s side cousins are chulat bhavande[cousins]. sakhha in marathi means from the same mother and father ,where as savatr means step...so one can say ,to maazaa savatr bhau/ti maazee sakhhi bahinn.Tatya is also used for an uncle but not tyatee for an aunt.never.she is kakoo or kakee while addressing to her,but chultee when referig to her.Father in law is officially called saasraa but also called mamaa in deshasthas and grameenn [villagers]as there is a custom of marrying one`s sister`s daughter or mother`s brother.that is why the daughters in law address their saasras as MAMANJEE...jee in marathi is solely for respect.Vans is a word used by ladies to address their hubby`s sisters --nanands...

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  5. @sirdeshpande..
    WE seem to have changed 'mehunna' to 'mevanna'
    'mevenna' mevanni' are wife's brother and sister.
    Bhaoji is the currently used Hindi Cinema..'jijaji'
    'aatoba' seems perfect for Atya's husband. I think we should adopt that!
    Thank you for reminding me of 'vyaahin' and 'vihinn' 'sakkh' and 'saavtr' I have added them now.

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  6. I would assume "anna" as it was in relationship equal to one's brother!

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