English → Latin
“uncle” in Latin
patruuspaternal uncle; a father's brother; a severe reproveravunculusmaternal uncle, mother's brother; uncle (maternal or paternal); mother's sister's husbandPaulusA cognomen of the Aemilius clan.; Paul (biblical figure).
The English word uncle itself goes back to Latin avunculus, through *aunclum.
Riddle & Arnold A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon, 1864
uncle
patruus (father’s brother): avunculus (mother’s brother). Great uncle: (1) On the paternal side; patruus magnus (the brother of a grandfather, Paullus, Dig., 38, 10, 10, § 15): patruus major (the brother of a great-grandfather, Tac., Ann., 12, 22, 2, and Paullus, ib., § 16; in Gai., Dig., 38, 10, 3, called also, propatruus). (2) On the maternal side; avunculus magnus (the brother of a grandmother; Cic., Brut., 62, 222; Gai., Dig., 38, 10, 1, § 6; Paullus, Dig., 38, 10, 10, § 15; in Tac., Ann., 4, 75, quite at the end, called simply avunculus): avunculus major: proavunculus (the brother of a great-grandmother Paullus, loc. cit., § 16; Gai., loc. cit., § 7. In Velleius, 2, 59, 2, and Suet., Oct., 7, and Claudius, 3, however, avunculus major = avunculus magnus). A greal-great-uncle, abavunculus: avunculus maximus (the brother of a great-great-grandmother, Paullus, Dig., § 17): patruus maximus or abpatruus (the brother of a great-great-grandfather; Paullus, ib., § 17; Gai., loc. cit.).
Quick answer
- What is the Latin word for uncle?
- The usual Latin words for “uncle” are patruus, avunculus, Paulus. The right choice depends on the sense; see the distinctions below.
Entry from J. E. Riddle & T. K. Arnold, A Copious and Critical English–Latin Lexicon (rev. C. Anthon, New York: Harper, 1864), digitised by Fergus J. P. Walsh, CC BY-SA 4.0; Latin markup adapted by latindictionary.co.