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In Latin, a paternal aunt is an 'amita', a paternal uncle is a 'patruus', a maternal aunt is a 'matertera' and a maternal uncle is an 'avunculus'. However, what do you call each of these people's spouses?

For instance, your 'consobrinus' and 'consobrina' have two parents: your 'avunculus' and... what is their mother called? Your 'amitinus' and 'amitina' have two parents: your 'amita' and... what is their father called?

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    Possible duplicate of A complete family tree
    – luchonacho
    Sep 6, 2018 at 11:45
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    Welcome to the site! At least one user ( @luchonacho ) argues that your question might have an answer in the linked question. While I'm not convinced of that, could you have a look and say whether that is the case or tell everyone what part of your question is not answered in the older one? I suspect the answer goes in the line that your uncle's wife is your aunt no matter who's the brother or sister of your corresponding parent, but I'm not sure about that.
    – Rafael
    Sep 6, 2018 at 11:52
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    I've had a look at it and it only gives me for your father or mother's siblings. However, it does not give me the answer to what their spouses are called. Sep 6, 2018 at 15:43
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    I agree that this is not a duplicate. The family tree question asks for a big picture, but it does no go into all the details. Asking specific questions about different kinds of in-laws or other types or relatives is good, although there is always room for more elaboration as @Rafael points out. Welcome to the site and a +1 for a good question! I hope you will get a good answer.
    – Joonas Ilmavirta
    Sep 8, 2018 at 20:42

1 Answer 1

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I believe that there may be no special word for those terms. Here are some things I found:

In the Nova Vulgata, Leviticus 20:20 reads:

Qui coierit cum uxore patrui vel avunculi sui...

"Whoever has intercourse with their own (paternal or maternal) uncle's wife..." Here we have patrui vel avunculi referring to both maternal and paternal uncles. It's important to note that the Nova Vulgata is written in Latin more similar to Classical Latin than the original Vulgate, so it holds some credibility.

I also found in Catullus's Carmina:

Patrui perdepsuit ipsam uxorem...

"He kneaded his uncle's very wife..." Catullus was, of course, a Classical Latin speaker. That being said, he then goes on to mention "ipsum... patruum", so there is a slight chance that he is saying this because he references the uncle later.

I cannot find many examples for aunt, but I think they're out there.

Personally, I find it rather sensible that only paternal and maternal aunts or uncles have terms. The rest are not blood relatives, so they have no affect on your relations to your blood relatives.

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