Why do we say 'tío' and not 'tío'?

PalmCatalan, as a Romance language, finds its origins in Latin. Clearly, the evolution of Latin was not uniform everywhere, and although, in the vernacular, many of the changes that led to the birth of the Romance languages we know today followed the same pattern, there were others that made a difference: regional variations that only occurred in a specific place; a similar form in various languages; or the influences of languages predating the expansion of the Roman Empire that left their mark and contributed to the consolidation of certain innovations. That said, why do we use 'tío' in Catalan to refer to someone's father's or mother's brother, but, on the other hand, when we have to talk about a sister we use 'tía'?'Why is the masculine form of this word not accepted in Catalan? It is clear that the origin of both words is not the same. Initially, in classical Latin we found the words 'avunculus' and 'amita' which were used with a much more restricted meaning and only designated the mother's brother and the father's sister, respectively. This is because in Classical Latin a distinction was made between the maternal and paternal lines, and therefore the words 'patrols' (father's brother) and 'matertera' (mother's sister). Later, in Vulgar Latin, 'avunculus' and 'amita' They adopted the meanings we currently assign to 'uncle' and 'aunt', that is, brother and sister of someone's father or mother.

The genuine form

However, between the 2nd and 3rd centuries, the Greek form arrived in Italy.theíos'/'theía' which ended up becoming Italianized in 'zio'/'zia'The new form was adapted in many languages for both masculine and feminine:zio'/'zia' in Italian, 'uncle/aunt In Spanish, 'uncle/aunt in Portuguese and 'tante'/'tata' in French (although the form 'tío' was also preserved). In Catalan, 'tia' did become integrated into the linguistic system, however, 'uncle' It did not take root. Thus, the genuine form originating fromavunculus' which in Old Catalan became 'avonclo' —due to a deformation of the word originating from children's language— and which has ended up giving rise to variations such as 'conco' in Mallorca and Menorca and 'blonco' in Ibiza.

Contrary to what happened in Latin, currently no Romance language maintains the distinction of kinship—that is, there is no difference between the maternal and paternal lines—and the meaning that was originally expressed in four different words has been reduced to two, such as 'uncle' and 'aunt'. Likewise, traces of some of the other classical Latin forms still remain, as seen in the Romanian form of 'aunt', 'mătușă'.

Now, nowadays the form 'tío' seems to be increasingly being sidelined in favor of 'uncle' and even, 'uncle'This fact became more than evident in 2023, whenuncle' and 'aunt' emerged as the most voted-for common words in the Neologism of the Year campaign. This initiative, promoted by the Neology Observatory (Obneo) of Pompeu Fabra University, the Philological Section of the Institute for Catalan Studies (IEC), Termcat, and 3Cat-esAdir, was created with the aim of reflecting social interests and bringing the language closer to all its speakers. Thus, every December a public voting process is opened in which citizens can choose from a series of neologisms, allowing the opinions of members of our linguistic community to be included in the dictionary update process. Although, after the evaluation and analysis carried out by the members of the IEC, the word was not included in the dictionary, this fact demonstrates that its uses are very much alive in the colloquial speech of Catalan speakers and that there is a trend toward abandoning the proper form. It is important to recognize the significance of the fact that the standardization of 'uncle' and 'aunt' And in a way, it opens a debate about the type of words that can be candidates for Neologism of the Year: could priority be given only to words aimed at filling a terminological gap resulting from a change in reality, or is it legitimate to propose loanwords that have a living and genuine alternative in our language?

'Common word'

So, the next time someone asks you why we can't use ' in Catalan'uncle' either 'uncle' (which was the most voted 'common' word in 2023 to be included in the standard dictionary) offers two options: a quick one, in which you simply state that the genuine form in Catalan is 'tío' (dude), and a longer—but much more enlightening—one in which you give a complete historical overview of the language's evolution. Now that the holidays are approaching, the latter will surely save you from more than one of those interminable after-dinner conversations where, after three days straight of eating lunch with the same family members, you're all at a loss for what to say.