Family Relationships
Family relationships, both by blood and through marriage, between
individuals are discribed in Tigre as follows:
I singular plural
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em mother emat
ab father abawu/abach (both are correct)
Ht sister Hawat
Hu brother Hawu
abot grandmother abotat
abEb grandfather abEbotat
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In English uncle and aunt are used for equally for both from the
father's and mother's side, but in tgre there is a differentiation
II singular plural
Hel aunt = sister to mother Heltotat
Amet aunt = sister to father Amotat
Hal uncle= brother to mother Halotat
Hu ab uncle= brother to father Hawu ab
No specific words for nephew , niece , and cousin
welet Hu ab cousin ( daughter of father's brother)
wed Hu ab cousin ( son of fathers brother)
welet Hal cousin ( daughter of mother's brother)
wed Hal cousin ( son " " " )
welet Ht niece ( daughter of a sister)
wed Ht nephew ( son of a sister)
welet Hu niece ( daughter of a brother)
wed Hu nephew ( son of a brother )
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Relations of in-laws are as follow :
III Esit wife
b's husband
Hema first wife
wed bkr first son
welet bkr first daughter
wed Hdegat ede last son
welet Hdegat ede last daughter
Hamat mother in law
Ham father in law
Ad Ham family of in laws
zema brother in law
zemayt sister in law
telakm brother in law to wife i.e.
brother of the husband is a "telakm" to the wife
neAl sister in law to wife i.e.
sister of husband is "neAl" to the wife
Hano two men married to two sisters are Hano to each
other
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IV Among the Tigre people "em" or "ab" followed by the name of the
first daughter or son is a common polite form of addressing people
example :
em afraH mother of Afrah
ab afraH father of Afrah
em ebrahim mother of Ibrahim
ab Usman father of Osman
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End of Lesson 38
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